Preparing for a field assignment

Humanitarian workers have jobs that are both enormously gratifying and filled with difficult challenges, painful choices, and uncomfortable stresses. No matter how resilient you may be, these challenges, choices and stresses can take a toll on you physically and emotionally and can affect your ability to continue to work effectively. This chapter focuses on actions you can take before you leave for your assignment that will increase the likelihood that your assignment will be productive and successful and that you will maintain a sense of emotional well-being.

Know yourself and what you are getting into

Before you find yourself in a situation that is not to your liking, some assessment is in order. The more you know about your own motives, personality characteristics and abilities, about the impact your assignment will have on your family and about your agency, the better prepared you will be, first, to decide if this is the right assignment for you and, second, assuming you decide the answer is 'yes,' to face the challenges ahead.

Assess your motives

You need to be strongly motivated to choose a difficult path such as humanitarian aid work or human rights work in the field. Why do you want to be a humanitarian worker – either in general or in the particular assignment you are about to begin? Different people have different motivations:

* a desire to help others

* a desire to 'make a difference'

* a desire to use your talents

* a desire to do something valuable with your life

* a religious vocation

* a desire to improve your skills and build a career

* a wish for adventure

* a desire to travel

* a need for money

* a wish for time away from home.

No single motivational factor is the 'correct' one to have, but some motivations may be more helpful in maintaining your commitment to humanitarian work than others. Your desire for travel to a warm climate may not suffice to keep you going in difficult and dangerous living conditions. And if your desire to help others is based on a need to feel wanted, experiencing ingratitude from some of the people you try to help may come as a shock. Thinking through what you want to get out of an assignment before you go may arm you against later surprises.

Assess your personality

Many different kinds of people work in humanitarian aid, human rights and development projects. There is no one personality type that is perfect for every situation. Some of the characteristics of people who are successful in maintaining their commitment and emotional well-being in field situations include the following.

* Perseverance, patience and a high toleration for frustration.

* A strong sense of responsibility.

* Good communication skills, including an ability to listen effectively, state your own opinions and needs clearly and express your feelings appropriately.

* The ability to work with others on a team: to be assertive yet to cooperate and make compromises when needed and to be able to admit mistakes when it is appropriate.

* The ability to solve problems and make decisions effectively. A good decision maker is thorough and open to considering alternatives, but able to make quick and firm decisions when necessary.

* A sense of adventure, an ability to get pleasure from a wide range of experience and to welcome change.

* Flexibility and resilience in the face of difficult working and living conditions, uncertainty, discomfort and sometimes danger.

* High tolerance for personal diversity, including tolerance for a range of habits, styles of communication, customs, religions, beliefs and cultures.

* Understanding the power of ethnic, religious and national identity and respecting the sensitivities of those whose identify differs from your own.

* Sensitivity to and respect for the distinct experiences and needs that reflect gender differences.

* The ability to relax.

* Empathy, caring and an ability to express and demonstrate support for colleagues and clients, coupled with an ability to maintain an appropriate sense of professional boundaries.

* A sense of being grounded in spiritual or ethical/philosophical beliefs. But consider: Do your beliefs create potential issues of conscience that would make it difficult to work in the situation you face (for example, corruption, working with people who may have participated in atrocities, working with people whose beliefs about violence or about gender or about religious tolerance are very different from yours)?

* A history of having been able to resolve major stressors and traumatic experiences, whether in personal life or in past experiences of humanitarian work.

* A sense of humor, used in a socially and culturally sensitive manner.

To help you think about your own characteristics, you might want to complete the following questionnaire.

Assess the effects that taking your assignment will have on others

Taking on an assignment affects not only you, but your family, friends and colleagues. In turn, their reactions will have an impact on your own sense of well-being.

If your family will be accompanying you, what effect will your taking on this assignment have on them? What will your spouse or partner be doing? What will the effect be on your children of being uprooted and transported to a culture that is foreign to them? What practical issues will arise with respect to schooling, healthcare and safety?

