Nicholas Noe - Refugees International

Nicholas Noe is a Senior Fellow at Refugees International, where his work focuses on humanitarian localization and the reform of Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs)—including practical pathways to expand direct, principled funding to local and national organizations, strengthen governance and accountability, and shift decision-making closer to crisis-affected communities. He is currently Chair of the Interaction Ukraine Working Group and Co-Chair of the Charter for Change Advocacy Working Group, a leading global platform advancing localization commitments and policy reform across the humanitarian system. His work combines policy analysis with coalition-building and structured dialogue among local civil society, donors, UN agencies, and international NGOs—particularly in complex and politically contested operating environments.

Alongside his role at Refugees International, Noe is Director of the Foundation for Global Political Exchange (founded in 2008) and co-founder of the Beirut-based news translation service Mideastwire.com. From 2017 to 2021, he served as a Political Advisor at the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Earlier in his career, he worked in U.S. politics and local government, including roles supporting electoral operations and public-sector communications and policy.

Noe’s writing and analysis have appeared in outlets including the New York Times, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and others. He was a Policy Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute (2020) and is the author/editor of multiple policy and research publications, including work on Lebanon and regional politics. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University and later received an MPhil with honors in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, where he was elected a Scholar of Selwyn College.