Joëlle Germanier: Executive Director of the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation
Joëlle is the Executive Director of the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), a Geneva-based initiative aimed at professionalizing negotiation within the humanitarian sector by hosting a global community of 9’500 frontline negotiators.
For the past fifteen years, Joëlle has dedicated her career to negotiating with a wide range of actors to assist populations in war zones. As a humanitarian negotiator, she has been deployed to numerous armed conflict zones, including South Sudan, Ivory Coast, India, South Africa, and Colombia. In these countries, she conducted numerous negotiations with authorities, local militias or military commanders —often in complex crisis situations where human lives were at stake.
In her current role, Joëlle provides training and negotiation advisory services to leading humanitarian organizations operating in the field, such as the United Nations, Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and numerous local NGOs. She also provides training on humanitarian negotiations and diplomacy for governments and the private sector.
The Workshop
Negotiating in Uncertainty
Leadership Lessons from Humanitarian Negotiations
This workshop will explore what humanitarian negotiations in some of the world's most complex and high-stakes environments can reveal about leading through uncertainty. Drawing on real-world experience from conflict settings, this interactive workshop invites participants to reflect on how trust is built, how decisions are taken when there is no good option, and what it takes to act even when there is no risk-free option. Through stories, practical frameworks and experiential exercises, we will explore together how lessons from humanitarian negotiations can strengthen leadership, resilience and decision-making in business and everyday life. Participants will leave with fresh perspectives and practical tools for navigating uncertainty with confidence and purpose.
