History
How has a small membership organisation become a global resource for NGOs? Through support and focus.
The link between sound management of staff and effective operational work has always been sufficiently clear for advocates in the NGO, academic and donor communities to provide vocal, operational and financial support for People In Aid. Equally, from the beginning, we have focussed exclusively on the quality of human resource and people management in the relief and development sector.
We maintain that focus and therefore retain that support.
“The findings and recommendations of the study reported in this paper place human resource management centre-stage in the debate about quality and effectiveness of aid programmes.”
The Overseas Development Institute’s preface to Room for Improvement.
People In Aid timeline
Hover over the above timeline to view our history.
1995
A research report published in 1995 called Room for Improvement found weaknesses in existing organisational structures which led to ‘poor performance by staff, so diminishing the quality of programmes’. The agencies which initiated the research, and the British government, established an inter-agency project, hired a coordinator and recruited a management committee of 12 organisations.
1997
The ‘People In Aid Code of Best Practice in the management and support of aid personnel’ was published, and agencies began a 3-year pilot implementation of the Code.
It fitted neatly into then current trends and needs. The debate about quality and accountability in the sector led to the development not just of a complete framework – the Code – able to prompt improvements in practice, but an audit mechanism so agencies could check their progress.
1999
People In Aid was formally established to support agencies wishing to enhance their human resource management through the Code, and became a UK registered charity in 1999.
2001
A diverse group of seven agencies implemented the Code, benefited from the process and published their findings in ‘Ahead of the Field’ (2001). They were:
- British Red Cross
- Concern Worldwide
- Health Unlimited
- International Health Exchange (now merged with RedR)
- Mission Aviation Fellowship (Europe)
- RedR and Tearfund
Since then we have focussed a great deal of effort on providing the practical and detailed information and resources which agencies need to improve the quality of their human resources management. Standard output now includes workshops, handbooks, affinity groups, template policies, research, information notes and more.
2003
The Code was revised in 2003, based on feedback, and is now known as the ‘Code of Good Practice’, reflecting the cultural diversity and differing approaches of agencies within the sector.
The centrality of staff, both local and international, in delivering humanitarian and development missions effectively has been particularly evident over the last ten years. Evaluations of agency, and even sectoral, work still refer to deficiencies in the broad range of activities covered by human resources. Nevertheless the Code is available, our resources are growing in quantity and impact, and the number of agencies making use of People In Aid is ever-increasing.
2004
At the end of 2004 the UK Department for International Development commissioned an evaluation of People In Aid, which reported favourably on our activities, structure and development plans.
2005
Member numbers have grown from 10 in 1997, to 23 in 2001 and more than 80 from 20 countries by mid 2005.
2006
Income has more than doubled, and staff numbers have almost doubled since 2003. This is the first year of a generous five-year grant from DFID which we won in a competitive tender.
We continue to expand our global reach, with increased work involvement in countries as varied as Honduras, Sri Lanka, Kenya and India, as well as networking opportunities offered in countries such as Ireland, USA, Netherlands, Australia and Switzerland.