Meet Fiona Kilpatrick, Programme Manager for HALO Sri Lanka
Forging a path for women in Sri Lanka
Fiona Kilpatrick is Programme Manager for HALO Sri Lanka, responsible for almost 800 national staff and the planning and execution of all HALO鈥檚 demining activities in the country. She recalls first reading about the organisation when Princess Diana visited a HALO minefield in Angola in 1997. 鈥淭here was a photograph of her with a young girl鈥攁 mine victim, which I always remembered.鈥�
She began her career in the British Army, joining the Royal Logistics Corps as an Ammunition Technician before becoming one of the first women to qualify as a Bomb Disposal Operator. Interestingly, joining the military never crossed her mind growing up, but when she enlisted at the age of 19, her parents said they had known it would be her vocation since she was seven years old!
Fiona served in the army for nine years and also spent two years in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, teaching bomb disposal to the Afghan National Security Forces. In 2014, Fiona joined HALO as Technical Officer in the C么te d'Ivoire before becoming Programme Manager five months later.
In 2016, Fiona took over as Programme Manager in Sri Lanka, the first woman to hold this role in a demining organisation in the country. She feels that Sri Lanka is no different to many other places when it comes to traditional gender stereotypes.
鈥淚n the case of Sri Lanka, I am the only female manager in humanitarian demining, which can be challenging. The way to deal with it is to be confident in your convictions, and to stand up for yourself, your organisation, and your staff.鈥欌��
Regardless of gender, Fiona believes the success behind good leadership comes from knowledge, transparency, good communication and strong ethics.
鈥淵ou must be fair and treat people with respect. You must stand up for yourself and your colleagues, even when the results may be hard, and you must always be able to say to yourself 鈥業 did the right thing.鈥欌��
As head of a large programme, Fiona鈥檚 daily routine is packed. She manages and provides technical oversight of operations across three districts in northern Sri Lanka, as well as liaising with national and international government representatives and the donors who make HALO鈥檚 life saving work possible.
Fiona is keen to support the programme鈥檚 female staff to take on leadership roles in a realm that has traditionally been male dominated. She believes seeing women in leadership positions encourages other women in the workplace.
For Fiona, it is the tangible impact of mine clearance that motivates her every day.
鈥淭he satisfaction I get from doing this job is immense. Not only do we make land and lives safe from mines, but we give jobs to some of the most vulnerable people in the region. So really, it鈥檚 about helping because, if you know you can, why wouldn鈥檛 you?鈥�
