Barriers to humanitarian volunteerism in middle income countries

I would be interested to learn more... We are doing some work on human resources for health and public health emergencies (PHEs - conflict, natural disasters, epidemics, environmental change, etc...) as part of an initiative around Knowledge Synthesis in relation to Human Resources for Health. One focus is how health and humanitarian workers are impacted by the PHEs in which they work, another is to look at how they can support community and system resilience and response more effectively.

See: http://www.hrhhub.unsw.edu.au/HRHweb.nsf/page/Public+Health+Emergencies

Related to this project are a series of Stories and Strategies (see links to page above) which we are working on with a range of people - these explore issues related to human resources in public health emergency contexts. It would be good to see how your experiences relate to others that we are seeking to document.

"What we have found in our initial analysis several significant barriers to volunteerism in what can be defined as a principally middle-income country."

Could you say more what these barriers are? Is it that the university hospital doesn't have a way to allow these employees to deploy and have coverage for their work at the hospital? That there are no resources for training? Is it lack of resources to transport and accommodate the volunteers? Is it that the volunteers can't afford to give up their pay while they are volunteering in the field?

"Employment regulations in the public sector are quite strict, and not forgiving enough to effectively encourage volunteerism."
Do you mean that the employment regulations would not allow public sector employees to take time off to volunteer with NGOs? Or, do you mean that employment regulations are such that they prevent organizations from involving volunteer (unpaid staff)?

"Grants and indemnity cover are not easy"
Do you mean grants to cover the resources needed to involve and support volunteers, and clear policies regarding who would be liable for a volunteer's negative actions or a volunteer's injury?

"Your questions have merit, however I could not answer them in an open forum such as this."

If you would like to write me directly, I'm at jc@coyotecommunications.com
Volunteer engagement / volunteer management is my area of expertise, and I would be happy to help you as I can.

Even in the USA, many organizations (especially in the private sector) are stuck in the old-paradigm regarding volunteer involvement: that an organization involves volunteers because they are "free", because an organization cannot afford paid staff or does not want to pay staff. That old paradigm approach gets the hackles up of unions, and rightly so -- no paid staff members should ever have his or her job threatened by the involvement of unpaid staff. There *are* ways to appease fears and turn opposition into support.

Feel free to write me via email for further discussion if you don't feel like doing it here.

Interesting observations. John can you say more about these issues? In particular the issue of emergent groups and their role(s)? Can you refer to some key papers?

In response to other issues your raise - what debate is there about citizen engagement, participation and solidarity in humanitarian endeavours? How is this manifest? is there indeed an interest in greater levels of engagement - as distant places suffering adversity are brought into our living rooms through new technologies and an ability to facilitate the stories of those affected being told? On a separate issue, might there be risks of much broader participation without recognition of the gains made in promoting standards and accountability? For example, widespread donation and transport of medicines, equipment, and indeed people to disaster zones may help little, and worse, may impede needed activity and tie up government personnel in trying to manage the influx. What ethical guidelines and principles underlie the engagement of donor agencies, professionals, citizens, NGOs and others in these settings?