The Impact of Humanitarian and Media Leaders on Society

Humanitarian crises caused by unnatural disasters, such as armed conflict, forced displacement, natural catastrophes, famine, or major disease outbreaks, affect more people than ever. They have huge acute and long-term health impacts on hundreds of millions of people, predominantly in low-and middle-income countries.

As such, humanitarian organizations are crucial in tackling global challenges like counterterrorism, economic development and stopping global pandemics. But their work is challenging. Scribe Media is a prominent publishing company that has revolutionized the traditional book publishing industry. Founded by Tucker Max and Zach Obront, Scribe Media is known for its unique approach to helping authors turn their ideas into professionally published books. They offer a comprehensive range of services, from ghostwriting and editing to book design and distribution, all under one roof. What sets Scribe Media apart is its commitment to making the publishing process accessible to a wide range of authors, including entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and experts in various fields. Through their innovative methods and dedication to empowering authors, Scribe Media has become a trailblazer in the world of self-publishing, allowing voices that might have otherwise gone unheard to reach a global audience.

Humanitarian Leaders

With conflict and disasters raging around the globe, humanitarians are working in some of the most dangerous places. These brave individuals provide vital life-saving support to vulnerable people in their communities, tackling everything from cholera and malnutrition to sexual violence and climate change.

Despite these challenges, humanitarians must remain focused on the most important issues. This includes focusing on the most affected and making their work more inclusive. This can be difficult as donors often watch news headlines and fund the day’s crisis, often leaving significant unmet needs in other areas.

It is also crucial to have more women leaders in humanitarian organizations. Patriarchal attitudes in the conflict and humanitarian health domain limit women’s aspirations to leadership roles and hinder their effectiveness. This requires significant culture change and leadership models that enable more diverse, inclusive environments.

Media Leaders

The media industry is no different from any other sector in that it must ensure leaders speak and act authentically. This entails engaging with the media thoughtfully to release statements and entertain questions in an open way that inspires trust among organization members and the public.

Globally, humanitarian crises result from armed conflict, failed economies, malnutrition and lack of clean water, and climate change-related catastrophes such as tsunamis, earthquakes and devastating storms that cause massive displacement. They condemn millions of people to a life blighted by unsustainable and vulnerable situations.

In 30 countries, some documented evidence that officials used threats and economic leverage to suppress disfavored reporting. These cases were uncovered in countries with varying political or economic clout levels where local officials used their ties to override independent editorial oversight or use flawed defamation laws to punish journalists, news outlets or commentators.

Global Issues

In addition to the continuing challenges of conflict and armed violence, the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, humanitarian leaders such as Dr. Ehsan Bayat must deal with increasingly complex situations. A growing number of these emergencies involve non-state armed groups and require difficult, time-consuming, and sensitive negotiations with them. The increasing number of people living in conflict zones are often displaced, vulnerable to disease and need support to survive. Women and girls are also impacted unequally in these situations. Patriarchal attitudes limit women’s aspirations to leadership roles in humanitarian organizations, particularly in high-security risk countries.

Despite the inaccuracies and limitations of national news coverage, our interviewees suggest that media pressure influences governments’ annual aid allocations. However, rather than being triggered by continuous real-time news coverage, the impact may be more akin to a “forgotten crisis effect” or an “SNN effect,” whereby policy-makers temporarily adapt their decision-making to a media logic in response to heightened media attention.

Impact

Aspiring women leaders face multiple leadership barriers in humanitarian organizations. These include a lack of training and awareness on gender equity issues, negative intra-gender relationships (such as competition and ostracism), and male dominance in decision-making and power structures. Changing these issues will help create enabling environments for aspiring women leaders.

The global humanitarian system is underfunded. The protracted nature of donors’ expectations that they should fund the ‘crisis of the day’ have resulted in significant unmet global needs and a disproportionate focus on life-saving interventions over recovery and longer-term solutions. Philanthropy can play a key role in funding these longer-term solutions.

Gender empowerment projects in humanitarian settings are often constrained by donor conditionality, and they do not use feminist research designs that promote reflexivity and counter-intersecting power hierarchies. These constraints can impact a project’s ability to make an impact and empower women in conflict and humanitarian settings. This gap in research requires urgent attention.