If your assignment will take you away from your family and close friends, what practical and emotional problems will your absence create for them? How will they feel about your absence? How will they cope with these problems and feelings? If your assignment will take you into potentially risky situations, what is your family's level of toleration of risk, as well as your own?

If you are taking a leave from your regular job, what effect will your absence have on your colleagues and on your career? At the most practical level, can you maintain your benefits, such as health insurance or life insurance or pension rights? Will your job still be waiting for you when you return? Beyond these, what will the impact be on your colleagues? Will your experience on your assignment or your absence affect your long term career goals?

Assess the organizational support you will have from your agency

While you are in the field, your work team and your agency assume the role of your family, your friends and your job, all rolled into one. They are, potentially, your strongest base of support, but they can also be a source of strain or of disappointment. Before you embark on an assignment, you want to be sure there is a good 'fit' between you and your agency. (Note that, in many cases, you will not be able to get good answers to these questions before you go to the field. A certain toleration for ambiguity and uncertainty is needed for working in the field.)

* Are the aims, mission, and immediate goals of the agency acceptable to you? Where do these goals come from? Assessments of need? Consultation with potential recipients of aid? Donor concerns? Political or media concerns?

* Are you going to be comfortable with the working methods the agency uses? What does the agency realistically expect you to accomplish?

* Are you comfortable with the work load the agency will demand of you?

* Does the practical support your agency provides for staff meet your needs and expectations? Does the agency have the funds, staffing and other resources to do the job it is asking you to do? Does it have policies in place to protect its employees' health, safety and well-being? (More on this can be found under Resources at the end of this book).

* Do you feel comfortable with any expectations the agency has regarding your religious beliefs or practices?

* Does the emotional support your agency provides for staff meet your needs and expectations? What is the 'culture' of the agency like? Is it one of mutuality or of hierarchy? Of supportiveness or of assigning blame? Is it informal or formal and bureaucratic? Does it recognize good work?

* What kind of people will you be working with, on a day-to-day basis?

* Does your organization adhere to the codes of good practices and standards of behavior that the international humanitarian aid community has increasingly agreed to.

Over the past decade, three major sets of standards have been developed. These are the Recommendations for an Accountable Organization prepared by the Humanitarian Accountability Project – an initiative of the British Red Cross Society, CARE International, Caritas Internationalis, The Danish Agency for Development Assistance, International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam GB, and several other NGOs; the Private Voluntary Organization Standards prepared by InterAction – the largest alliance of US-based international development and humanitarian non-governmental organizations, with more than 160 member organizations operating in every developing country; and the Code of Good Practice in the management and support of aid personnel prepared by People in Aid – a London-based network of more than 50 development and humanitarian assistance agencies based all over the world.

The standards are too lengthy to reproduce in full in this manual, but they are readily accessed via the internet (see Resources for more details). You should enquire whether your agency adheres to these standards. If it does not, a reading of the standards will suggest specific questions you should ask of your agency and the answers you have a right to expect. In asking these questions, note that agencies come in various sizes and have various missions. While many agencies might aspire to provide all of the support and employment conditions listed in the standards and codes, they do not all achieve them fully. Expectations need to be realistic.

Assess your skills

Do you have the skills you need to carry out your assignment? Can you adapt your technical skills to the task requirements? Before you find yourself in the middle of a task that you do not have the know-how to do, you might seek out the training you need. This may include not only training in skills directly related to your assignment, but learning the language of the country to which you are going, taking a first aid course, or taking a safety and security training program.

The novice humanitarian worker should be aware that humanitarian work will place many unexpected demands on you. Although you may expect simply to ply your trade as engineer, health worker, teacher, or other outside expert, you may also be called on to play a management role to which you are not accustomed. For example, you may have to become involved in activities such as selecting suitable personnel, supervising other staff, finding office space and setting up an office, setting up a vehicle maintenance program, budgeting, setting up and maintaining bookkeeping and other record keeping systems, and fundraising. Taking on a management role may be relatively straightforward or may be complicated by cross-cultural issues. For example, a young female staff member may be asked to manage older men in a society by whose traditions this represents an abnormal cultural situation.

