Wikipedia

Rahul Chandran

Rahul Chandran (born 1976) is the first executive director of the Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation.[1] GAHI was a major outcome of the World Humanitarian Summit. He was previously a thought leader on United Nations reform, working across the fields of development, conflict, and security, widely known for his work on resilience, statebuilding, and humanitarian change.

Chandran was the author and managing editor of Humanitarianism in the Network Age,[2] a major report on the future of humanitarian action The report argued that information was a basic need in crisis response[3] and was described as ground-breaking[4] and a "turning point for the use of mobile and ICT in humanitarian crises and the protection of human rights".[5]

Chandran has also led various efforts on UN reform, including around the Sustainable Development Goals, and the International Review of Civilian Capacity Secretariat,[6] a reform process for the United Nations.

Before this, Chandran was the deputy director at the Center on International Cooperation(CIC). At CIC, Chandran, along with the Director, Bruce D. Jones, and Richard Gowan, helped to make CIC one of the most influential think-tanks working on conflict and security issues. While at CIC, Chandran ran the Afghanistan Reconstruction Program, working for Barnett Rubin before his appointment as Senior Advisor to Richard Holbrooke.

Chandran was the lead author of From Fragility to Resilience,[7] a policy paper for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that provided new definitions for State-building and resilience. The paper was highly influential in the world of conflict policy. First, it restored the idea that political settlement was essential to social contract stability. Second, it defined building resilience as the goal of international assistance to conflict countries. Third, it renewed the focus on legitimacy. This work has been taken forward in several other fora – on political settlements most notably by Alan Whaites and DfiD, as well as the World Bank's 2011 World Development Report,[8] and on legitimacy by the OECD's International Network on Conflict and Fragility.

Chandran was also the lead author of Recovering From War[9] a report commissioned by the UK Government ahead of its 20 May 2008 thematic debate[10] in the United Nations Security Council. Recovering from War defined three primary weaknesses in the international response to conflict:

  • A strategy gap – observing "no evidence of a strategy that encompassed political, security, development, and humanitarian tools across bilateral and multi-lateral actors; and no framework for prioritization."
  • A financing gap – noting that financing "instruments are neither flexible nor dynamic."
  • A series of capacity gaps – in leadership capacity; in implementation capacity; in sheer availability of civilian resources, and in a lack of training for the purpose.

These findings formed the basis of then Prime Minister Gordon Brown's address to the Security Council, and the subsequent debate. They have also launched a series of processes to address these, with considerable success on the capacity gap through the Review of Civilian Capacities;[11] some progress on the financing gap through the OECD/DAC process on financing and aid architecture;[12] and negligible process on the strategy gap.

Chandran has previously worked for the World Bank on participatory monitoring and evaluation issues, and for the UN in Afghanistan, where he wrote a popular Diaries Diaries[13] column for Slate. Before this, he had a successful private sector career, involved with ESPNCricinfo and Rely Software.[14] He was also a paralegal on Pigford v. Glickman one of the largest civil rights actions in US history.

Chandran currently serves on the Expert Advisory Group of the Partnership for Democratic Governance[15] for whom he wrote Statebuilding and Government Consolidation in Situations of Fragility,[16] and the Consortium Advisory Group for DfID's Secure livelihoods research consortium.[17]

Education

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Chandran is a graduate of Yale University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Selected publications

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References

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  1. ↑ "Home". thegahi.org.
  2. ↑ "Humanitarianism in the Network Age" (PDF). OCHA. 2013. ISBN 978-92-1-132037-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  3. ↑ "Connectivity as critical as food and shelter in crises", news.trust.org, retrieved 20 August 2020
  4. ↑ "Humanitarianism in the Network Age: Groundbreaking Study", iRevolutions, 9 April 2013, retrieved 20 August 2020
  5. ↑ "New Publications signal a turning point for the use of mobile and ICT in humanitarian crises and the protection of human rights | Mobile for Development". Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  6. ↑ "Home", archive.vn, 22 July 2012, retrieved 20 August 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. ↑ "State Building in Situations of Fragility: Initial Findings" (PDF). www.oecd.org. August 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  8. ↑ "Conflict Security and Development". wdr2011.worldbank.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  9. ↑ Chandran, Rahul; Jones, Bruce; Smith, Natasha (July 1, 2008). "Recovering from War Gaps in early action" (PDF). NYU Center on International Cooperation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  10. ↑ "SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS 60 SPEAKERS, ASKS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADVISE ORGANIZATION WITHIN ONE YEAR ON BEST WAYS TO SUPPORT NATIONAL PEACEBUILDING EFFORTS". www.un.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  11. ↑ Review of Civilian Capacities. "Home". www.civcapreview.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-23. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  12. ↑ "Financing, risk management and resource flows". www.oecd.org. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  13. ↑ "Entry 1". Slate. 2003-01-14. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  14. ↑ "RELY Software Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  15. ↑ "The Partnership for Democratic Governance". www.oecd.org. Archived from the original on 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  16. ↑ "Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility: POLICY GUIDANCE" (PDF). OECD. 1990. ISBN 978-92-64-07498-9. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium - ODI Project - Our work - Overseas Development Institute (ODI)". Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
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