More than a year into our spin-off from the UN, the new IRIN has positioned itself as a leading independent voice in the humanitarian sector that is shaping the debate about crisis response. 

This page tracks our progress, marking expansions in audience, product portfolio and geographic reach as we continue to produce unique, often ground-breaking work that is garnering praise from aid, government and media circles alike.

June to September 2018

Jaime Alekos/IRIN

HIGHLIGHTS

  • IRIN contributor Jaime Alekos wins a Migration Media Award for his film about refugee abuse and pushbacks at the Hungarian border.
  • IRIN announces the launch of an initiative to improve our coverage of indigenous and locally driven responses to humanitarian emergencies and disasters.
  • IRIN names Josephine Schmidt, a veteran journalist and a former editor at The New York Times, our new executive editor.

October to December 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

  • IRIN's reporting on Asia and the Rohingya crisis wins a 2017 UNCA Award.
  • IRIN publishes a popular four-part series on the hundreds of thousands of people who crossed the Mediterranean into Europe.
  • IRIN announces that it will be rebranding with a new name and visual identity that better articulate our mission and purpose.

July to September 2017

Ben Parker/IRIN

HIGHLIGHTS

  • IRIN launches a new cross-team project to take our audience engagement to the next level.
  • IRIN steps up disaster coverage in light of natural disasters which caused havoc across the Caribbean, North and South America, South Asia and parts of Africa in the past few months.
  • IRIN is invited to do a TEDx Talk, driving home the importance of unbiased, in-depth journalism about the biggest challenges of our time.

April to June 2017

On the road South Sudan
Alice Su/IRIN

HIGHLIGHTS

  • IRIN launches several new streams of reporting and invests in outreach and audience engagement,
  • IRIN's start-up office in Geneva grows from two people one year ago to a headquarters with six employees,
  • IRIN produces spectacular new material, including our first 360-degree video of life in Sudan's Nuba Mountains.

July to September 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Saudi Arabia exclusively invites Middle East Editor Annie Slemrod for rare meetings with its military and humantiarian officials.
  • IRIN hires Miranda Grant, award-winning multimedia journalist and digital producer, as multimedia producer.
  • IRIN's staff from around the world come together for the annual team meeting in Geneva.

April to June 2016

Sudan's forgotten front
Documentist/IRIN

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Senior UN human rights official Anders Kompass' exclusive commentary on why he resigned from the UN becomes IRIN's most read piece since January 2015.
  • IRIN's new investigative unit, spearheaded by co-founder and former CEO Ben Parker, begins to publish investigations.
  • IRIN reports live from the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.

March 2016

Mongolian herders in search of pasture
Joanna Chiu/IRIN
Mongolian herders Daashka (left) and his brother, Batzozig, in search of pasture in February 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

  • IRIN’s influence on policy-makers continues as an IRIN story is cited in the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing’s report to the Secretary General.
  • An IRIN article on Afghan refugees in Europe republished by a Swiss daily newspaper leads a reader to pledge a large donation to the Afghan family interviewed in the article.
  • IRIN increases its production of data visualisations, making complicated statistics more digestible for readers and social media friendly.

February 2016

The Aegean’s nameless dead
John Psaropoulos/IRIN

HIGHLIGHTS

  • In February, IRIN launched its new web platform, enabling it to deliver more dynamic and visual content on a clearer and faster platform.
  • IRIN announced its newly constituted legal entity in Geneva, IRIN Association, its new board of directors, and the launch of its new website with a press release andletter to readers shared in the Geneva International Newsletter.
  • IRIN's review of the UN secretary-general’s vision for humanitarian reform and its synthesis and analysis of proposals for reform were widely praised and shared in the lead-up to the World Humanitarian Summit.

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