Dakar, Dakar Region, Senegal
I am a humanitarian policy analyst, writer, and professor who has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of crisis response, research, and storytelling. My career has taken me from Sudan to Sierra Leone, Geneva to South Sudan — and now Dakar, Senegal. I’ve written for the UN, NGOs, and research networks, authored flagship reports for global hubs, and taught at universities including Columbia, NYU, and Sciences Po, Lyon. I am the author of Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid (Random House), a memoir that offers an insider’s account of life as a humanitarian aid worker and explores the complexities and contradictions of the sector. My work centers on making complex policy questions accessible, whether through drafting UN strategies, leading evaluations, writing narrative nonfiction, or contributing to media outlets such as The New Humanitarian (as Policy Editor), The New York Times, Slate, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC, and NPR. Areas of expertise include humanitarian policy and reform, disaster risk reduction, anticipatory action, education in emergencies, financing, and community engagement and accountability.
Lead author of the 2026 Humanitarian Accountability Report
Multiple writing and editing roles over years including: communications and policy advisor for the State of the Humanitarian System 2026 report, lead editor of the EXplain series; lead researcher and author of Learning Links; co-author of Lessons of lessons: A window into the evolution of the humanitarian sector. Facilitated, organized and drafted background documents for events including Learning from Ukraine: Challenges and Opportunities for Change and ALNAP’s 33rd Annual Meeting, Facing the Unknown: Managing uncertainty in humanitarian action
Teach graduate level course: Accountability in Humanitarian Response
Lead editor of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 report
Lead author of the EiE Hub’s 2025 flagship report: Acting Ahead to Protect Education Investments - Why the need for proactive approaches to crises is more urgent than ever. Lead author of ten policy briefs on overlooked humanitarian crises.