Rachel Isely

As Humanitarian Programs Director for Concern Worldwide US, Rachel leads Concern’s Humanitarian Training Unit which has provided capacity building and system strengthening trainings to more than 100,000 humanitarians working in nearly every type of humanitarian context.

In her tenure, the unit has doubled in size and now compromises four unique training and research programs, including the Building a Better Response Project (BBR), and the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership, joint initiatives of Concern, International Medical Corps, and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative which aim to strengthen leadership capacity and NGO involvement in the international humanitarian coordination system during complex emergencies.

During her time at Concern, Rachel has worked in more than 10 countries in various capacities, from delivering trainings in Djibouti, Kenya, Nepal, Thailand, and the Philippines to supporting a diverse portfolio of more than $15 million of Concern’s programs funded by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance in Somalia, the Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, and Bangladesh.

Rachel holds a Master’s Degree in International Development Studies from SOAS, University of London, where she focused on labor economics and workers’ rights in South Asia. A former resident of London and Mumbai, she now resides in her homeland, the Great Badger State – Wisconsin.