Aid worker stories
The challenge of getting into the humanitarian sector
Getting into the sector is a challenging experience, especially for those who don’t have any specific skills or technical expertise.
Cherith Poots, Project Support Officer for Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team in Tieraliet, South Sudan, always believed that the humanitarian sector was the right choice for her. “It just feels right for me to want to work in this,” she says.
In June she decided to attend RedR’s Essentials of Humanitarian Practice course “to get a good grounding in the basics and background” and to be sure she wanted to go forward with actively seeking a job in the sector.
Cherith says that she knew in a very general way that she wanted to work in the sector but didn’t really know too much more about the actual practicalities of the work that goes on. She was looking for answers to her questions: “Who are the main actors? What are the big issues? What does an aid coordination effort look like and how is it implemented?”
After completing her studies, Cherith went overseas to teach for 12 months as part of project in rural Chile. When she came back she went to the university. She gained an MA Honours International Relations & Spanish at University of St. Andrews and an MSc Management at Queen’s University Belfast.
Cherith had good overseas experience, a high level education and work experience within health and social care. Nevertheless, she thought she was still missing something to get into the humanitarian sector.
“The biggest challenge is getting your first position overseas,” she says. “There is no guaranteed path that leads to a job in the sector. No career template to follow, especially if you don’t have any specific skills or technical expertise.”
The Essentials of Humanitarian Practice course “was great for giving me a clear overview of the sector, and the key organisations and their roles,” she says. She particularly enjoyed the two-day operational planning exercise which simulated a coordinated disaster response to an earthquake. “It was extremely challenging and really opened my eyes to the realities of coordinating relief in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.”
Cherith has since managed to get her first position overseas. Today she is in South Sudan as Project Support Officer for Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team in Tieraliet. Tearfund currently has 4 project sites in Sudan carrying out food security, nutrition, community health education, water and sanitation, and primary health care.
Before leaving for her first placement she gave her advice for people who want to enter into the humanitarian sector: “I believe you need a balance of professional experience, education, and overseas experience. Look at your current profile and try to balance those three things relevant to the sector.”
For more info about training in humanitarian practice:
www.redr.org.uk/en/What_We_Do/areas_of_expertise/Humanitarian_practice.cfm
Photo credits: Tim Hayward
