Patricia McIlreavy

Patricia McIlreavy's picture
Title: 
Senior Director, Humanitarian Policy
Department: 
Humanitarian Policy & Practice
Patricia McIlreavy is Senior Director, Humanitarian Policy for InterAction, an alliance of U.S.-based relief and development organizations. She is responsible for ensuring effective representation of US-based NGOs in international humanitarian policy discussions, including at the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group. McIlreavy’s experience in the humanitarian field began in 1993, when she joined USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance. After serving on USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team to Rwanda in 1994, McIlreavy took on a field position with the International Rescue Committee’s Rwanda program.
 
Her subsequent career with the IRC spanned 14 years, during which she held Country Director posts in Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, and Regional Director for the Horn and East Africa.  As Regional Director, a post she held for five years, she oversaw IRC’s programming in relief, rehabilitation, and post-conflict development programs in Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.
 
Directly prior to joining InterAction, she was based in Jordan, working for three years as an international management and training consultant with a diverse group of humanitarian organizations, including the NGO community, the Red Cross movement, United Nations agencies and NATO. McIlreavy holds a masters degree in International Affairs from the American University School of International Service.

A Critical Change: What the Humanitarian Field Must Do to Do Better

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Submitted by Patricia McIlreavy on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 9:14am

The humanitarian field is highly responsive to its fiercest critic – itself. Constant improvements are sought and solutions offered on how to better assist those in crisis.We often focus these evaluations on ourselves since we know that through greater coordination we can do more.

Transforming How We Respond to a Crisis Like Syria

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Submitted by Patricia McIlreavy on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 4:06pm

As an alliance of international NGOs, InterAction espouses the value of working together during humanitarian crises. It is for this reason that for the past two years we have played an integral role in developing what is called a “transformative agenda." This agenda is an update to the guidance of how we work together within humanitarian responses, clarifying issues of leadership, coordination and strategy.

Improving Crisis Response: Will The NGO Voice Be Heard?

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Submitted by Patricia McIlreavy on Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:38am

Leadership is a concept that runs like an electric current through every evaluation, study and anecdotal criticism made about the humanitarian system and our ability to respond effectively. The word is charged with expectations. We qualify it, often negatively, demonstrating repeatedly how a strong aspiration can be weakened by the mere addition of an adjective. Poor. Ineffective. Controlling.