About us

Who we are

We are the Humanitarian Leadership Academy. We exist to accelerate the movement for locally led humanitarian action by supporting local leaders and creating inclusive spaces where local humanitarian actors can connect and share experience. We are reimagining how response happens and how those delivering it are best supported.

With over a decade of strengthening the capacity of humanitarians worldwide, a powerful network of allies, and a thriving community of alumni, we bring
together local and global partnerships to drive real change. Our digital learning platform, Kaya, connects 900,000+ learners, and our global community engages millions, making high-quality learning accessible worldwide. Our global convening platform Humanitarian Xchange has engaged over 3000 humanitarians since 2024.

As a sector-facing team within Save the Children, we complement Save the Children’s focus on localisation – supporting more humanitarians, working with anyone with an interest in creating positive change, and exploring new ways of delivering humanitarian response. 

But it’s not really about us. We help organisations in the humanitarian sector and beyond to amplify their reach, share their knowledge and build their networks. Our combined impact is infinitely stronger through working together.

Our Strategy

Convening Local Voices

Supporting Local Leaders

• Convening Local Voices: We create inspiring spaces where participants exchange ideas, build relationships, and align around a collective vision for a more locally-led humanitarian future. By strengthening connections across the humanitarian system, we break down barriers that often prevent local actors from accessing critical learning, insights, and best practices.
  
• Supporting Local Leaders: We support a network of compassionate, skilled, and visionary local leaders who challenge power imbalances, navigate complexity with confidence, and drive lasting change within their communities and across the wider system.

How are we funded?

Financial support from key funders in response to emergencies means we can respond at speed and at scale to emerging crises.
Longer-term funding from partners and funders underpins our commitment to locally-led action, allowing us to provide needs-based directed and self-guided learning required for those on the ground to rapidly develop their skills to prepare for and respond to crisis situations.

Our commercial offer is at the forefront of digital learning innovation. We offer partners access to leading edge digital technologies, learning expertise and the opportunity to work with us in convening the next generation of humanitarians. We offer platforms (Kaya and HPass), products and services tailor-made for the humanitarian sector.

Our operating model reinvests all our income and is designed to keep us sustainable in a changing financial landscape. When you invest in our offer, you’re not only reaping the benefits for your own organisation, you are also supporting the entire humanitarian sector.