The Leadership Lab

Launched in 2021, the Field Leadership Labs is a program jointly offered by GELI and the UN Development Coordination Office to support leadership teams to work more effectively together. In this episode, our guest Michael brings us stories from the field and explores some of the common challenges of collaborative leadership that leaders face in different countries. Micheal Koehler is the CEO of KONU, a specialized consultancy company that is providing project management and niche leadership support to GELI’s SDG Leadership Lab project. He co-teaches “Practicing Leadership Inside & Out” at Harvard Graduate School of Education, exploring the intersection between role, adult development, and systems change. He also founded the Adaptive Leadership Network to create holding environments for adaptive leaders and adaptive leadership educators to support and learn from one another.

Leadership plays an essential role in setting the direction to strengthen protection within the humanitarian sector. In this episode, Gemma and Mark explore ways to strengthen and centralise that role while looking at when and in what circumstances humanitarian leadership is well placed to provide strategic direction to strengthening protection. Gemma Davies is a Senior Research Fellow for the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI. She has over 15 years’ experience working with a range of international humanitarian and human rights organisations, as well as the Department for International Development (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), in several conflict-affected and fragile states. Mark Bowden was the UN DSRSG/RC/HC in Afghanistan and before that the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia. As a Senior Research Associate with HPG / ODI he continues to maintain his interest in Humanitarian Diplomacy and protection issues .

“At the global level, there have been strong commitments to collective humanitarian action, especially since the World Humanitarian Summit and Grand Bargain agreement. But evidence suggests that these commitments are not always translated into reality. Why is this?” In this episode, Ed explores the intersection between collective ambitions and individual agency within the leadership space and looks at some of the factors that systematically undermine collective leadership in the system. Ed Schenkenberg is the Executive Director of HERE, an independent think-tank founded in 2014 that looks at the gap between policy and humanitarian practice. HERE deliver reports and studies, which aim to influence policy, fuel debate and dialogue, and change behaviour. Ed brings 22 years of experience in humanitarian affairs. He has worked as Executive Director with DARA, a Madrid based humanitarian research and evaluation organisation, and ICVA, the Geneva-based humanitarian NGO network. Ed’s special interests include issues such as humanitarian principles and standards, coordination, and protection.

Since the World Humanitarian Summit, localisation-focused policies and commitments have been abundant. The collective objective was and is to strengthen leadership of local and national NGOs in humanitarian action and treat them as equal partners. In this episode, Darina unpacks the topic of localisation through the specific lens of humanitarian leadership. The reality on the ground tells us that despite these commitments, the role of national and local NGOs continues to be limited and undermined. Darina Pellowska is a research fellow at the Centre for Humanitarian Action or CHA. Prior to joining CHA, Darina worked as a freelance consultant for various aid organisations. Her main areas of expertise include “Accountability to Affected Populations”, partner management, risk management, and conflict-sensitive humanitarian assistance. Darina also has experience in operational humanitarian action. She has international research experience in South Sudan, Sudan and Syria.

“In the humanitarian sector, leadership is cited as one of the most important factors underpinning performance and effectiveness. Every major strategic and operational ambition – from addressing resource gaps to coordinating aid delivery to improving accountability to advancing localisation – demands the realization of better leadership. And yet, at the same time, there does not seem to be a clear sense of what leadership actually is.” In this episode, John talks about humanitarian leadership and the critical role it plays in the learning and reform our system needs. John Mitchell is a committed humanitarian leader with over thirty years of experience in humanitarian action. He is a leading exponent of humanitarian practice and policy and led the ALNAP network for the past 19 years in its mission to improve global performance of humanitarian aid. Prior to this John has worked for donor organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and has been involved in and led several important inter-agency initiatives to improve the accountability of aid. He has published widely and is an advisor to the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute.

“If you know you are not made for daring, please don’t dare lead.” In our first episode, Kate takes us through the very important topic of ethical or principled leadership. We explore the definition of “daring” leadership, a combination of moral courage and inner strength, qualities on which the exercise of ethical or principled leadership depends. Kate Gilmore is Professor-in-Practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Honorary Professor at the University of Essex. She also is the Chairperson of the Board of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Vice Chair of the Interpeace Board. She previously held the positions of United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights and Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of the UN Population Fund.

Welcome to The Leadership Lab podcast. GELI is the first leadership development programme that brings together top level leaders from across the humanitarian and development sectors, and takes them on a journey of self-reflection and growth, to help them realise their full potential and drive more effective action for people across the globe. Our focus across all our leadership training programs is practical, applicable knowledge that can help leaders better handle challenges they face. This podcast series includes six episodes looking at emerging leadership themes within the humanitarian and development sector through the eyes of six leaders, researchers and practitioners. They will be joining me to discuss some of the biggest leadership challenges and opportunities in our sector based on field-driven research conducted over the last few months. These conversations are based on a research series co-hosted by GELI and the Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA) with the generous support of the German government.