The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)’s website describes itself as “the world’s largest humanitarian network,” supporting over 192 countries and 14 million volunteers. IFRC’s program areas span disaster and climate crisis risk reduction, health and care, gender and youth inclusion, and building national capacities. MPH alumna Xuan Li works with the health and care team and is focused on three main areas—project management, networking, and humanitarian diplomacy. She works with a range of community partners to “co-design and co-implement” programs and projects. As a liaison with organizations across East Asia, Li connects the IFRC’s Asia Pacific office with resources and strategic guidelines from headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Her diplomatic role involves advocacy and lobbying with policymakers, and participating in webinars and panels alongside leaders from government and science.

Li says the MPH Program’s communications and planning courses taught her essential skills for her roles with IFRC, such as “how to tell stories in ways that appeal to different stakeholders, and how to develop and manage large-scale public health projects.” In a typical week, Li’s time might be divided between meeting with a local foundation to provide technical support for training rural doctors and volunteers, preparing for an event hosted by the United Nations or Boao Forum for Asia, and speaking with government officials to advocate for health policy reform. The next week, she might work with the Geneva office to build and evaluate Chinese Red Cross first aid trainings, and meet with local university students to provide guidance on their capstone projects.

In a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and McKinsey & Company, Tsinghua University is training students in strategic consulting and then pairing them with community organizations. Li has helped to establish IFRC’s role as a new community partner for one of these student groups, designing a capstone “problem” for them to solve based on a policy brief. Li sees this as very similar to the engaged learning model she experienced in MPH courses and is “excited to work with students and give back, because it was such a great experience for me as a Cornell student.”

Written by Audrey Baker