Kate Forbes

Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and workers are among the earliest humanitarian responders when disaster strikes. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) president Kate Forbes ensures that volunteers and supplies are where the humanitarian need is most urgent—including in crisis zones such as Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran. 

In March, Forbes announced she was seeking a second term as president. She hadn’t planned to; when Forbes took the helm at IFRC, she pledged to serve one term. But she then realized it would take longer to modernize a 163-year-old enterprise made up of more than 190 groups around the world. 

At the same time, the NGO has had to contend with increased violence toward aid workers. Last year, 27 IFRC personnel perished in the line of duty, she says. She has found new ways to support people in the field, including by launching the Red Family Fund to provide money to relatives of killed aid workers. Last fall, she also helped rally more than 100 countries behind the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, a statement of principle that aid volunteers and workers must be kept safe as they go into war and disaster zones around the world.

The 75-year-old, who began as a local volunteer in Arizona in 1981, has visited more than 70 nations so far as president, often some of the world’s most dangerous places. “I believe I should be willing to go anywhere I ask our volunteers or staff to go,” she says.

While her job in many ways has become more challenging, she is determined to carry on. “The world got much more complex, and developing strong relationships with both government and national societies takes a while,” she says. Her decision to stand for another term came with the encouragement of many others, she says.  “I really believed…that my voice was needed to continue on.”