The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative honors U.S. Institute of Peace President Nancy Lindborg today with an annual award bestowed on “a visionary public figure who has demonstrated superior leadership in a time of humanitarian crisis.”

Lindborg, who served as head of Mercy Corps and then as a senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) before joining USIP in February 2015, will accept the Elisabeth B. Weintz Humanitarian Award in a ceremony in Boston. Hosted by the initiative, a university-wide center, Lindborg will participate in a strategy session on programs and research and give a talk on “Building Peace in a Turbulent World,” an event co-sponsored by the school’s Women and Public Policy Program, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and the Future of Diplomacy Project. Lindborg is an alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School.

The award is named in honor of the late Elisabeth B. “Betsy” Weintz, who passed away in 2007. Her husband, J. Frederick Weintz, established the tribute in 2015 “to celebrate the memory, compassionate spirit and transformative leadership of Betsy Weintz,” according to the initiative’s website. The couple were early supporters of creating a program at Harvard focused on identifying ways to improve humanitarian response to crises globally and improving training for humanitarian aid workers. The inaugural award was presented in 2016 to Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“There are so many people working on the frontlines of crisis every day, that I accept this award with great humility,” Lindborg said.  “I commend the Weintz family for their heartening commitment to humanitarian action--especially at time of accelerating global crises, which underscores the importance both of more effective humanitarian action and an increased focus on preventing the violent conflict driving these catastrophes.” 

Lindborg has spent most of her career working in countries and regions of the world that are fragile or affected by violent conflict. At USAID, for example, she led teams focused on building resilience and democracy, managing and mitigating conflict and providing urgent humanitarian assistance. She led teams responding to the Syria crisis, the Arab Spring, the droughts in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, the Ebola response and other global crises.

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative conducts research and education to advance the science and practice of humanitarian response to relieve human suffering in war and disaster. It is supported by Harvard University's Office of the Provost and based at the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.