About Me
20+ years in senior leadership roles in humanitarian action.
10+ years of experience in strategic thinking, reviews, evaluations and research.
Based in Geneva, working globally.
My name is Raphaël Gorgeu. I have been working as a Senior Consultant, Advisor and Researcher in Humanitarian Affairs since 2022. I bring over twenty years of experience in the humanitarian sector in senior leadership roles, both in the field and at headquarters – including as Head of Operational Positioning, Analysis and Advocacy and Deputy Director of Operations at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and as Director of Policy and Partnership at ICVA.
Over the last ten years, my work has been largely dedicated to strategic thinking, reviews, evaluations and research to support organisational decision-making and improve humanitarian practice.
During this time, I have seen the humanitarian sector become more complex: needs continue to grow, funding is under pressure, and political and security environments are increasingly fragmented. In today’s humanitarian sector, changing how we act starts with changing how we think. This idea sits at the centre of my work and of the collaborations I build.I work with humanitarian organisations, consultancy firms, think tanks, and academic and research institutions to connect reflection and action in concrete ways. I help teams step back from day-to-day pressures, examine how the sector operates in practice, and explore realistic avenues for change.
WHAT I BRING
Throughout my career, I have led and contributed to numerous evaluations, reviews, research projects and strategic exercises (see the Selected work section). A common thread across these assignments is the ability to bridge operational realities with policy transformations, organisational decision-making and broader ways of thinking about humanitarian action.
My work explores how different approaches to humanitarian action emerge, coexist and sometimes collide. I am particularly interested in accompanying organisations in their thinking: helping them make sense of their environment, question established frames, and connect this reflection to concrete choices in programmes and strategy.
My expertise includes, among others:
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Reviews and evaluations of humanitarian programmes, policies and organisational approaches
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Strategy development
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Organisational and change management
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Humanitarian programming and operational positioning in conflict and displacement settings, emergencies and protracted crises
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Humanitarian coordination, financing mechanisms, partnerships and localisation
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Humanitarian principles, access and negotiation, and humanitarian diplomacy and representation
I bring solid experience in research and evaluation methodologies, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches and tailoring them to the needs, timelines and cultures of the organisations I work with. My understanding of the humanitarian sector – its governance structures, coordination fora, funding flows and policy processes – is both comprehensive and grounded in practice.
HOW I WORK
My extensive field experience in senior leadership roles means that my analyses are never purely theoretical. I understand the constraints that teams and leaders operate under – from security and access dilemmas to organisational politics, donor expectations and limited time and resources.
Whether I am carrying out reviews and evaluations, facilitating strategic reflection, or conducting research, my focus is on generating clear, usable insights that organisations can realistically act on. I aim to create spaces where important questions can be explored openly, where assumptions can be examined without defensiveness, and where different parts of an organisation – from field teams to senior management – can connect more effectively.
Ultimately, my work is about supporting better thinking and better decisions, so that humanitarian organisations can strengthen the way they engage with crisis-affected people and the environments in which they operate.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
A large part of my career has been with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), where I held senior positions both in the field and at headquarters. I served as Country Director in South Sudan, Yemen and Haiti, and later as Head of Operational Positioning, Analysis and Advocacy and Deputy Director of Operations at MSF’s headquarters in Geneva. In these roles, I provided strategic oversight for a portfolio of operations spanning around 24 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. A core part of my responsibilities was to design and lead strategic and operational reviews, research and evaluation exercises aimed at strengthening country strategies, improving humanitarian programmes and supporting decision-making in practice. This work also involved analysing how the humanitarian sector was evolving and advising senior leadership at headquarters and field level on strategic orientations.
From 2015 to 2017, I was Director of Policy and Partnership at the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA). In that capacity, I led ICVA’s analytical and research work on the evolution of the humanitarian sector and supported NGOs in adapting their strategies in response to sectoral changes. I was also closely engaged with the wider humanitarian sector through ICVA’s role in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). My responsibilities further included connecting NGOs to other key policy arenas such as the World Humanitarian Summit, as well as to dialogue with regional organisations including the African Union, ASEAN, the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
I have also held various field and headquarters roles with other international NGOs, including Handicap International and Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), working in contexts such as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Mali, Sudan and many others.
More detailed information on my professional background and career history can be found on my LinkedIn profile.
SELECTED WORK (publicly available)
Review of INGO Operational Positioning in Sudan (2024-2025)
Humanitarian Policy Review's Framework (2025)
An analytical framework for humanitarian protocol and policy review exercises
Learning review of the IASC System-Wide Scale-Up Protocols (2023)
How to think about the evolution of the humanitarian sector (2022-2024)
“Spelunking” : A Trumanitarian Podcast with Raphael Gorgeu
Evolution, ideas and the possibility of change of the humanitarian sector
Évolution, idées et possibilités de changement au sein du secteur humanitaire
The Global Compact on Refugees: The bumpy road of a social norm in development (2021)
The world tomorrow: COVID-19 and the new humanitarian (2020)