You need to be prepared for this and to be prepared to acquire the new skills you will need to do it well. References to several books addressing this topic can be found in the Resources. If you would prefer more formal training, courses in 'NGO management' or 'Management of non-profit organizations' are offered by many universities. Look for these courses in university-level schools of business or schools of public health, or look for programs in 'peace studies.' An internet search can find one near you.

Create predictability

The more you know about what to expect when you are in the field, the less anxious you will be and the better prepared you will be to deal with the challenges of your assignment once you get there. Gather information about your agency, assignment and specific job. Learn about the culture you will be entering. Think about the deeper implications of an outsider providing 'help.' The following sections discuss each of these themes in more detail.

Gather information

Your agency should provide you with a thorough orientation before you leave for your assignment. This should provide information about:

* The agency's mission and structure.

* The history and context of the specific disaster, emergency, incident or crisis in which you will be working.

* The history of your agency's involvement in the country and region and its reputation.

* The specific project and your job description.

* The resources you will have to carry out your work, such as transport, facilities, equipment and budget.

* Terms of employment. Be sure to check:

– Salary: How much will you be paid? When and how?

– What expenses will you be reimbursed for? When and how?

– Benefits, including health insurance, life insurance, pensions, etc.

– Accommodation and food in the field

– Expectations regarding workload, hours, time off for rest and recreation, vacations

– Policies with respect to practical, financial and legal support if needed as a result of job-related events.

* Safety and security policies and practices – including evacuation policies and plans. The orientation should give you a realistic sense of the level of danger involved in the project, so that you can make an informed decision as to whether it is the right project for you.

* Specific travel plans, including who will meet you on arrival or where you should go, as well as details of initial living accommodation.

Unfortunately, many organizations provide staff with only a minimal orientation before the staff member leaves, often assuring the staff member that they will get the information they need once they arrive at their assignment. That puts the burden on you to find out as much as you can before you leave on your own. You should feel free to ask questions of human resources staff and the person in the home office who is in charge of your project. You may also want to be put in contact with staff who have recently returned from the project or who are currently in the field. If you feel there is reluctance to provide you with the kind of information listed above, ask a hard 'why'?

Supplement what the agency provides with your own investigations as to what to expect. Talk to people who have recently returned – from the country or region, if it is not possible to find someone from the specific site. Use the library or the internet to gather information about the country, the culture and the political/social context in which you will be working. Several internet sources may also provide current, if general, information on the security situation (see Resources). Be aware that you may be told some 'scare stories,' but also be aware that some of these stories may be true.

Read this manual thoroughly. It will provide you with at least the basics of what you need to know about safety and security, physical health, self-care, managing stress, working with survivors of traumatic events, as well as issues related to ending your assignment and a list of further resources if you want to learn more.

Prepare to meet a new culture

When you first arrive in a new culture, you are likely to be excited by the novelty. But often, after a while, the excitement wears off. The lack of familiarity may begin to grate on you. Unnecessary hassles and inefficiency you do noy expect at home may produce feelings of irritation and annoyance. You may miss the conveniences and comforts of home and may become judgmental about the culture of your host country.

Culture shock as this is sometimes called, can produce a lack of interest in the other culture: some people find themselves trying to spend time with compatriots and avoiding local people. Others may find themselves responding to the host culture with feelings of superiority. Still others may over-compensate by over-identifying with the host culture and becoming overly ready to abandon their own culture. Over time, if you stick it out, you usually adapt. The local culture will come to feel more familiar and you will become more able to appreciate many aspects of the local culture and to cope with those you still find disturbing.

If you will be working in a country or region you are not already familiar with, you should try to learn as much as possible about its customs, life style, language, food and culture before you go, in order to reduce potential culture shock. Read books about the country you are going to. Find out about it on the internet. See films made in the country or set in the country. Take a language course or a course at a local university in the culture of the region. Seek out people from the country you are going to who live in your own area. Adjust your expectations: be prepared for a pace of life or attitudes about time or work or customs that are unfamiliar and which, in your own culture, may be undesirable.