Best Practices
As humanitarian organizations respond to new crises and heightened threats to their own security, it is crucial for managers to stay abreast of the latest trends and organizational best practices. Managers who are informed and in-touch are often best at reducing stress and friction among their staff members, thereby increasing the overall safety and efficacy of the mission.


Safety and Security
Humanitarian organizations no longer enjoy the safety once granted by their neutrality, and staff around the world are dealing with increasingly precarious security situations. Field managers play a vital role both in implementing organizational security programs and in ensuring that individual staff members remain vigilant about their own protection.


Managing in Crisis Situations
Humanitarian work in crisis areas is inherently stressful, and the manner in which organizations and their staff handle stress can have significant effects on the success of a humanitarian mission. Field managers have a crucial responsibility to assist staff in coping with stress before it creates mission- or staff-debilitating situations.


Stress Management
Stress can lead to a range of serious consequences for humanitarian staff in the field, from chronic fatigue to paralyzing anxiety and interpersonal conflicts. Such stress-related ailments can cripple staff effectiveness and even threaten the mission’s work. Managers who understand the stressors confronted by their staff will be better prepared to create a working environment where staff stress can be openly discussed and appropriately alleviated before it becomes critical.


Health
Humanitarian work carries with it the chance of exposure to all sorts of health risks, from poor nutrition to communicable diseases and mental trauma. Managers should make adequate arrangements for healthcare provision for their staff and attempt to take an active role in monitoring the health practices of workers in the field. This section discusses several health-related topics that managers should consider.


National Staff Issues
Humanitarian missions frequently rely on the contributions of both national and expatriate staff. National staff members face a unique set of challenges and opportunities as they apply invaluable local knowledge to crises that have often affected them or their loved ones directly. Managers should be aware of national staff members’ concerns and have a nuanced approach to overseeing relations between national and expatriate staff.

Safety and Security
Humanitarian work carries with it a degree of risk and levels of stress that are beyond the everyday norms for most people. Although organizations and managers can help, much of the responsibility for handling stress and safeguarding security falls to individual staff members. These resources can help you learn to do both.


Stress Management
The manner in which you handle stress will have a huge impact on how effective you are as a humanitarian worker. Stress can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, conflict with colleagues, and other serious effects that, left untreated, can undermine your ability to work and even lead to premature termination. Thankfully, there’s much you can do to cope with stress in a constructive and healthful way.


Spiritual Resources
Many humanitarian workers are driven to serve by some form of spiritual calling. For these workers, and perhaps for others, some form of spirituality can be an important source of support for coping with work-related stress. In many cases, bringing along a few cherished items of spiritual significance from home can provide sustained support during a long and difficult assignment.


Working with Traumatized People
While humanitarian workers confront extreme stress, the people they work with are often victims of the worst deprivations and catastrophes known to humanity. Victims are frequently left with physical as well as mental wounds, and field staff must be prepared to deal with victims’ trauma while not being overwhelmed by the suffering themselves. It’s a tall order, but these resources can help you manage this daunting challenge.


Health
Healthy behavior and illness avoidance have a corollary effect on your ability to cope with stress. While preparations for a healthful period in the field should begin in pre-deployment, there are many health promotion measures you should consider both during and after your assignment.