By Jonathan Potter
An informative and inspiring visit which I took recently to 34 offices across two countries left the answer in the balance.
Read the full story (1 May 2013)
By Jonathan Potter
Our members have been telling us the same thing I heard at this event: at the top of the agenda is change, change, change. Here follows a collection of things I learnt at the UK's Voluntary Sector HR conference, put on by our partners Agenda Consulting on 21 March.
Read the full story (27 March 2013)
General elections will be held in Kenya on 4 March 2013. It is imperative that organisations working in the region have plans in place for staff, should there still be violence or unrest in the country.
A web portal, including key resources and an online forum to share opinions and plans is now live.
Read the full story (12 February 2013)
Associate People In Aid member, InterHealth Worldwide has launched new Good Practice Guidelines on Staff Health & Psychosocial Wellbeing, specifically focused on humanitarian workers.
Read the full story (24 January 2013)
On 23 January 2013, Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) launched the Guide to the 2010 HAP Standard in Accountability and Quality Management.
Read the full story (24 January 2013)
The following is a paid-for advertisement. For more information contact info@peopleinaid.org
Your employees and their families can be located in remote areas or near conflict zones, thus increasing their risk of injury. Therefore, apart from the challenge of being in a foreign country, they require access to quality health care or medical/security evacuation to immediately take them to a safe location should alarming incidents occur.
Read the full story (16 October 2012)
The Joint Standards Initiative is looking for a Consultant(s) to support a major stakeholder consultation launching in November to run for a 4 month period.
Read the full story (10 October 2012)
A set of 500 freely available humanitarian icons has been released by The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in order to help aid workers show information about disasters and emergencies in a simple and efficient way.
Read the full story (31 August 2012)
Following the two earthquakes which hit the East Azerbaijan Province on 11 August 2012, the Iranian Government has announced that it will accept international assistance if offered. People In Aid is commited to providing vital HR and people management resources and information in order to help humanitarian and development organisations respond more effectively to disasters.
Read the full story (13 August 2012)
People In Aid have partnered with the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies on a wide variety of projects, such as competency frameworks for humanitarian workers, workshops for the development of humanitarian staff, and more.
Read the full story (8 August 2012)
Acceptance is an approach to security which many of our members have used, do use or could use. Staff are clearly critical to successful acceptance approaches. A report and toolkit on acceptance has recently been launched. Here are extracts, uncritically focusing on what the HR function and managers need to think about.
Read the full story (31 July 2012)
People In Aid is exploring the possibility of embarking on a commercial venture with Response24, a specialised firm focused on delivering crisis and cash management solutions, for the corporate and non-profit sector. We would offer the Emergency Card, the current working title, to our members. This card will provide an all-in-one solution for staff that combines a Visa cash card, crisis insurance and enhanced staff security coverage.
Read the full story (10 July 2012)
The JSI seeks a short-term Senior Administrator for immediate start (would suit a secondment from a member agency) and is re-advertising for the position of Coordinator, to start in September. More details about the two positions are available below.
Read the full story (29 May 2012)
The early bird offer for participation in People Count Third Sector, the sector's leading HR benchmarking study, is due to expire on Wednesday 23 May.
Read the full story (14 May 2012)
The Boards of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), People In Aid and the Sphere Project met for the first time ever in Geneva on 25 April.
Read the full story (10 May 2012)
The importance of preparedness in humanitarian response was emphasised in the recently published Food Assistance Integrity Study from Transparency International - Kenya.
Read the full story (11 April 2012)
We are currently recruiting for a one-year post as Coordinator of the Joint Standards' Initiative, a collaboration between HAP, People In Aid and Sphere. It is an extraordinary opportunity for someone to make a historic difference to the sector.
Read the full story (30 March 2012)
People Count Third Sector is a unique workforce and HR benchmarking tool tailored specifically to the needs of the UK third sector, designed to help you improve the performance of your people management and HR function.
Read the full story (27 March 2012)
On 8 March, ELRHA (Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance) published a major new report on humanitarian professionalisation which highlights some pressing concerns that deserve the attention of the global humanitarian community.
Read the full story (15 March 2012)
JointStandards.org has now launched, giving you and your colleagues the opportunity to view and use guidelines and guidance from the humanitarian sector on one website.
