Humanitarian Career Insights are flash interviews with practitioners in the humanitarian field. Guests tell us about their current positions, career paths, and professional successes and challenges. This series is hosted and curated by the Humanitarian Action Initiative, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.
Jacob Kurtzer is Director and Senior Fellow, Humanitarian Agenda at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining CSIS, he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross and Refugees International.
“Be open to opportunities that are not necessarily what you’ve focused on or imagined but can give you the varied experience that will make you a qualified applicant later on.”
-Jacob Kurtzer, CSIS
Crystal Lander is Executive Director, Global Affairs at Pathfinder International in Washington D.C. Prior to her role at Pathfinder, Lander worked at Living Goods and Management Sciences for Health.
“Figure out both what you like to do and what you do not like to do…Intern as much as possible, learn a language…make friends and maintain those networks.”
-Crystal Lander, Pathfinder International
Marc Garlasco (ESIA MA ’95), is Military Advisor, PAX Protection of Civilians and co-host of The Civilian Protection podcast. Garlasco has worked for the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Military.
“Flexibility is important…take the skills you have learned both through your education and through application in your work and move that to a different area.”
-Marc Garlasco, PAX Protection of Civilians
Marvin Parvez is Regional Director for Community World Service Asia, a humanitarian and development organization, registered in Pakistan, head-quartered in Karachi and implementing initiatives throughout Asia.
“I really want young students to question everything they read, everything they hear. Our sector needs to change, it needs to be turned upside down, because over the last few decades…the communities have been shifted to the margins and I think that needs to be changed.”
-Marvin Parvez, Community World Service Asia
Jutta Hinkkanen is Chief of Pooled Fund Learning, Guidance and Reporting, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations. Previously she was Head of Office for OCHA in Burundi, Humanitarian Affairs Officer for Syria, and Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.
“Try to move between working at the country level and in headquarters especially early on in your career. It helps improve understanding of the work and what is required personally.”
-Jutta Hinkkanen, UNOCHA
Brian Kelly is Head of the Community Stabilization unit at the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“Develop context. Go to a place long enough to be the person that other people get directed to. Then do it again somewhere else.”
-Brian Kelly, IOM
Nicholas Kaufman is Division Chief, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
Networking is important “ being in Washington D.C. is a wonderful opportunity. There are so many organizations here, so many opportunities to meet people working in this space.”
-Nicholas Kaufman, BHA
Narciso Berlanga-Rosa is Head, Effective Programming & Partnerships Unit (EPPU), Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF) Section at United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
Amica Rapadas, MA student in the International Development Studies program conducted the interview.
[My advice] “First, that you are doing this as a vocation that you want to serve the people…to maintain a level of engagement and commitment […] Second, to give your humanity, we work with people, we don’t work with targets or indicators or projects. The most important is the people we serve.”
-Narciso Berlanga-Rosa, UNOCHA
Juli King, Senior Program Associate, Shelter and Settlements, InterAction, interviewed by Salma Heram, Peace Studies major, Public Health and Health Equity minor, GWU.
“…be willing to look outside what you thought that you wanted to do…There’s so much that you can do in the humanitarian field or development field. It’s really hard to narrow down to that one thing that you’re really passionate about or that you really want to do. Reach out to people in the field and have conversations with them about what they actually do in their jobs.”
-Juli King, InterAction
Mohamed Hilmi, Senior Coordinator and Technical Specialist, Shelter and Settlements, InterAction, interviewed by Rand Attallah, International Affairs and International Business double major, GWU
“Reach out to as many people working in the field as possible and ask them for informational interviews. This field is not very narrow. You can do communications in humanitarian work, you can be in the field doing water and sanitation work or building shelters, or nutrition. To understand what options you have, it helps to speak to people working in the field.”
-Mohamed Hilmi, InterAction
