ADELINA KAMAL

Adelina Kamal is a humanitarian and disaster management practitioner, and an independent analyst working at the intersection of disaster resilience, humanitarian action, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and regional leadership. From 2017 to 2021, she led the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) as its first female Executive Director, facilitating ASEAN’s collective response to major disasters. Under her leadership, the AHA Centre was awarded the Asian of the Year honour by the Straits Times Singapore.

Prior to this role, Adelina spent more than two decades at the ASEAN Secretariat, where she played a key role in developing the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, and was central to ASEAN’s response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008—negotiating humanitarian access, leading ASEAN’s first large-scale humanitarian response operation on the ground, and serving as the only female member of the high-level Tripartite Core Group coordinating international assistance. 

Following her tenure with the AHA Centre, Adelina has been consulting for governments, international and regional organisations, advocating for innovative approaches to disaster governance, humanitarian reform, and peacebuilding, and serving on multiple international advisory and governance roles. In December 2024, she received the Ambassadors’ 75 Peace Award, jointly conferred by the UK and Indonesia, in recognition of her contributions to fostering peace through international dialogue and cooperation. 

Adelina also contributes to academia as a regular guest lecturer at the University of Indonesia’s Master’s Programme in Disaster Management, and has authored numerous research-based articles and papers on humanitarian assistance and disaster management.