Dr. Wolfgang Jamann is the Executive Director at the International Civil Society Centre in Berlin. He has been working in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for most of his professional life, in the past 15 years in CEO positions at aid organisations like CARE International, and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe. A strong supporter of inter-organisational collaborations, he has led strategic partnerships like the ‘Alliance 2015’ or ‘United for Africa’, to promote collective approaches toward big ambitions under the SDGs.
With strong expertise in humanitarian work (and six years of field experience with World Vision and the UN in Africa) and in food security, he has served on various boards and advisory panels, e.g. the Steering Committee on Humanitarian Aid, the GAIN advisory Board, and IFPRI´s Compact 2020 Leadership Council.
A special interest in collaboration with the private sector has brought him onto co-chairing the World Economic Forum’s ASEAN Regional Summit in Phnom Penh in 2017, earned him advisory positions and regular high-level panel discussions with multilaterals, foundations and corporates. He has been the first Geneva Gender Champion of Civil Society, committing to personal and organizational gender parity pledges.
In the early stages of his career, he was part of the global ‘Do no Harm’ initiative of Dr. Mary Anderson, which has shaped the conflict sensitive work of humanitarian assistance in complex environments.
He brings a sound academic background as a development sociologist, has done research in Asia and has published on humanitarian assistance and conflict management. His interest in the academic work has persisted, and he lectures regularly at Universities. He also has been member of educational Boards like the CEMS business school alliance and the IFHV Bochum.
A German National, Wolfgang Jamann has worked abroad for over 10 years, and is currently based in Berlin.