The business of being a humanitarian

When reflecting on how studying this course has impacted her career development, Sarah noted: “Through studying the MIB, I developed a greater capacity to recognise – and create opportunities to utilise – the individual skills, potential and perspectives of team members. This ability to bring together diverse individuals to work productively and cohesively towards achieving a desired outcome will be an important management skill to apply throughout my professional career. I also enhanced my capacity to coordinate strategic projects and manage diverse teams more effectively.”

Sarah also studied social entrepreneurship to learn about social enterprise business models and corporate social responsibility (CSR) as she thought she may want to explore opportunities in these spaces in the future.

“I think nowadays some corporations are doing their customers and their stakeholders a disservice if they’re not considering how they can conduct business with a socially responsible lens. Whilst recognising that businesses have responsibilities to increase profits for shareholders, this objective should not be considered exclusive from socially responsible endeavours. In fact, I think that neglecting to invest in or as least investigate CSR initiatives can impact negatively on corporations, including reputational consequences, sacrificing lucrative business opportunities and missing the opportunity to capture untapped markets. Suffice to say, I see value in looking into new and innovative ways businesses can be more accountable, sustainable, and socially responsible.”

Now, Sarah is based in Suva, Fiji, as the RedR Program Coordinator for the region. It’s the next step in a career she’s found “personally and professionally rewarding”.

“Humanitarian deployments, particularly those supporting an emergency response, can be fast-paced and involve working in complex operating environments. This requires personnel to be able to ‘hit-the-ground running’ to deliver outcomes quickly, whilst working with a range of stakeholders in sometimes evolving situations. Whilst no one situation is the same, the accompanying lifestyle of a humanitarian can involve living in hotels or compounds, irregular working hours and separation from family and loved ones for periods of time. This presents both opportunities for growth and challenges. To this end, there is a certain level of adaptability, independence and resilience required. When I was deployed through RedR to UNICEF in South Sudan in 2014, I was working and living in compounds and curfews were in place, so movement was restricted at times. Saying this, it’s equally important to note that this deployment was one of the most rewarding professional and personal experiences of my life. This provided the opportunity to support and contribute to UNICEF’s important programme work in South Sudan; to work with and learn from an incredibly committed, diverse and talented team; and I formed a strong support networks of friends and colleagues that I still connect with today.”

Sarah has also found that opportunities in the humanitarian sector are not confined to working directly in the field.

“In 2017, I was seconded into the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, where I was responsible for coordinating FAO’s Standby Partner deployments globally as well as partnership development with civil society organizations, private sector entities and academia. During my time at RedR, I have also contributed to RedR’s corporate strategy, provided corporate governance support to the CEO and Board of Directors, coordinated donor reviews, negotiated partnership engagements, and undertaken program monitoring and evaluation.”