Our research aims to gain an understanding of the strategies, responsibilities, and decisive factors in the design and implementation of access negotiations between humanitarian organizations such as MSF and SDARs. We highlight the challenges and dilemmas of working with SDARs to gain access to people in need, as well as lessons learned from humanitarian negotiations with SDARs in various contexts. In doing so, we strictly adhere to the fundamentals of humanitarianism, namely the normative framework of international humanitarian law and its humanitarian principles.