12th July 2024
This is a translated opinion piece by Katarzyna Bryczkowska, the HLA’s Learning Solutions Specialist for the Eastern Europe Regional Centre. This article was published as a comment on the recent research by Klon/Jawor Association “When working in crisis becomes daily life. Local organisations supporting refugees in Poland“.
Since the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, 20 June, International Refugee Day, has taken on a completely different meaning in Poland and can be said to have ceased to be a ‘niche’ event for specialised organisations.
Since 24 February 2022, many NGOs have undergone an accelerated and, in a way, forced ‘course of participation in humanitarian response’. The results of this ‘fast-track course’ are discussed in a report entitled: ‘When working in crisis becomes a daily reality. Local organisations supporting refugees in Poland’, which was prepared by researchers from the Klon/Jawor Association.
The Humanitarian Leadership Academy and Save the Children were partners in this process. As representatives of the Humanitarian Leadership Academy in Poland, we wondered which of the aspects related to the situation we are all experiencing were worth highlighting in the report commentary.
Two important research results emerge in the report as significant phenomena in the humanitarian response in Poland. These are: on the one hand, severe burnout of people working in organisations that have decided to engage in humanitarian action, and on the other hand, intensive relationship building and mutual support between different organisations. Perhaps these are even two sides of the same coin…
Burnout – the “bitter lesson”
Let me start with the burnout of people from NGOs who have chosen to do humanitarian work, which is almost 60% of responders according to the report (see page 38). This lesson from the ‘fast-track course in participation in humanitarian response’ seems overly bitter. Behind the numbers are people who have sometimes paid with their mental health for the decision to work in a crisis. After all, there was no time to learn the Occupational Health and Safety of humanitarian work.
It seems to me that this is a solemn lesson, perhaps it couldn’t have been done in a different way… Everything happened so fast, so many people needed help immediately, and we had to learn the hard way. But since this happened, there are lessons to be learned for the future.
In the report, researchers from Klon/Jawor indicate that people from NGOs working in a humanitarian response need professional training, psychological support, supervision, coaching and all kinds of tools to enhance psychological wellbeing.
Dedicated people must not be let down by organisations and have their mental health badly affected by their work. They also need to recuperate for longer periods of time if ever diagnosed with PTSD. Taking care of the wellbeing of people from organisations willing to bring humanitarian aid is a responsibility, and it is one of the elements of CHS – the Core Humanitarian Standard. It is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to people’s mental health.
I therefore urge partners, donors and funders of any kind to be ready to budget for psychological support and burnout prevention tools in the humanitarian sector.
On the other hand, I urge and ask you, dear dedicated people, to put yourselves first. Your health is key, you don’t have to be heroes or heroines. Don’t work beyond your strength and stop overstepping yourselves. We are all in for a long cross-country run rather than a 100 metre sprint. Spread your energy and ask for support. Say “no” when you feel you can’t go on. It is not a weakness to be tired, sick or helpless, it is normal. However, it is a strength to recognise your helplessness, to say to yourself and others “I need to rest”, “I want support”, “I have had enough”.
Please stay close to each other. That way, you will have enough strength for a longer time to professionally support people in refugee crisis.
The first rule of humanitarian aid is “do no harm”. It applies to you as much as to the people you are helping.
I hope that this report will be a good support for you in reasoning with donors, with leaders, with local authorities about the necessity of supporting your mental and physical health in your projects. Keep it up!
Cooperation – the “sweet lesson”
The second insight shows local NGOs working with more partners. It is reassuring and, for a change, a sweet lesson from the ‘accelerated course in humanitarian participation’. The report says that the most lasting change most frequently felt by organisations was networking with various actors from all sectors. Their contacts expanded, and relationships strengthened.
It turns out that the most frequent partners for diverse cooperation for NGOs are other local NGOs, the local community and INGOs (international NGOs).
The nature of cooperation varies considerably depending on the context, needs, size of partners and their capacities. However, as many as 90% of organisations reported that they had received non-financial support such as exchanges, networking, partnerships since the full-scale invasion in Ukraine (see page 57 of the report).
This lesson is a powerful and optimistic one. It proves that, if need be, we let go of competing and build communities. Well, we remain social beings, after all. Relationships, networks, and coalitions are a symptom of health and the instinct for self-preservation.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the ‘bitter and sweet lessons’ are two sides of the same coin. By building relationships, sharing tasks, and complementing each other, we strengthen each other’s capacities, build the sector’s flexibility and resilience, and indirectly, and sometimes probably directly, take care of the mental health of everyone involved in humanitarian aid.
Such fellowship combined with professional tools to counteract burnout will certainly give strength to all in what may yet lie ahead. This is a fabric that is forming and that will strengthen. It will certainly pay off with great social, human, and local capital.
By building networks of support and collaboration, we build resilience – the resilience, the robustness, the flexibility of our communities. This allows us to rise faster during crises.
To conclude, I will return once again to the metaphor of the long cross-country run because I think it captures well what we should be preparing for as a sector (which has largely become humanitarian). For us to be prepared to run a long distance, it is important to have an organisation-individual balance.
We are doing a good job networking between organisations (even the cross-sector ones, which was a challenge before the invasion). However, to not get stuck in the wolf pit during this marathon, it is crucial to take care of the runners.
Katarzyna Bryczkowska – Learning Solutions Specialist at the Humanitarian Leadership Academy. Kasia graduated with the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies in Humanitarian Aid at the University of Warsaw and International Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. She is an expert in development and education projects, a coach, a trainer and a facilitator of many training programmes, including SPHERE standards, Good Governance by the Council of Europe, and a promoter of anti-discrimination education. She has been supporting female and male NGO leaders for years and started working full-time in the humanitarian sector in 2022.