Leadership in Crisis Settings — Zena’s career journey and the power of a positive mindset
In the face of adversity, there are women who dedicate their lives to creating positive change. The UNDP Women in Crisis Settings series showcases the incredible career journeys of six resilient women who work in some of the most challenging environments on the planet. These stories of determination and perseverance highlight the extraordinary resilience required to navigate crises while also showcasing the profound impact their work has on communities in need. From conflict zones to disaster-stricken areas, these women not only endure but thrive, adapting swiftly and leading with unwavering commitment.
Balancing Family and Career in Crisis Settings
Let me start this story by emphasizing that next to my title as UNDP’s Resident Representative in Yemen, I am also a proud mother of two young men. As a single mother for most of my life, I have learned to balance motherhood with having a successful career. Juggling both is possible, and I am living testimony to this. Growing up during Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990, my exposure to conflict began long before working at a UNDP office in crisis scenarios. This upbringing deeply influenced who I am today. The resilience, creativity, and perseverance that you must adopt in such conditions are essential for crisis work. Regularly confronting uncertainty, I had to adapt quickly and think creatively from an early age.
Achieving meaningful impact in crisis settings has always been a red thread in my career path, even before I joined the United Nations. I studied rural development at the American University of Beirut, where I finished my Master’s Degree, and completed my post graduate studies at the University of London with a focus on the Management of Social Change. I had also worked at various non-governmental organizations before I eventually joined the UNDP Country Office in Lebanon in 1997 as a Program Officer. This was a period of relative stability in Lebanon, as the country was still recovering from its recent civil war, and I hoped I could contribute to building a better future for my country. By 2002, I had risen to the level of Assistant Resident Representative, focusing on crisis prevention and recovery in UNDP Lebanon. During this period, Lebanon experienced several conflicts, and my work was focused on responding and supporting the country to recover from these crises.
From Lebanon to Yemen: A Career Shaped by Conflict and Crisis
In 2005, I joined UNDP Sub-Regional Facility for the Arab States, a precursor to the UNDP’s Regional Hub in Amman, Jordan focusing on local development linked to crisis prevention and recovery. This role gave me the opportunity to work on recovery, development and crisis prevention initiatives in 18 Arab countries and deepened my passion for the region. I then moved to Syria as the Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP Syria. Unfortunately, the country plunged into conflict while I was on duty there. From this experience, I learned first-hand how to deal with the sudden onset of crises. After five years in Syria, I moved to Jordan as the country director, where I still dealt extensively with the spillover of conflict in neighboring Syria, especially the refugee crisis that also affected Jordan. I then decided to take up the position of UN-Habitat Regional Director for the Arab States in order to examine work in the Arab region from another lens, after which I returned to UNDP as the Resident Representative in Iraq, managing support to a country recovering from large-scale conflict.
My long journey of working across various countries in the Arab region ultimately led to my current role as Resident Representative for UNDP in Yemen. During my 28-year career in crisis response and recovery, Yemen stands out as one of the most complex and challenging environments I have ever encountered. It is a least developed country, highly stressed by climate change, and has experienced several conflicts over its course of history. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 18.2 million people in Yemen are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection services. 17.6 million people are facing food and nutrition insecurity, and 4.5 million people remain displaced. UNDP’s recent study found that in areas surveyed, 82.7 % of families in the country live in multidimensional poverty. In light of these challenges, UNDP not only responds to the most urgent needs of Yemeni communities, but also works to restore livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and support the country toward a path for sustainable development and peace.
As UNDP’s Resident Representative in Yemen, I provide strategic guidance, develop partnerships, mobilize resources, ensure safety, security, and well-being of staff, and ensure the implementation of quality programmes that positively impact the lives of Yemenis. Generally, the role of Resident Representatives at UNDP is to direct and guide the activities of the Country Office, ensuring that these are consistent with the development priorities of the host country and supportive of the UN’s development efforts in the country. It requires keeping a bird’s-eye view on the programmes to move ahead strategically, while at the same time making sure the teams know and feel that they are part of an impactful journey.
I collaborate closely with a diverse array of stakeholders, including government officials, donors, development partners, and local communities. The complexity of Yemen’s landscape demands a collaborative approach, bringing together various UN agencies and the political arm of the UN, which is the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen. A key challenge is the delicate balancing act required to navigate between different groups (at many times with conflicting interests) while ensuring our efforts contribute to, rather than disrupt, the country’s fragile stability.
With the role that I have and the conditions I work in, there is no such thing as a regular day in the office. I spend a great deal of time traveling between Aden and Sanaa, going on field visits whenever the security situation allows, and meeting with development partners, or the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen. There is no international presence in Yemen except for the UN and INGOs, which also entails that I have to travel to meet and advocate with our development partners outside the country to ensure that Yemen remains high on their agenda.
Innovative Agile Approaches to Sustainable Development in Yemen
As a United Nations agency with a broad mandate, UNDP is uniquely positioned to support Yemen’s transition from humanitarian aid to recovery, development and peace. When I arrived, I set out to tap into the breadth of our mandate and worked with all colleagues to develop a strategic direction for the country office, which included three elements: implementing quality programming that responds to emerging needs, business process reengineering, and a functional realignment. With a two-year cycle in mind, as the unstable context makes it difficult to plan for anything beyond that, we looked at our mandate, asking how can UNDP support Yemen in the transition to sustainable peace? We looked through a crisis prevention and recovery lens, focusing on the nexus between climate and peace, to shape our economic recovery and climate, energy, and water portfolio. We also integrated governance ‘for’ peacebuilding, recognizing that effective governance is crucial to achieving and sustaining peace. We also reflected on “the how”, meaning the way we do business in a highly insecure and volatile environment. A central pillar of our approach has been agility and flexibility. This means having a team ready to adapt swiftly to changes on the ground, and effectively respond to them.
