As a Mercator Fellow, Leonie Harsch works on strengthening the role of local actors, such as local NGOs or church and mosque communities, in international humanitarian cooperation. During her fellowship year, she can build on her experiences from two years of fieldwork with refugees and host communities in Lebanon and Germany, a year in a grassroots organization in the Indian Himalaya and her work with the UN’s regional commission for Western Asia. Leonie Harsch holds a MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. She has also studied International Literatures and Middle Eastern Studies in Tuebingen, Aix-Marseille and at IFPO Beirut.