The first Humanitarian Leader paper for 2026 is ‘Caring humanitarian leadership: Exploring practices through real life experiences,’ by Arnaud Meffre. Meffre’s article approaches the concept of leadership in the humanitarian system through the lens of ‘care’, presenting his findings from interviews with 11 humanitarian professionals about their experiences of this quality (and often its lack) in their careers.
“The more the environment and the leader are caring, the more one has the courage to work, the courage to keep going.” - Interviewee
His findings reveal that caring humanitarian leadership often depends on individual leaders’ soft skills rather than formal organisational policies or intentional strategies, ultimately, suggesting that humanitarian organisations must renew their commitment to empowering leaders who prioritise care, integrating it as an essential value and skill within leadership and organisational practices.