Read the full story (14 March 2012)
By Jonathan Potter
A lot of organisations struggle with ideas around gender diversity. We have ideas about "The End of Man" in the workplace and the assertion that women outperform men both in terms of education and social skills, such as teamwork and emotional intelligence. Yet, in a call to arms at our last International Strategic HR Conference, Elizabeth Kelan of Kings College London reminded us of the 50-30-10 rule - that 50% of the lower level workforce, 30% of middle management and just 10% of top level management are women.
Read the full story (8 March 2012)
RedR's Security Week is a chance for humanitarian managers and practitioners to learn about the most cutting-edge and important security issues facing the humanitarian sector. Four free-standing yet interlinking days, aimed at Security Managers, HR Managers, senior managers, and experienced field staff.
Read the full story (27 February 2012)
On 7 February 2012, a group of humanitarian workers completed a five-day training of trainers (ToT) on quality and accountability, making them the first recognised Q&A trainers in Japan.
Read the full story (13 February 2012)
Recent decades have seen significant international change and a growth in the demand for humanitarian action. This has prompted the sector to grow and transform the way it responds to humanitarian need. Responding efficiently and effectively to today's crises requires a significant human resource. But where do, or should, these resources come from? How should humanitarian professionals be trained and how should humanitarian organisations and training institutions interact?
Read the full story (25 January 2012)
Just released, the Aid Worker Security Report 2011 is the third in a series of briefing papers monitoring trends and issues in security for humanitarian operations that base findings on data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD).
Read the full story (23 January 2012)
The Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International is preparing a 2011 Humanitarian Accountability Report. An integral part of the Report is the annual perceptions survey through which HAP gauges interest in, and perceptions of, accountability in the humanitarian sector.
Read the full story (18 January 2012)
RedR have launched a new tool designed to improve the standard of capacity building in the humanitarian sector. Developed by RedR UK and Bioforce, the framework is supported by Bond, ELRHA, INTRAC, Mango and People in Aid.
Read the full story (2 January 2012)
Numerous factors, including drought, rising food prices, conflict, seasonal floods and localised resource conflicts have been overstretching the coping strategies of rural and urban livelihoods systems in the Horn of Africa.
Read the full story (23 December 2011)
The following guide has recently been launched jointly by WHO / War Trauma Foundation and World Vision International: Psychological First Aid: a guide for fieldworkers.
Read the full story (8 November 2011)
A Call for Program Quality, Accountability and Effectiveness
Read the full story (26 July 2011)
By Mike Johnson
A comprehensive book review of the above title (Author: Susan Huskisson, 198 pages, The Long Acre Press: ISBN 978-1-904995-53-1)
Read the full story (6 July 2011)
What has DFID's response to the Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR) shown us about their commitment to people management and organisational effectiveness? If we assume that DFID retains a leading role in humanitarian action, influencing other donors, then non-UK NGOs should read and take note as well.
Read the full story (28 June 2011)
Save the Children UK, in partnership with NOHA and Bioforce, are recruiting 30 European humanitarian volunteers for a training programme with field deployments.
Read the full story (27 June 2011)
By Mike Johnson
A comprehensive book review of the above title (Author: Peter Lorange, 179 pages: ISBN 978-0-85724-367-6)
Read the full story (14 June 2011)
By Mike Johnson
A comprehensive book review of the above title (Authors: Chris Ernst and Donna Chrobot-Mason, 297 pages, McGraw-Hill: ISBN 978-0-07-163887-6)
Read the full story (1 June 2011)
On 24 May 2011, People In Aid attended the launch meeting of the above report on conflict, security and development in London, UK.
Read the full story (25 May 2011)
Since 2007, DARA has published the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI), which aims to identify and promote good donor practice and contribute to greater transparency, accountability and impact in humanitarian action. Field research for the HRI involves interviews with hundreds of senior field representatives working in over a dozen crises on their experiences dealing with donor governments and how well they think governments are applying the principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship.
What can we learn from the HRI 2010?
Read the full story (12 April 2011)
A number of new emergency response resources and links are now available on our disaster response page (www.peopleinaid.org/disasterresponse) in both English and Japanese.
Read the full story (10 April 2011)
"DFID should make a sustained effort to improve skills in the humanitarian sector". This is one of the recommendations from the HERR (Humanitarian Emergency Response Review), an independent report presented to DFID'S Secretary of State at a launch today.
People In Aid submitted points to the review team, some of which have been absorbed in the review and others not. For our members, and others concerned with the people-related aspects of humanitarian action, we offer our own summary highlighting people issues.
Read the full story (28 March 2011)