“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.