This year, Spearfish Security returned to AidEx Geneva 2025 with a realistic mindset. Following the sector-wide budget pressures felt earlier in the year, we expected a more measured event — smaller stands, fewer delegations, and conversations reflecting the financial constraints shaping humanitarian and development operations.
What we found, however, was a focused, engaged, and forward-looking audience. The exhibition floor may have been more compact, but the quality of interaction and the depth of discussion were every bit as strong as in previous years.
A Common Theme: The Future of Aid Funding
Across the exhibition, workshops, and conference sessions, one question dominated:
Where will financial support for aid come from?
The discussions explored collaboration with the private sector, innovative financing, and smarter ways to deliver aid through improved logistics and supply chains.
This aligned closely with AidEx’s 2025 theme — “Future-proofing humanitarian aid: implementing innovative approaches and systemic change for more impactful crisis response” (Agenda 2025).
Recurring themes included:
- New and blended finance models to sustain aid delivery.
- Supply-chain resilience and logistics innovation.
- Duty of care and risk management as core programme considerations.
- Private-sector partnerships driving agility, technology, and impact.
Spearfish at AidEx
For Spearfish, AidEx remains one of the most valuable opportunities to engage directly with the humanitarian community.
It was a pleasure to reconnect with familiar exhibitors such as CARGOSTORE Worldwide and The Washing Machine Project, and to meet new neighbours from Christian Aid. Their work and insights exemplify the spirit of innovation and collaboration that continues to drive this sector forward.
Our conversations on the stand centred on integrating security risk management, travel tracking, and duty of care into programme planning — themes that resonated strongly throughout the event. There was a clear understanding that tools like SONAR and our Overwatch service play an important role in supporting teams working in complex and high-risk environments.
Key Takeaways for Spearfish
Even within a challenging funding landscape, the aid and development sector continues to show remarkable resilience and collaboration. The growing focus on innovative finance, localisation, and private-sector partnerships aligns closely with Spearfish’s approach to delivering practical, scalable security solutions that support programme delivery. It was also encouraging to see duty of care increasingly viewed not just as a compliance requirement, but as an integral part of organisational culture. Above all, AidEx reaffirmed the importance of being present — building relationships, sharing insights, and contributing to the sector’s ongoing dialogue on how to deliver aid more safely, sustainably, and effectively.
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