Humanitarian Diplomacy Meets Operational Complexity
ACTED – What global businesses can learn from crisis coordination in fragile contexts
ACTED is one of the world’s largest humanitarian NGOs, operating in over 40 countries with more than 5,000 staff. I worked as an executive assistant to the CEO during a critical phase of international expansion and multi-donor crisis response.
In this high-pressure environment, I supported top-level decision-making through internal communications, crisis reporting, and interdepartmental coordination. I worked closely with executive leadership on sensitive data management, institutional reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
Key actions.
- Contributed to the CEO’s strategic briefing materials during the rollout of over $500M in global programs
- Supported internal coordination across operations, HR, and communications in a multinational + high-risk context
- Participated in the structuring of crisis response reporting mechanisms following natural disasters and conflict escalation in key countries
- Improved executive reporting workflows with data-informed communication, reducing turnaround time by 30%.
Why it matters today.
Scaling across borders requires more than ambition — it requires alignment under pressure. My experience inside a humanitarian machine gave me a grounded understanding of stakeholder dynamics, cross-cultural coordination, and narrative clarity in crisis — essential for American companies operating in volatile or sensitive European and Global South markets.
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