Humanitarian and Disaster Management Leadership: A collaborative research and development initiative

Rationale Humanitarian agencies and actors from all corners of the world work to serve communities and people affected by conflicts, technological and natural hazards. Over the past decade, the roles, responsibilities and visibility of organisations engaged in humanitarian activities in the international arena have increased exponentially, as have the resources committed to such endeavours. As the humanitarian enterprise has grown, so have the challenges facing humanitarian agencies and actors. Modern humanitarian mandates require organisations to bridge the gap between donors and beneficiaries strategically and operationally while responding to a range of political, developmental and economic constituencies and mandates. Moreover, the field of humanitarian and disaster management is undergoing a dramatic transformation from traditional approaches focusing on relief/response to a more developmentally sustainable disaster risk reduction framework. Yet, the field of international disaster management/humanitarian assistance remains one which is characterised often as preprofessional, uneven in management competency, inefficient, inequitable, and often at odds with long term recovery and development. Therefore, the challenges facing humanitarian agencies and actors, and the expectations that increasingly will be placed upon them, will be unprecedented.