Leading by Listeningː Gerald Cirilo Reyes Rethinks His Approach to Leadership

Having already built extensive experience across different countries and humanitarian environments, Gerald came to the Mid-Career Course seeking an opportunity to pause, reassess and challenge the beliefs he had developed throughout his career. 

I wanted to take stock of what I’ve learned, what I need to learn, and how I learn from others.”

The Program for Global Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding and Development was set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan to strengthen the capacity of peacebuilding and development professionals. Since FY2024, it has been delivered by Hiroshima University in close cooperation with United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Gerald joined the FY2025 Mid-Career Course, which focused on leaders aspiring to management positions. The Course combined online pre-training in December 2025 with in-person training over 7-13 January 2026 at Hiroshima University. Eight participants from Japan and one each from Austria, Cameroon, France, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Nepal and Pakistan took part.

The experience, Gerald says, provided a valuable space for self-reflection and meaningful exchanges with a diverse group of colleagues. It gave him fresh perspectives on how colleagues across different organizations and technical fields approached similar challenges in their careers. 

Learning alongside professionals in health, nutrition, livelihoods and protection also challenged him to look beyond the limits of his own field and see humanitarian challenges as deeply interconnected – an understanding that was reinforced through a moving visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. Rather than viewing humanitarian response and development as separate tracks, Gerald came away with a deeper appreciation for how immediate assistance must be linked with long-term planning, capacity-building and stronger national systems.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.