Degan Ali is an internationally-renowned humanitarian leader who has been at the forefront of shifting power for decades. She is a Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellow for Social Innovation, a contributor to the Overseas Development Institute/Humanitarian Policy Group, and the Global Food Security Journal.

Degan is also the co-founder of the first Global South civil society network for local and national humanitarian organizations, the Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR). She is an innovator, translating ground-breaking ideas into action, such as pioneering the first large-scale cash transfer in 2003 in Somalia, leading the transition to global acceptance of cash assistance.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian. Her key achievements include leading Adeso in pioneering cash transfers and establishing the 25% localization target as part of the Grand Bargain Commitment.

She is based in Kenya and works with organizations and philanthropists across the globe, bringing together and identifying efforts to decolonize aid and philanthropy.