Paris, Île-de-France, France
In this position, I am responsible for overseeing daily operations, prioritizing the security and safety of all activities, and providing strategic guidance and support to the Sub-delegation team based in Mekelle. Through close collaboration with all departments, I strive to maintain operational efficiency in challenging and hard-to-reach conflict-affected areas, ensuring alignment with the operational priorities set by the Delegation. I actively engage with stakeholders, addressing their requests and concerns while diligently understanding the needs of beneficiaries and affected populations. This enables me to adapt our response strategies with empathy and maintain realistic, impactful goals. My leadership style emphasizes positivity and adaptability, allowing me to effectively manage responsibilities, embrace challenges, and lead by example in fostering a high-performing team. While managing a diverse team, I also focus on empowering individuals through coaching, providing constructive feedback, and encouraging proactive engagement. My collaborative approach, combined with active listening and respect for diverse perspectives, fosters effective teamwork and problem-solving.
In my role, I focused on overseeing operations, ensuring the security and safety of activities, and guiding the Sub-delegation team based in Damascus through strategic supervision and collaboration. By fostering close coordination with relevant teams and field staff, we managed a wide range of projects aligned with Delegation's priorities, across multiple regions, even under challenging budget constraints. I tried my best to create a positive working environment through clear communication which helped to maintain operational efficiency and team cohesion especially during difficult times. I actively worked to strengthen relationships with colleagues and interlocutors, addressing requests and concerns while ensuring alignment with institutional objectives. By understanding the needs of beneficiaries and affected populations, we balanced responses with empathy and maintained realistic, impactful goals. My leadership approach has been rooted in positivity and adaptability, allowing me to effectively manage responsibilities, embrace challenges, and lead by example in fostering team effectiveness. I also played a key role in expanding ICRC’s presence in Deir Ez Zor province while maintaining operational continuity in Rural Damascus and the Southern governorates. Despite challenges in volatile contexts, we ensured safe and coordinated field operations, supported Protection activities and initiated programmes to provide essential services to the conflict affected population, and built strong networks with stakeholders. Thus by managing a large team, I focused on empowering members through coaching, providing constructive feedback, and encouraging proactive engagement. I believe that my collaborative approach, combined with active listening and respect for diverse perspectives, enabled effective teamwork and problem-solving, contributing significantly to the overall success of the Sub-delegation’s operations.
As a Polyvalent/Protection Delegate, I was responsible for monitoring detention conditions, ensuring judicial safeguards, and restoring detainee-family contact while engaging in confidential dialogues with authorities to address concerns. This role also involved documenting violations of IHL against civilians, coordinating livelihood projects and health programmes to support conflict affected populations, and building relationships with conflict parties and authorities to advocate regularly for compliance with humanitarian standards.
As a PCP Delegate, I served on the Rapid Deployment Unit during the 2017 crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Based in Maungdaw, I conducted field-based protection work with a strong focus on upholding the rights and dignity of affected minority communities. My key responsibilities included documenting IHL (and lHRL) violations through testimonies and credible sources. I engaged with security forces to disseminate information about IHL and address protection concerns on the ground during field visits. Furthermore, I conducted visits to places of detention along with the Detention team to monitor conditions and raise relevant issues with the detaining authorities. I regularly collaborated with other ICRC departments to conduct protection centred multidisciplinary assessments, enabling the implementation of rapid and tailored responses to the needs of the victims of the terrible crisis that unfurled. In a nutshell, my work aimed to reduce the suffering of affected populations by responding to (and preventing as much as possible further) violations of IHL and providing them with vital assistance.