Professionalisation FAQ
- What is the professionalisation project?
- Why is a new project needed when there are so many initiatives?
- What exactly do hubs do?
- Who are members in the hubs?
- What is the main goal of the project?
- So what tangible things will come out of this project?
- How will the creation of a Professional Development Framework for the aid sector help people access employment opportunities in the sector?
- How will this address the current shortage of staff in the humanitarian sector?
- Will this increase both the geographic and skill sets of professionally trained people in the aid sector?
- How is the problem of graduates not being able to access field experience going to be dealt with?
- What’s the timeline in all this; can it come together quickly or will it be a decade long project?
- Now that ELRHA's research has demonstrated that there are not many entry and mid level diplomas and courses for the humanitarian aid sector, what are the next steps?
- Where do you expect to get most support, who are the key “champions” to making this happen?
- Is it really a practical, viable proposition?
- Is it possible to describe in a few sentences what the sector would look like if the Proposed project was a success?
1. What is the professionalisation project?
ELRHA has been addressing the professional development needs of individual workers since Sept 2009 through a scoping study, conference and widespread consultation with over 1,500 stakeholders around the globe. It has identified the major problems stopping the flow of trained people in the sector and has also received overwhelming enthusiasm and support from 90% of people it consulted on the issue of professionalisation of individuals in the humanitarian sector.
The study made 13 recommendations with the aim of:
- Creating recognised professional pathways and progression routes into the
humanitarian sector - Adopting core humanitarian competencies for professional development
- Ensuring coherence of core content within humanitarian master's degree programmes
- Addressing the lack of entry and mid-level qualifications
- Formalising occupational standards for humanitarian work
- Quality marking of learning and development providers
- Developing a system of certification for humanitarian qualifications
- Creating international relationships for the promotion of global standards
ELRHA has now gained commitment to join in the next phase of work from over 30 agencies from INGOs, southern NGOs, Red Cross, UN, universities and training providers; ELRHA’s next objective is to transform the way the sector responds to professional development of its staff through the creation of an international Professional Development and Quality Framework.
2. Why is a new project needed when there are so many initiatives?
Quality initiatives1 have been formed over the years to address quality and accountability within organisations, but none of these has or is serving the quality and professional development needs of individuals, concentrating largely on organizations' own infrastructures and abilities to respond as an agency. This has left the sector to make sense of the professional development needs of staff in an unplanned and un-coordinated way and has been characterised by what can be best termed as fire-fighting:
- Internally delivered training by agencies with no recognised assessments or qualifications
- Short courses offered by external providers and not linked to longer term programmes
- Time limited project capacity building funding to plug skills gaps for both agencies and training providers with no continuity
- Training of Trainers – pressure to scale up leading to wrong people selected / wrong people training and no minimum standards
- Inexperienced trainers running programmes - with no sector standards for minimum training competence and experience
- Duplication of training on a massive scale particularly in emergencies with no evidence of competence of trainees
The project is now in its 2nd phase of development where it has created consultation hubs around the world to ensure local voices are heard and have a say in how a new structure should look and feel. Currently there are 4 operational hubs in UK, Europe, East Africa and North America with plans for further hubs in Asia, Latin America, Australia-pacific and the Middle East.
3. What exactly do hubs do?
Hubs are principally tasked with inputting into the process by:
- Providing mapping information of initiatives, professional recognition bodies in their geographical locations.
- Liaising with local professional networks and forums to seek endorsement on wider adoption of core competencies.
- Commenting on applicability and viability of proposals to their geographical locations as well as challenges and opportunities present within their own areas.
- Inputting of personal expertise and knowledge of capacity development, assessment and certification.
- Seeking feedback from a locally formed ‘sense groups’ to ensure ground up buy-in of proposed steps. Such groups should be comprised of people with a ‘stake’ in the outcomes of this work such as new learners, affected communities etc.
- Engaging in ELRHA's online forum dedicated to the advisory hubs for uploading of information and commentary on issues raised.
4. Who are members in the hubs?
Hub members represent a wide range of organisations such as NGOs, INGOs, the UN, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, training providers, academic institutions, universities and anyone who is interested in furthering and promoting the professionalisation of individuals in the humanitarian sector.
5. What is the main goal of the project?
The formal goal of this initiative is to improve the quality, quantity, coverage and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance provided to disaster and conflict affected civilian populations around the world through the increased professionalism and capacity of individual humanitarian workers.
The specific objective of this proposal is the creation of an internationally recognised Professional Development and Quality (PDQ) Framework for the humanitarian sector, underpinned by a universally agreed set of core competencies for humanitarian work.
6. So what tangible things will come out of this project?
There are five main things the project aims to deliver and they are the:
- Creation of an internationally approved Professional Development and Quality Framework to support:
- Agreement on sector-wide humanitarian competencies
- Creation of a professional training register with guidance on minimum standards
- Development of a global Learning and Development Passport
- Agreement on the best approach to a professional association for humanitarian workers
7. How will the creation of a Professional Development Framework for the aid sector help people access employment opportunities in the sector?
- First of all, a framework will inform them of the necessary competencies for working in the sector and what competencies they should be looking for if selecting a training programme.
- Secondly, it should highlight existing pathways and progression routes in their region and specify what standards are needed to be reached in order to access them.
