May 26, 2026 Nicholas Haan, one of the innovative leaders in food security and humanitarian action passed away on December 2, 2025. He dedicated his life to combating global hunger and strengthening food security systems in crisis zones.
He was a co-founder of the international humanitarian NGO, Field Ready, which publishes its memory of him here. In it, co-founder Eric James says “We bonded over our passion for improving the hardest places and our frustration with things not working better.”
Raised in California, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Genetics from U.C. Berkeley, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Geography, a Master’s in Development Economics/International Development, and a Master’s in GIS & Remote Sensing, all from Clark University.
His deep international perspective began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, where he taught science in a remote village and became fluent in Swahili. He made history alongside his kayaking partner as the first person to paddle the entire lengths of both Lake Victoria (a 500 km expedition) and Lake Turkana.
Over more than three decades, Nick specialized in food security, developing groundbreaking approaches that combined data analytics, geographic information systems, and supply-chain resilience to prevent famine. He is celebrated globally as the creator of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) System. What began as a localized data solution to map crises in Somalia is now the undisputed international standard led by the FAO, guiding billions of dollars in emergency funding across more than 30 countries
Later in his career, he was a faculty Fellow at Singularity University in Silicon Valley and previously the Vice President and Faculty Chair of Impact.
He authored influential papers and two books on adaptive food systems in fragile states. His innovative “anticipatory aid” model, delivering support before crises peak, is now considered a standard in the field. See: this publication about information systems for food resilience.
He is one of the creators of the international standard for classifying the severity of food insecurity, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) System which started in Somalia, and is led by FAO. He was the lead technical advisor to the UN’s Joint Interagency Analysis Framework (JIAF), which provides essential information to allocate over $50 Billion per year in humanitarian aid. Nicholas has been one of the 5 members of the global Famine Review Committee, which makes the independent determination as to whether a place is officially classified as being in ‘Famine’. A year ago, Nick wrote about the IPC on Linked-in:
“The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is celebrating its 20th anniversary of informing decisions to end hunger. Thank you to the countless people who contributed to the IPC’s technical development, believed in it, and supported it–especially in the very early days when it was just “a crazy idea”. Here are just a few of those idea-stage contributors from 20 years ago: Cindy Holleman, Thomas Gabrielle, Noreen Prendiville, Yusuf Mohamed, Ali Duale, Mark Smulders, Wolfgang Herbinger, Mohamed Aw-Dahir, Sidow
Addouand, and Luca Alinovi. Thank you to all the thousands of IPC practitioners around the world, all the IPC Global Partner Agencies, and the IPC technical development experts who continue to evolve the IPC. Ending hunger requires a collective effort. It’s doable.”
A video of his explaining the IPC system is available at: https://youtu.be/BKELLoj_41g
He is survived by his wife Mariam, and siblings Mary Catherine and Annie. Beyond his professional achievements, Nick was known for his deep humility, dry wit, and a boundless spirit of adventure.
See: https://www.fieldready.org/post/nick-haan-in-memoriam
and an obituary at Devex:
