I agree with what Kelly and Mitchell have said above. Being adaptable and empathetic would be incredibly important. With regards to what Kelly has said about continually keeping up to date with new learnings, from experiences in the past with practitioners in other fields (not humanitarian specifically), continual learning is something that is often neglected. People become complacent which in a humanitarian setting would be less than ideal. This echoes what both have said but it seems to me that an ideal humanitarian is someone who is able to give up control to some extent. In situations where you are in charge of managing resources, people, plans etc. but are in a setting where you are an ‘outsider’ it would be critical to be able to collaborate and be a helpful guiding force rather than only being able to manage if you have complete control. (In other words, they need to be able to employ transformational leadership to help communities get back on their own feet). I have never participated in any humanitarian work though so it would be interesting to see what those who have think about this!
