Action is always an option

The need for humanitarian aid is on the rise, while providing it is made harder and harder. For Linda Konate (MA), however, it is not an option to become paralysed by this. She believes action is always an option.

Linda Konate (MA) is Country Director for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Finland and Social Scientist of the Year 2025. She has nearly 20 years of experience in humanitarian aid.

When she was younger, Konate already felt pulled towards an international career, and she ended up studying international relations and conflict analysis at the University of Kent in England. After completing her studies, Konate became a trainee at a new think tank in Brussels which brought together EU and NATO officials to discuss security and defence policy. After her internship, Konate remained at the think tank to develop and build the office. Four years later she realised that something was missing.

“My work at the think tank was very interesting, but I soon realised that the discussions forgot about the people in the midst of all the conflicts. This led me to consider humanitarian aid work, where I might see how these conflicts impact people directly,” Konate says.

Konate began to think about where she might be able to work in humanitarian aid, and she quickly thought of Médecins Sans Frontières. The organisation, founded in 1971, had clear principles and values which made Konate apply to join.

“We still offer people the opportunity to join us if they’re interested and have a suitable profile. I don’t have a medical background, but I already knew that people with other backgrounds are also welcome to apply for jobs here.”

Based on her leadership experience from Brussels and her knowledge of security policy, Konate was recruited to work for the organisation’s human resources department. Soon after, she received her first assignment in Ethiopia.

Relief work became a passion 

Looking back, Konate feels like the year spent doing aid work in Ethiopia was a turning point in her career.

“Back then I had no idea what I would be doing this for the next 20 years. You never know ahead of time whether aid relief work is for you. You have to experience it,” she says.

In the large country, Konate worked on many different kinds or local disasters, but the measles epidemic is what she remembers best. The MSF assessment team was asked to assess the situation in the area affected by the epidemic, where the rainy season was about to begin. After the assessment Konate was part of a team which began offering relief aid.

“We realised that we had two weeks to vaccinate all children under the age of 15 in the region. We had the skills and resources we needed – we launched a vaccination campaign within 24 hours. In that situation we couldn’t stop to think, we had to act straight away,” Konate says.

“And we managed it,” she adds.

Konate speaks passionately about aid work and explains that she still tries to find the time to work in the field. Her last assignment was three years ago in Ethiopia. In relief work, the results of the humanitarian aid are tangible, and the human encounters are unique.  

Bringing the work to Finland

Today, Konate works in her dream job as Country Director for MSF Finland. But her career has not always been a bed of roses. When she moved to Finland after 12 years abroad, she was not sure if she would be able to continue her career in humanitarian aid.

”I had thought that my international experience would be really useful in Finland, but I didn’t get the reception I expected. For a while I felt like an outsider, and I wondered if I could even continue my career in humanitarian aid,” Konate says.

Her uncertainty was understandable: to this day, there are not many organisations in Finland offering humanitarian aid. Konate did, however, end up getting a job with the Red Cross, and later she returned to her old workplace when the opportunity came in 2018 to establish the first MSF branch in Finland. Her current job is very different to aid work.

“It’s mainly office work,” Konate says.

Even though her tasks are very different from the work she used to do in the field, she is still happy. Every day is different: monitoring crises in conflict zones, media work, leading the office, and meetings with stakeholders are all part of her normal work. How much time she spends on media work varies a lot depending on the level of interest that the media is showing in different conflicts. But the media is rarely interested in one conflict for very long.

“Even if the media loses interest in a conflict after a couple of weeks, our work still continues – it is based on need.”

What Konate struggles with the most in her work is what she calls forgotten crises. By this she means that crises become chronic, and more and more complicated. There are constantly more crises where help is needed all the time, but this need is not reflected in the public debate.

“The media only wants me to talk about Gaza, even though I would also like to talk about Sudan. I haven’t seen a single article about Afghanistan in the past year,” she says.

The most rewarding part of her current job is different kinds of encounters where she gets to talk about the forgotten crises. These encounters include conversations with donors, various fundraising meetings, and school visits.

Questioning human value is a concerning trend

For Konate, encounters with people are a passion and a matter close to her heart – this quickly becomes clear from listening to her. During her international assignments she has realised how similar people ultimately are. We all share the same joys and sorrows, regardless of culture.

“It is a privilege to be able to have these encounters and experience these situations,” Konate says.

Konate is worried by the current debate in society about human value, and how this will impact the increasing need for humanitarian aid.

“It feels like human value is no longer guaranteed. Some even try to actively question the fact that all people are equal. You can even see this in Finland in how some people talk about refugees.”

Another phenomenon in society which worries Konate is the increasingly polarised public debate. She does however believe that social scientists can be the group to promote change here.

“I wish that we had the courage to discuss and avoid creating echo chambers. The current debate is fairly black and white, even though we know that life and society are never as simple as that,” Konate says.

Konate has also taken up studies in corporate responsibility. She hopes that the corporate side can offer new perspectives, and that businesses can also learn something from her. No one can resolve global crises or conflicts alone; a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to find solutions.

Giving up is not an option

Even though there is a lot of despair in conflict and emergency zones, Konate finds strength in the thought that action is always possible.

“Giving up is never an option for me,” she says firmly.

Crises are depressing and increasingly complicated. Konate finds hope in incredible survival stories and a shared will to keep trying. She wishes that the public debate would not sink too deep in a paralysing gloominess, but that we would instead remember that you can always do something.

“Action is always an option. Doing something is always one of the alternatives, and I think it’s important to remember that,” Konate says.