Equipping Humanitarian Workers in Conflict Situations
The modern dynamic of humanitarian work is that the staff of NGOs is largely composed of nationals. This article argues that primary attention has to be given to the psycho-social well-being of the national staff to equip them as agents of positive change, and proposes a mechanism to address this need that has been modeled by World Vision in Rwanda.

The Psychosocial Working Group
The main aim of the PWG is to address the lack of consensus on goals, strategy and best practice that currently challenges the field of psychosocial intervention in complex emergencies. While their work is primarily geared towards beneficiaries, national staff usually fall under this category and the PWG's suggestions apply.

Risks Associated with the Psychological Adjustment of Humanitarian Aid Workers, The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies
This article addresses the fact that contemporary humanitarian aid personnel are at risk of experiencing traumatic and daily cumulative stress, and that international staff and national staff may experience stress in different ways, have different needs, and use different coping mechanisms. Eleven areas of situational and individual risk are proposed that are likely to have applicability across different contexts, countries and people.

Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression in Rural Uganda, JAMA
This report on a recent randomized controlled trial in Uganda found that group interpersonal psychotherapy was helpful in reducing depression and dysfunction. A clinical trial proved feasible in the local setting. Both findings should encourage similar trials in similar settings in Africa and beyond.

Building Regional and National Capacities for Leadership in Humanitarian Assistance
There is overwhelming support, in principle, for the idea that national professionals and professional staff from the region should play a major role in the design and delivery of humanitarian aid in times of conflict and crisis. However, when it comes to the question whether this principle is applicable to one's own organization, positions vary substantively. Another set of obstacles that stand in the way of full and equal participation of national, regional and international staff in the planning and delivery of humanitarian aid are the often very disparate conditions of service that affect expatriate and local staff. This paper addresses these and other concerns.

Aid Workers Network
Visit the Aid Worker's Forum to read this string of emails discussing policies and strategies on strengthening national staff as managers and leaders within their organizations.

Culture, power, and community: Intercultural approaches to psychosocial assistance and healing.
Wessells, M. G. (1999). Culture, power, and community: Intercultural approaches to psychosocial assistance and healing. In K. Nader, N. Dubrow, & B. Stamm (Eds.), Honoring Differences: Cultural issues in the treatment of trauma and loss (pp. 276-282). New York: Taylor & Francis.
According to these authors, it is vital to place culture at the center in arranging psychosocial assistance of all kinds. The editors and authors of this book have done this in regard to work on trauma, loss, and healing. Rather than assuming the universality of Western psychology, they have taken as their point of departure the more appropriate view that concepts of mental health and illness exhibit significant cultural variability, as do practices of healing.

Stress and Trauma Handbook, World Vision
This link provides a review and option to purchase John Fawcett's "Stress and Trauma Handbook." The book addresses how stress impacts human functioning, the signs of burn-out, steps that can be taken to reduce the effect of stress and strain, and this research affects the practicalities of everyday humanitarian work. Using real stories, a series of check-lists, stress indicators, and burn-out monitors, this book aims to help aid-workers track their well being. The focus is on finding a way to grow and thrive in these circumstances while continuing to work, build strong relationships and be proactive in life.

Editorial: Treating depression in the developing world
Tropical Medicine & International Health Volume 9 Issue 5 Page 539 - May 2004