The ECB National Staff Development Program is really very helpful for understanding the core competencies of an aid worker, like humanitarian principles, practices and standards, project cycle management and issues belonging to HR, finance, logistics management, as well as to learn self-accountability and building team work skills from experienced humanitarian professionals. I hope to learn more and do even better for the future emergency responses!
Abdul Rehman
Logistics Officer
Oxfam Pakistan
Behaviours which lead to effective performance in Humanitarian ResponseNational Staff Development Program
What is it?
A sustainable, replicable program to increase the number of agency staff at the national level capable of leading and managing emergency programs.
Why is it useful?
Experienced and capable staff are the single most important resource in an emergency environment. An accredited qualification will enable national staff to develop their careers as humanitarian leaders.
© 2004 Josh Estey/CARE
The single most important resource for humanitarian agencies in an emergency environment is experienced and capable staff, to provide the expertise and leadership critical to effective response. Yet many agencies acknowledge that at present they are not taking full advantage of the talents and experience of staff who are nationals of the countries in which they operate.
The ECB National Staff Development Program is a pilot project which aims to lower these barriers by designing and testing a sustainable, replicable program to increase the number of agency staff at the national level capable of leading and managing emergency programs.
The design of the National Staff Development Program draws on the ECB Humanitarian Competencies Study, which highlighted sets of personal and technical competencies critical for career development. A more targeted analysis of the Learning Needs of National Staff confirmed the importance of the key elements which will form the core of the program: project planning and management; effective team building; knowledge of humanitarian systems and principles; and communications and security management.
The program uses a blend of face-to-face instruction and simulations of emergency scenarios with distance learning modules delivered on-line. Instructional material is drawn from the leading technical expertise existing within the IWG agencies, with experienced IWG staff acting as mentors. The Foundation Module is made up of three components:
- Generic Humanitarian: Humanitarian principles, systems and standards; functional skills (HR, Logistics, finance, etc.); team building and personal behaviour in emergencies; working with other actors.
- Agency specific: Understanding the philosophies, policies, strategies, practices and procedures of humanitarian agencies
- Leadership and Management: Building and managing multi-cultural teams; staff wellness and turnover; coaching and facilitating skills; project management.
The methodology and framework of National Staff Development Program pilot from ECB Phase I contributed to the development of the capacity building curricula by the Consortia of British Humanitarian Agencies.
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