Caring humanitarian leadership: Exploring practices through real life experiences

This paper addresses the lack of research on humanitarian leadership, contributing to the field by examining it through the lens of caring leadership. Despite recent attempts, there remains no agreed-upon definition of humanitarian leadership, making this study’s approach innovative. The work begins by reviewing existing literature and defining caring, caring leadership, and caring as an organisational value. It then presents findings from interviews with 11 humanitarian professionals about their experiences with humanitarian leadership. The research reveals that caring humanitarian leadership often depends on individual leaders’ soft skills rather than formal organisational policies or intentional strategies. Humanitarian workers, frequently exposed to volatile and traumatic contexts, expect systematic caring leadership, and its absence may lead to disappointment and frustration. Ultimately, the study suggests that humanitarian organisations must renew their commitment to empowering leaders who prioritise care, integrating it as an essential value and skill within leadership and organisational practices.