The 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference, held in partnership with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, took place from April 8-9, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.
The panel, Local Leader Spotlight – Leading from the Front: The New Humanitarian Vanguard, was moderated by Adelina Kamal, Co-founder and Steering Committee Member, Southeast Women Peace Mediators, and Emma Beals, Senior Advisor, European Institute of Peace. The panel featured frontline leaders from some of the world’s most complex conflict zones who shared their experiences, challenges, and insights, with the discussion centred on the critical role that they and their organisations play in humanitarian crises, often stepping in as first responders where international systems fall short.
Panellists:
- Salai Za Uk, Executive Director, Chin Human Rights Organisation, Myanmar
- Ross Skowronski, Founder and CEO, Mission Kharkiv, Ukraine
- Awad Mohammed, Emergency Response Room representative, Sudan
- Safaa Elagib Agam Ayoub, Founding Member and President, Community Development Association, Sudan
- Ahmed Ekzayez, Chief of Programs, White Helmets, Syria
“We didn’t wait for the international system to recognise us — we built that trust from the ground up. Don’t call it capacity building anymore. It’s capacity exchange. And that begins with listening to those closest to the crisis.”
Ahmed Ekzayez, Chief of Programs, White Helmets
Watch the panel discussion on YouTube.
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Leading from the front - the new humanitarian vanguard
