Building national leadership for humanitarian operations in Myanmar
The challenge and the context
Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Myanmar supports people affected by displacement, conflict and crisis across the country. During the Covid-19 pandemic, political instability and an organisational nationalisation process, DRC Myanmar faced significant leadership challenges. As leadership responsibilities shifted to national managers, they needed additional support to lead teams, navigate change and maintain organisational performance in a complex operating environment.
The approach and results
MDF worked with DRC Myanmar to design and deliver a leadership and management development programme tailored to the organisation’s context and specific learning needs.
The programme started with a Learning Needs Assessment, combining document review, an online survey and interviews with managers to identify leadership challenges and development priorities. Training then focused on practical leadership competencies:
- People management and team collaboration
- Communication and constructive feedback
- Coaching and conflict management
- Decision-making and prioritisation
- Leading organisational change
Between sessions, participants applied new approaches in their daily work and reflected on their experiences through individual coaching, connecting learning directly to the situations they were navigating.
What changed
Participants reported a range of concrete improvements by the end of the programme:
- Greater awareness of their own leadership styles
- Increased confidence in communicating with colleagues and providing feedback
- Stronger skills in managing conflict and supporting teams through change
- Improvements in delegation, prioritisation and team collaboration
- Several participants shared tools and approaches with their own teams, extending the learning beyond the programme itself
