Michael Delaney has worked in international development and humanitarian response for his entire career. During his 25 years with Oxfam America, he led humanitarian emergency responses for some of the largest scale disasters of this century. Delaney champions the primacy of local community involvement on both long-term development projects and emergency response programs, advocating that the voices of those affected by disasters are included in the design, implementation, and evaluation of emergency response. As Executive Director of Perkins International, he focused the scope of work and created financial sustainability through novel income streams from international governments and foundations. Delaney founded Crescendo International in response to the increasing demand for humanitarian action from the intensified climate crisis and global conflict. Crescendo International supports stronger, more effective, local humanitarian leadership to bring value added to the response and resilience for the next crisis event.

Delaney’s career is dedicated to the implementation of  local humanitarian leadership, saying, “Local humanitarian leadership is transformative, powerful, and bold.” “The Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative importantly identifies local humanitarian leadership as a lens on humanitarian action, and becoming an RPL fellow will further strengthen change as we bring awareness and build momentum among professionals and students.”

Delany explains that “the demand for humanitarian assistance is increasing as the capacity of the current humanitarian system has faltered. Humanitarian action is changing radically.” As a mentor, Delaney hopes to provide an insider’s perspective of the current sector transformation and the unique influence that religion has on humanitarian leadership, giving his students a framework to understand the evolutionary history of humanitarian response.