We ask what an average day looks like in their line of work, and how more women can get involved or become ‘humanitarians’ in their own way.
These women represent just a tiny handful of Australian women working all over the world in this line of work.
On August 19, 2003, 55-year old Sérgio Vieira de Mello, then United Nations Special Representative for Iraq, entered the Canal Hotel in Baghdad for a press conference that was being held by the director of the UN Mine Action Service. It was late afternoon. During the event, a suicide terrorist drove a truck with a bomb inside and crashed into the hotel. The explosion killed 22 people – UN representatives and political activists from 11 countries. A Jordanian-based terrorist leader claimed the bomb had specifically targeted de Mello.
Five years later, on December 11th, 2008, the UN General Assembly designated an annual day to recognise humanitarians who had lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. The day, August 19th, seeks to rally support for people affected by humanitarian crises, as well as pay tribute to the humanitarian workers who help them.
Each year, a designated theme is selected to focus the public’s attention on a specific demographic in the humanitarian cohort. This year’s World Humanitarian Day is themed “Women Humanitarians,” highlighting the extraordinary contribution women in aid have made, improving the lifestyle and health of those disadvantaged by environment, poverty, climate change and social imbalances.
At Women’s Agenda, we’re highlighting Australian women in this area -showcasing what they encounter on a daily basis, their challenges, and how they cultivate their own time in a highly emotionally taxing profession.
Shabia Mantoo – UNHCR Global Spokesperson
What does a normal day look like for you?
I am currently based in Geneva where a day can involve fielding media queries, taking interviews, drafting press releases and statements and briefing the press on news and updates from the field, on refugee and IDP issues and our work.
What are some of the key concerns you have in the work you do?
Many humanitarian crises are often “man-made”, being the direct result of political conflict and it is the average, every-day civilian that pays the price for a situation that is beyond them.
Humanitarians can help provide aid, relief and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes, but we cannot address and solve the root cause of the problem. As a result, when there is a failure to achieve peace, humanitarian crises can remain protracted and you see more and more people who continue to flee their homes or who remain in a state of displacement for years on end, with little hope, solutions and prospects in sight.
How can more women get involved or become ‘humanitarians’ in their own way?
There are many ways to get involved in or support humanitarian work.
There is not only one type of profile for a humanitarian worker – you have specialists with different functional profiles that work on the response to humanitarian emergencies and crises.
Field work can be very challenging especially if you are deployed to emergency contexts, active conflict zones, remote locations or places where living conditions are difficult, so the key is understanding if this type of work is for you, right at the outset.
For me it is also especially important to work in an organisation whose mandate and values you are aligned with. I feel proud to work with an organisation that I believe is deeply committed to gender equality in terms of all its work, programs and staffing.
What are the biggest hurdles in your day to day work so far?
The big challenge is getting people to care for refugees and civilians affected by conflict. We are living in an age where we are seeing record levels of global forced displacement and where many conflicts are protracted, with people “fatigued” or indifferent to what is going on. So channelling and sustaining support for the people affected and for the local communities that are hosting them is so important.
How do you practice self-care?
It is a very emotionally and physically challenging line of work. It can be so hard to reconcile and connect what you have seen, the people you meet, the stories you hear, with the rest of the world. It is hard to just switch off – and bearing in mind that when you are working on a humanitarian emergency, you are often working 7 days a week, quite overstretched and always seemingly on call. It’s really important to try and disconnect and to allow yourself some time to breathe, relax and recuperate.
Phoebe Goodwin – Head of the Shelter and Site Planning Unit for UNHCR – Uganda
What does a normal day look like for you?
There is no such thing as a normal day for me. While I might try to prepare a work plan for the week and set a long ‘to do’ list, in order of priority to attempt to conquer, there are always issues/events that arise unexpectedly.
In my current role as I am more focused on strategic-level decision making than direct construction project management. This results in more formal meeting attendance with various stakeholders rather than actual field-based action alongside refugees and host communities (the latter being what I much prefer to be honest!)
What are some of the key concerns you have in the work you do?
At UNHCR, a key concern is actually the categorisation and labelling of our clientele. We need to remember “refugees”, “asylum seekers” and even “IDPs” (internally displaced persons) are precious human beings like everyone else; they come from communities (that have unfortunately been broken/damaged by external events/factors), they have skills/life experience and they have the ability to make contributions to society.
How can more women get involved or become ‘humanitarians’ in their own way?
I’d like to think that there are no gender barriers to women getting involved in humanitarian work but, overall, I think we have a little way to go. Research organisations and how you wish to contribute with the various skill sets you have to offer.
Ask yourself what positive impact you wish to have on those far less fortunate than yourselves? Reach out for part-time volunteering if you have no prior “humanitarian” experience and then work your way into the systems from there.
I personally do not like the label “humanitarian” and do not use it for myself.
We all should behave with a social conscience and incorporate “humanitarian” acts into our everyday lives.
What are the biggest hurdles in your day to day work so far?
My biggest hurdles include providing remote project management and technical support to the shelter and site planning team based in the field. Due to other responsibilities and meeting obligations, I cannot spend nearly as much time on site as I would desire and have to rely on secondary information. This can be hard when telephone networks are poor and the field-based colleagues are understandably too busy to respond to emails.