To move our work forward, we need to be able to shift gears at any time. And when setbacks occur, my coping mechanism is to close the laptop for a few minutes, think of the bigger picture and a better future that I could help shape. While gazing out the window I imagine a brighter tomorrow. I always say that to work in crisis contexts, we must be in the business of hope!
There is no business as usual in a crisis setting. To be innovative and to be creative is not an add-on to our work here, it is an absolute necessity and a survival mechanism. It is simply not an option! Here, every day is uncertain.
In a challenging and unpredictable environment like this, communication and honesty are the glue that keeps our team together. It is important to have realistic expectations and accept the things that are beyond your control; to acknowledge where we have missed the target, and adjust accordingly. With that in mind, I make sure to be transparent about the things we can and cannot achieve. What is, however, in our hands, is the ability to try to mitigate risks to the extent possible. I am strongly committed to maintaining an open-door policy, to make sure that my staff always feel supported and heard in an inclusive, consultative environment. Unlike international staff members, who are here by choice and who have the option to leave, local staff members must live their reality every day. There are no breaks and rest periods for them, which makes it vital to build a solid team and ensure they feel supported, and perhaps even more importantly, to foster a feeling of belonging to a better future, for them and their families. Ultimately, it is the mission, the passion, and the hope that fuels our work. To continuously instill this in my team, even during challenging times, I encourage them to close their eyes and imagine Yemen as they would like it to be, with UNDP serving as a small building block in that vision.
What drives me in this role and what motivates me even throughout the most challenging times is that our presence in this country makes a difference to the Yemenis. We can discuss impact in very technical terms using development jargon but let me take a different approach here. To me, impact is visiting a community that did not have access to potable drinking water since the 1990s, and witnessing the joy as water starts to flow again and people dance in celebration.
The Yemen Food Security Response and Resilience Project (FSRRP) is managed in partnership with the World Bank’s International Development Association, and implemented with local organizations. The project aims at improving household food security and building resilience by increasing food availability and accessibility. It including use of climate-smart technology for irrigation water and agriculture production. When I go on field visits, I get to meet Yemenis, who, thanks to UNDP’s support, did not fall below the poverty line in a country where more than 80% of the population live below the poverty line. Our work provides direct support to communities, creating impact at the micro level and it is also impactful on the macro level. For example, supporting access to marine ports and rehabilitating the ports directly translates into support to imports, and a decline of food basket costs. Similarly, bringing together a small group of leaders from different areas to to discuss how they envision their country going forward fosters important dialogue for progress.
Just as I’ve trained my mind to handle challenges in my professional life, I apply the same approach to my personal life. Living in a compound is very restrictive, but the way you understand and make sense of your situation is merely a state of mind. Rather than dwelling on that, it is important to take every opportunity to bring people together. Every Friday night, many of the UNDP international staff working in Yemen get together on the terrace and share a meal.
Being separated from my family is always difficult, but I soak up every hour of quality time I get with my family during regular Rest and Recuperation breaks. These breaks, granted every four weeks, allow international personnel serving in crisis settings to leave the duty station for a week to take a break from the stressful conditions and connect with their loved ones. As a golden rule, I make sure to involve my children as much as I can in the big decisions about my career and its implications for them, as we are in this together.
The question of how to balance family and career is predominantly directed at women, which I think is unfair.The issue of being separated from our families is not an issue that women are uniquely burdened by. As much as I miss my children, I am certain that a man in my position would miss his family just as much. The real problem lies in the traditional expectations placed on women — as mothers, wives, and caretakers. As women, we often find ourselves needing to work harder, whether in crisis settings or elsewhere. There is no doubt that in patriarchal societies, the challenges are even greater. However, I’ve never considered these challenges as obstacles throughout my 28-year career.
Overcoming Gender Bias in Leadership Roles
A few days ago, I was in a meeting with the heads of various agencies and realized I was the only woman at the table. I even joked about it, saying, “Have you noticed that I’m the only woman here?” Sometimes, it feels like we are invisible. For example, during previous field visits, when I lead delegations, sometimes local officials address male colleagues instead of me. For me, these situations resemble a challenge to overcome, where patience is my best strategy, knowing full well that recognition and respect for my role is inevitable- it is not a choice. Again, it all boils down to the mindset: I need to remain steadfast and trust in their eventual shift in mindset.
After 28 years, I feel blessed to have contributed to changing lives in my troubled region. I am still thrilled by all of the positive impact on peoples’ lives that we can achieve in conflict countries, whether we are on the prevention side or on the response side, including creating the building blocks for a better future.
To all the women who can see themselves in such a role, I say: go for it! Train yourself to look at the glass half full rather than half empty, focus on the small everyday successes, and spend quality time with your family whenever you can. If working in a conflict setting teaches you one thing-, it is to never take anything for granted. The most important requirement to be in this line of work is the ability to deal with uncertainty and disruption.
I would urge anyone who is considering a career in this field to take a step backward and reflect: Are you able to live with constant uncertainty? Are you able to work in an agile, creative and innovative way? If you are certain of these qualities, there is nothing that stands between you and dedicating yourself to working in a crisis setting. I can assure you that it is an exceptionally exciting manageable, and most importantly, very, very rewarding career.