- Thirdly, it should provide them with a learning and development passport so that they can have their qualifications and experience acknowledged in a way that is understood around the sector.
- Fourthly it should act as guidance and signposting for what is available for professional development in the sector and what is recognised as a quality programme.
Currently the picture is so muddled that no one can really give advice to anyone as to what is available in terms of qualifications and what they need to do to access jobs in the sector; young people are often opting for a university degree thinking it’s the only way to fast-track themselves into the sector. While a few may do just that, the majority of people will struggle to get jobs as they will still lack the practical skills and experience required; it’s the well known conundrum experienced in many professions: ‘you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job’. A professional development framework will not only inform people from both within the sector and outside of the sector about just what is available and what are the potential career pathways they could take, but also it will also help training providers and universities– they will understand better what is lacking for people and what they might be able to provide to fill those gaps and address the needs.
8. How will this address the current shortage of staff in the humanitarian sector?
By making qualifications and training more accessible outside of NGOs, it will mean individuals could pursue their own development outside of agencies. Currently most of the training is accessible only when you get employed by an agency and undertake their training programmes. In Kenya for example, many people wish a dedicated humanitarian programme existed that they could access to help them develop either outside the sector or within it. Many people can get jobs but it's very difficult to progress once they are employed.
Accessing visas and the high costs of professional development are the two main barriers to a greater pool of talent being developed.
9. Will this increase both the geographic and skill sets of professionally trained people in the aid sector?
Currently most universities and training providers with a humanitarian focus are found in the north. By increasing provision in the south and at regional levels, it will increase the numbers of people who can both afford and access professional development for humanitarian work.
ELRHA’s professionalisation programme is mapping all available provision through consultation hubs in currently regions: UK, Europe -wide, East Africa and North America with plans for further hubs in Asia, Latin America, Australia-pacific and the Middle East. The project is also identifying the gaps in provision so that it can provide evidence and lobby for training provision to be made more available in those areas where less exists.
10. How is the problem of graduates not being able to access field experience going to be dealt with?
Some of the ways this obstacle is being addressed is through individual agencies’ placement and trainee programmes and through one of Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies’ capacity building programmes such as the Humanitarian Leadership Development Programme (HLDP), where new entrants are given opportunities to receive training and work based placements. This provides an unparalleled opportunity to gain practical experience directly in the field and increase the chance of securing a full-time job; the success rate for this is proving to be very high. However, the numbers of graduates able to access these traineeships is still small and there is recognition of the need to widen the access. For example the HLDP advertised for 15 places in Kenya in 2010 and received over 2,000 applicants! A new volunteer programme (European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps) has just been launched by ECHO and they have funded pilots with Save the Children in partnership with Bioforce and NOHA, and with the Red Cross, and VSO next year. This will create new opportunities for field-based experience and increase the potential number of trained people into the sector.
11. What’s the timeline in all this; can it come together quickly or will it be a decade long project?
The time line for this project is July 2013 for a published framework detailing the five objectives raised earlier but information will be published as it is available even before this deadline. The core competencies for professional development will be formalised in spring 2012 and the mapping of provision will be made available as it emerges.
12. Now that ELRHA's research has demonstrated that there are not many entry and mid level diplomas and courses for the humanitarian aid sector, what are the next steps?
The scoping study published by ELRHA last year detailed the number of Masters courses in relation to a dearth of entry and mid-level qualifications; one way to combat this deficit is to formalise non-formal learning such as NGO's internal programmes. If they were to receive some kind of accreditation or validation they would start to be recognised as entry or mid level provision for the sector. The key is for training to prove that a learner has learnt something and can apply that learning effectively in their work, and that is usually done via some form of assessment.
Another goal of the project is to make training providers and universities aware of the gaps so that they can focus their provision towards filling those gaps. Donors can also see where their funds are better spent and as the sector professionalises they can concentrate their funds on provision that is validated and accredited.
13. Where do you expect to get most support, who are the key “champions” to making this happen?
The key champions are anyone with an interest in seeing increased levels of professionally trained staff being made available across the humanitarian sector. These are typically NGOs, INGOs, UN orgs, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, donors and last but not least, the individual that is trying to access the sector more easily and affordably from all corners of the globe. The hub system is trying to give a voice to all these stakeholders so that they can have a stake in what the system looks like and how it serves the sector to provide much needed skills in an easy to follow format.
14. Is it really a practical, viable proposition?
It's practical and viable if enough people input into the consultations to ensure buy-in and appropriate representation. We hope that by providing a framework that takes in regional differences and is contextualised to respond differently to local needs, that it will serve as a usual function. So long as what is being developed simplifies how people access quality professional development and clarifies what would otherwise be a confusing activity in the sector then it is doing what it set out to do.
15. Is it possible to describe in a few sentences what the sector would look like if the proposed project was a success?
The project visualises a more effective sector that has been rebalanced so that people are able to access training and professional development equitably and affordably across the globe; each course would have a corresponding pathway and progression route that people could build in tandem with their professional careers. A sector where entry and mid-level qualifications were easily accessed would mean that the scaling up of large numbers of trained workers in a systematic and planned way would be a reality; the continuing professional development up to Masters level would then be a natural progression for those
that chose it.
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