Kilian Kleinschmidt believes in the power of connectivity and that we can fix it all through better and more effective access of disadvantaged populations and fragile regions to the immense wealth of know-how, technologies, and finance we have accumulated collectively. It is his conviction that the global brain and collective resilience grow with every connection made, successfully solving a challenge and seizing an opportunity.
Kilian is an international networker, development and migration expert with 35 years of experience in a wide range of countries, emergencies, and refugee camps as a United Nations official, aid worker, and diplomat. He is developing and advising a number of ventures which aim at sustainable investment and social impact in very fragile environments. His work on emerging cities, Special Development Zones, and urbanization of refugee camps is widely recognized as the way forward in dealing with mass migration, population shifts, and transformation of society.
He is challenging the Humanitarian Aid Sector through a range of new and unorthodox partnerships, technologies, and ways of financing, building on networking and swarm intelligence rather than hierarchies and ineffective bureaucracies.
More recently, he has joined the Munja Energy Group based in Kenya as partner and Director for Social Impact and Partnerships. The Munja Group operates across Africa, raising finance through carbon and social impact credits, and reinvesting in green and social impact projects including Oasis Energy Community Hubs and electric mobility.
He became known as the “Mayor of Za’atari” when he managed the refugee camp of Za’atari in Northern Jordan from 2013–2014 on behalf of UNHCR. Za’atari has become a symbol for new and innovative approaches in refugee and humanitarian management under his leadership.
His career included positions as Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Deputy Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan, Director for Communities and Minorities in the UN administration in Kosovo, Executive Secretary for the Migration and Refugee Initiative (MARRI) in the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, and many field-based functions with UNHCR, UNDP, and WFP.
He worked extensively in Africa, Southeastern Europe, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and during the European refugee crisis advised the Austrian Minister of Interior on refugee reception centres. He was a Special Advisor to the German Minister of Development on refugee issues and innovative partnerships (2016) and advised Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern on migration issues in Africa.
With IPAS Witxboard Tunisia, he has been implementing a major program aiming at reducing irregular migration (2020–2022), and in 2022 he advised a major international logistics company on humanitarian issues related to the war in Ukraine, including frequent travel.
He is a public speaker and coach and has published three books — Weil es um die Menschen geht (ECON 2015), Beyond Survival (Dumont-Mair 2016), and Tod dem Helfer (Dumont-Mair 2017) — and authored a number of articles on refugee and migration issues. He is a renowned public speaker at conferences, TEDx, and other events
