S1: Ep5 | Martin de Boer: Leading in humanitarian emergencies: the power of humanity, and rest
with Martin de Boer: Head of Operations for Mexico, ICRC
Martin describes how his love of humanitarian work has shaped every stage of his career from his first experiences in Tanzania in the 90s, via Nepal during the civil war to his work coordinating programmes in Mexico. His passion for his work and admiration for the people he meets and works with is evident.
Leading multilingual, multidisciplinary teams working in potentially stressful and exhausting situations, Martin shares his insight into creating highly functioning teams while keeping in touch with their wellbeing.
Although not many leaders will find themselves in such circumstances, this inspirational leader gives us much to think about.
About Martin:
As Head of Operations in the ICRC Regional Delegation for Mexico, Central America and Cuba, Marting is a strong believer in humanity and dedicated to responsible humanitarian action. He is a highly experienced manager who has led multidisciplinary and multicultural teams in complex situations.
Born a Dutch national in 1971, Martin holds a MSc in Social Sciences (Violence, Conflict and Development) from the London School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a BSc Tropical Forestry from Larenstein University in Velp, The Netherlands.
Already during his forestry studies, Martin was drawn to humanitarian work while conducting his thesis research on the environmental impact of the Rwandese refugee camps in Tanzania in 1995.
However, he first worked in forestry advisor in Nepal for 3 years before joining the ICRC in the year 2000 as an interpreter for the ICRC’s operations in Nepal. Since then he has worked as a generalist ICRC delegate in Gaza (2004) and increased his management responsibilities as: a deputy head of Sub-Delegation in Gaza (2004-05), Head of Sub-Delegation in Afghanistan (2005-06) and Sri Lanka (2006-08) followed by Deputy Head of Delegation in Washington DC, (2009-11), Pakistan (2012-14) and Operations Coordinator for the Americas Region at the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva (2015-17). He currently works as Head of Operations in the ICRC Regional Delegation in Mexico since January 2018.
In his current role, Martin is overseeing and supporting the delegation’s team (120 colleagues) to carry out its humanitarian operations in Mexico in support of violence affected people such as migrants, the missing and their families, detainees and the resident population as well as maintaining the relationship with the Mexican Red Cross.
You can contact Martin here: LinkedIn - Martin de Boer