Robert Whitelaw

Rob is currently designing, building and launching Elrha's Humanitarian Research and Innovation (HRI) Advisory Network - a global network of technical specialists and expert professionals, brought together to provide tailored mentoring opportunities, knowledge sharing, and strategic guidance to our partners and grantees.

For more than ten years, Rob has worked in a variety of humanitarian and development contexts, including managing Education in Emergencies programmes in refugee and migrant settings on the Myanmar border, supporting donor organisations to transition from funding residential care to family-based care, and working with UNICEF to strengthen and better integrate Ghana’s national social protection programmes and systems.

Passionate about inclusive and community-led programme design, Rob also leads Elrha's organisational approach to localisation and inclusion, ensuring that Elrha's programmes involve the leadership and meaningful participation of people affected by crises, persons with disabilities, and other groups traditionally marginalised by the humanitarian and HRI sectors.