How do you practice self-care?
To keep me sane, my self-care is exercise. I need a regular fix of healthy exercise (either in groups or solo) for energy, a serotonin release and to provide the one stable calendar entry to my working week.
Carol Angir, Senior Program Manager – Womens’ Rights in Emergencies, ActionAid Australia
What does a normal day look like for you?
There’s no such thing like a normal day in the life of a woman humanitarian. My work takes me all over the world to support women affected by crisis to engage in and influence the humanitarian response. I have travelled to places like Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Philippines and Vanuatu, countries impacted by disasters and conflict. When I am back in the office, I always keep my eye on reports around weather reports and in close contact with colleagues on the ground to monitor the latest events.
What are some of the key concerns you have in the work you do?
Women continue to be seen as victims in humanitarian emergencies, and while we know women are among the most affected, women have incredible capability to lead in humanitarian response. This is not being recognised adequately within the humanitarian sector but is the basis of ActionAid’s work to support and resource local women in their efforts to lead crisis response.
What are the biggest hurdles in your day to day work so far?
Many humanitarian emergencies are happening at the same time. Climate change and conflict are making the problem worse. So it is a challenge to keep up with the demand for support.
We also see that the financing for targeted work on women’s rights and emergencies lagging far behind other areas of humanitarian response. So there’s more to be done in this area.
How do you practice self-care?
I get my energy back by dancing and learning to celebrate the gains with other feminists around the world. I also value my family time and trying to spend as much time as I can within them. I believe in smiling and keeping myself positive and motivated.
Naomi Steer – National Director, Australia for UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency
What does a normal day look like for you?
In Australia, I generally start the day at home downloading news feeds, emails, and updates from UNHCR. After that it’s into the office for meetings with my management team or donors and overseeing our appeals and operations. There are a lot of evening events and speaking engagements – and as we are a global organisation, there’s often also late night teleconferences with colleagues in Geneva or field offices like Kenya or Uganda.
If I am visiting one of our projects overseas, my day will involve a long drive to a refugee settlement ahead of meetings with UNHCR and refugee leaders. My role includes a lot of storytelling about refugees and their experiences through interviews, photos and videos to share with our donors.
What are some of the key concerns you have in the work you do?
Of course, always top of mind are the refugees we support who motivate us to do what we do –raise awareness and funds to support UNHCR’s global emergency response to humanitarian crises.
We have a 150 staff across Australia, many who are refugees themselves, and I keep in touch in person or through email or WhatsApp. Our donors are amazingly generous and caring people and it’s also very important we respect them and their contributions.
How can more women get involved or become ‘humanitarians’ in their own way?
The refugee crisis is something that naturally tends to sit close to women’s hearts. Women and girls are disproportionally affected by displacement, with women and children making up 80% of all refugees. They also face additional vulnerabilities like female-related health concerns, sexual and gendered violence, and lack of access to education.
There are many ways to be engaged and be support refugee women – whether it’s volunteering in our office, organising community fundraising and awareness events, supporting our appeals, or reaching out to newly arrived refugees in the community.
Sharing stories and building connections is so powerful, and it goes a long way. You don’t have to study or work in the industry to make a positive impact on someone’s life.
What are the biggest hurdles in your day to day work so far?
In the beginning there was just me and a filing cabinet. It was hard doing everything myself, from fixing the photocopier to building a corporate donor pitch or appearing in TV interviews. Now with a bigger organisation, it seems sometimes there are never enough hours in the day to get through everything we need to do to keep Australia for UNHCR generating ongoing support for refugees.
How do you practice self-care?
To recharge I escape to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and I recently signed myself and my husband up to a personal trainer. 6am Monday morning starts are a killer, but it helps. I also love Car Karaoke, much to my children’s embarrassment… Elton John is my favourite to belt out!
Fadak Alfayadh – Community lawyer and refugee advocate
What are some of the key concerns you have in the work you do?
Not everyone is treated equally. It feels like the world is spiralling downwards very quickly in terms of how we view human rights, the environment and social justice.
How can more women get involved or become ‘humanitarians’ in their own way?
I found an unconventional way of doing humanitarian work where I don’t do it as a full-time job and instead get to do what I love in my free time.
I spend a lot of my evenings and weekends in my advocacy work, whether behind the scenes or in public spaces. Women can do anything.
I strongly believe that solutions for most of the world’s current problems lies in the hands (or minds) of women.
What are the biggest hurdles in your day to day work so far?
Holding on to hope is a challenge. The work we do is not easy and creating change takes time. It’s important to stay positive and celebrate the little wins. To change hearts and minds about refugees and equality for women, we will need a long time, we need coordinated action and we need consistency. My advice for anyone working on long-term change is to think of, name and celebrate the little wins along the way of your path to your final destination.
How do you practice self-care?
Humanitarian work is highly gendered and it is work that is challenging in so many ways. To make it sustainable, we must find ways of looking after ourselves, taking time out to reenergise, debrief and shed away all of the difficult things we witnessed or heard about. Not doing those things puts us at risk of burnout and potentially leaving the field altogether.