I spent the past week attending the GLOBE Leadership Seminar in Tallories, France. The seminar was focused on leadership in humanitarian action. I simply could not resist thinking about how what we were discussing applies to this course. Although every organization that enters a humanitarian situation has its own leader, the landscape in humanitarian zones is certainly anything but hierarchical. The government must first request aid, but after that, the area is bombarded by many, many organizations--all with their internal hierarchies. Increasingly, humanitarian actors have used cluster coordination, whereby a leader is selected to lead a cluster of participants in key areas--shelter, water, food, etc. But again, the success of the clusters is dependent on the leadership of the coordinator and the relationships that actors build within the cluster!
It could be interesting to complete a historical SNA of the Haiti earthquake, for example, to understand the relationships that were built on the ground...if it has not already been done, I am sure it would bring up at least a few points humanitarian leaders don't know already.
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I second Jane's emphasis on applying SNA to the cluster system in humanitarian crises. Given the use of cell phones to communicate and coordinate in these environments one could conceivably get phone rosters that the cluster systems used during Haiti and see who was connected (and who wasn't). Analyzing this type of data would allow practitioners to avoid duplication of effort and identify best-practices. This is especially relevant given the critical element of time in these environments and the discussion in the humanitarian sector about developing professional leadership. Good idea Jane!
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