Humanitarian Leadership Programme
November 2012
Information Pack
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Take the next step to develop your leadership
For a second year, Save the Children, in partnership with Deakin University – and generously supported by
AusAID – is pleased to offer humanitarian professionals from Asia-Pacific and beyond the opportunity to
participate in the Humanitarian Leadership Program.
This program is designed to enhance the skills, knowledge and leadership capability of current and future
humanitarian leaders in (but not limited to) the Asia-Pacific region.
Save the Children are running the Humanitarian Leadership Program in conjunction with partner agencies
including World Vision, CARE, PLAN and Oxfam, with the support of other agencies.
Program objectives
• To provide humanitarian professionals with an intensive, challenging and richly rewarding personal
development experience that gives them the capability and confidence to lead humanitarian operations
• To make a significant contribution towards the professionalization of the sector
• To improve the quality of leadership offered by NGO’s responding to humanitarian disasters from disaster
risk reduction to managing major responses and leading the transition to long-term recovery and
development.
• To develop a multi-agency and multi-national cohort of humanitarian leaders who have shared a common
learning experience and are committed and able to improve humanitarian operations across the region
• To create a collaborative approach to learning across agencies throughout the Asia-Pacific region that directly
impacts how we work together to achieve our goals.
About the Humanitarian Leadership Program
Who is it for? This program is for senior managers working in the humanitarian and development
sector with at least three to five years experience working with recognised Non-Government
Organisations and who want to develop their leadership skills to make a positive contribution to the
future of the sector (min 2 years in a managerial role).
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Program endorsed by Deakin University
Future Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) - once academic accreditation achieved
Relevant to the current humanitarian environment
Designed and led by leading humanitarian practitioners
Opportunity to learn with and become part of a growing cohort of graduates from across the region
High profile speakers
Strong combination of theoretical and experiential learning
Funded by AusAID and Save the Children
Accreditation: Successful participants will receive an Endorsed Program Certificate from Deakin
University – we expect the program to be recognized as a formal post-graduate Certificate Program in
the coming months.
Duration: Part One of the program will commence in November 2012. The entire program will run over
a period of eight months. (Please see the schedule below.)
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Humanitarian Leadership Program Schedule
Part
Part One
Dates
Activity
Location
Diagnosing the Humanitarian System
Distance / eLearning
26 Nov 2012 – 26 Jan 2013
Home-based
5-10 hrs study per week
Part Two
Developing Humanitarian Leadership
28 Jan 2013 – 3 Feb 2013
7-day residential
Melbourne, Australia
Part Three* Delivering Humanitarian Operations
Distance / eLearning
11 Feb 2013 – 13 May 2013
Home-based
5-10 hrs study per week
Part Four*
Demonstrating Strategic Leadership
8-day residential + ongoing
27 May 2013 – 3 Jun 2013
mentoring & Personal development
Indonesia (tbc)
plans
*Selection of participants for Parts Three and Four will be based on performance and assessment in Parts
One and Two. As an assessed course, there is no guarantee of progressing to the Third and Fourth parts of
the program. The entire program will run over 8 months and participants must be prepared to complete all
four parts of the program.
Program content overview
This program examines the leadership and strategy issues faced by managers in the humanitarian sector. It
covers the principles and methodologies of humanitarian operations and explores the organizational processes
and leadership practices that enable humanitarian teams to deliver in the most challenging contexts.
The program takes a systemic perspective encompassing disaster risk reduction, effective response delivery and
transitioning to recovery. Going beyond theoretical learning, the course provides participants with the
experiences, support and challenge that will help them develop their skill and confidence in offering leadership
to others. Participants will benefit from high quality feedback and support from experienced coaches and
facilitators in addition to peer feedback, 360° feedback, psychometric assessment and mentoring.
The distance learning elements of the program require a commitment of between 5 – 10 hours per week
Key questions that this course will address
o What are the major challenges and changes impacting the humanitarian sector and what can we do together
to address these?
o What are the best ways to organise and lead teams in high-consequence, high-uncertainty, rapidly evolving
humanitarian contexts?
o What is the role of leadership in such situations and which behaviors and skills are most important?
o What can we do to develop our own skills and the leadership we offer others?
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Topics covered
• Humanitarian system & actors
• Emerging trends and challenges
• Humanitarian principles, theory and ethics
• Strategic issues in leading humanitarian responses
• Role of leadership in humanitarian contexts
• Decision-making in humanitarian contexts
• Disaster Risk Mitigation and Reduction
• Human resource and financial management
in emergencies
• Humanitarian operations – design and delivery
• Managing multi-sectorial humanitarian responses
• Leading the transition from response to recovery, through to development
Learning methodology
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Residential workshops and seminars
Tutorials and small-group work
Scenario-based learning
Distance and online learning
1-2-1 Coaching
Mentoring
Psychometric assessment
Personal learning journal
360° Feedback
Personal development plans
Assessment elements
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Written Assignments
Assessed group and individual exercises
Exams
Project work
Costs
The program is sponsored by AusAID, enabling us to offer this significant learning and development opportunity
for no fee.
Costs covered include:
o distance learning materials and e-learning platform
o assessment and training
o coaching and mentoring
o program certificate (on completion)
o accommodation and all meals during the residential trainings (part 2 and 4)
Costs not covered:
o flights to and from the residential trainings (venues are likely to be Australia and Indonesia)
o accommodation or subsistence costs for time in country, outside of the residential training dates
o any personal expenses incurred during the distance learning modules
Application Process
Places on the programme are limited and therefore we will only select participants who are suited to the level
of this training. The program also represents a significant investment of participant time and energy – we need
to believe that you have considered this fully and are able to make the necessary commitment. Successful
applicants will need to explain how the training is relevant to their role and how they will be able to directly
apply their learning in their work. We will inform successful applicants by 19th October 2012.
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If you are interested in applying then please go to www.XXX for more information.
Program partnerships
The Humanitarian Leadership Program is a bold and innovative approach to improving the leadership of the
sector. The first program run in 2011/2012 demonstrated the value of the collaboration between Save the
Children, Deakin University, AusAID and our partner agencies. Over 30 participants from more than 15
countries graduated having benefited from this unique learning experience.
Save the Children
2011 Participant Quotes:
Save the Children has worked on the issue of
professionalization and humanitarian
leadership for several years. This includes
designing and developing sector leading
programs such as the Emergency Operations
Program used by the Gates-funded
Emergency Capacity Building Project, and the
Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies.
The Humanitarian Leadership Program builds
on this success and represents Save the
Children’s ongoing and significant
investment in developing capacity in the
sector.
Deakin University
Deakin University is the academic partner for
the Humanitarian Leadership Program and
has made a major contribution to its success.
Save the Children is working with Deakin
University on the full accreditation of the
program, including how to integrate the
program into a formal academic qualification.
AusAID
AusAID are providing three-years financial
support through the Humanitarian
Partnership Agreement that it holds with
Save the Children.
Humanitarian Partnership Agreement
Save the Children are running the
Humanitarian Leadership Program in
conjunction with partner agencies including
CARE, PLAN and Oxfam and other agencies.
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If you have any questions regarding the Humanitarian Leadership Programme, please contact:
HLPInfo@savethechildren.org.uk
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