I’m a trained construction management professional with 5 yoe in corporate. I have relevant site experience in pre-construction and post construction in facility management, particularly in predictive and AI based solutions. I’m looking to enrol in a Masters for Land Management and ultimately work in HLP or WaSH related roles in the long term after graduation.

I’ve had my fair share of volunteering experiences but I’m from a country that doesn’t offer many disaster response/humanitarian aid options to build my portfolio for entry.

Any advice on how I can break into the industry? Networking? Applying for any roles in non-profit and gain field experience? How would hiring teams take my application if I require sponsorship or a visa to work?

I’m looking to apply to the industry because this is how I see long term extension of my career and also how aligned the industry is with my personal values.

The timeline I have to build my portfolio is 1-3 years (masters included).

Any constructive advice will be appreciated.

I am a student right now so I wont have my nursing degree for a while but I am very interested in humanitarian aid nursing. Does anyone have advice on how I can explore that or good pathways? I am probably going to specialize in emergency medicine or ICU but I was considering joining the army as a nursing officer (when i have my certification) does anyone have thoughts on that? I think it would give me good experience and training. Any other advice? Please let me know thanks!!

Same as above, I can't donate a lot of money and I really want to help

Might there be anyone on this forum who could have been invited for the written test for the Associate for the ICRC Legal Division position? It's been static on my end to-date.

For social workers on the field, are you licensed to practice clinical social work in your home country/state? Was clinical licensure a necessary qualification for your current position (or positions you've seen), or did a MA in social work suffice?

Working in the nonprofit sector has shown me that humanitarian crises test much more than an organization’s ability to deliver aid. They test leadership, coordination, decision-making, and accountability.

During flood-response work in Pakistan, one of the biggest lessons I observed was the importance of clearly defined responsibilities between partner organizations and teams. When conditions change quickly, unclear roles can slow down the response.

Another important lesson is field presence. Leadership during a humanitarian crisis cannot happen entirely from an office. Understanding what teams and affected communities are experiencing on the ground can significantly improve decision-making.

Transparency is equally important. Organizations need to communicate clearly about what was delivered, where resources went, what challenges were encountered, and what impact was achieved.

Finally, humanitarian leadership should recognize the people doing the work on the ground. Successful crisis response is rarely the achievement of one individual—it comes from coordinated teams, healthcare professionals, volunteers, partners, donors, and local communities.

I’d be interested to hear from people working in humanitarian response: What leadership challenges have you seen during disaster-response operations?

I'm looking to raise money for the above causes and would like recommendations to send the money. I came across an org that was based around helping women/girls in (I believe) the Congo. It seemed like great org but I can't find the link I saved for it. Any help or additional ideas for places to donate outside of listed reasons to best help or gofundme's is super appreciated. Thank you!

I’m an experienced mental health professional trying to transition into international humanitarian/development work, ideally in MENA.

I have relevant clinical, refugee/newcomer, MHPSS, research, and international experience, but I don’t have the conventional international development programme experience that many jobs ask for.

I’m also at a career stage where internships/very entry-level roles aren’t really appropriate, and I can’t justify taking a huge pay cut without knowing it will actually help.

I’ve applied to several bridge roles but haven’t broken through yet.

For people working in humanitarian/development careers:

What experience should I focus on gaining?

What types of roles would be the best bridge?

Is programme coordination, MEL/M&E, research, or MHPSS the best route?

How did you get your first substantive international role?

I’d really appreciate practical advice on what you would do in my position.

I've just completed a series of 7 articles on the history of humanitarian aid, and I thought this could be a good place to share it.

It's, somehow, self-promotion, but it's also non-profit and open access. Besides, honestly, I think every aid worker should be familiar with it, and that's why I researched it and wrote it:

• Did you know what it took to develop and launch the Sphere Handbook or the Core Humanitarian Standard?
• Based on the lessons learned from the failures and successes of the previous humanitarian UN-led reforms, do you think the 2025 humanitarian reset can actually work?
• How did the early humanitarian system cope with the First and Second World Wars?
• Is the humanitarian system truly a system, or just a more or less functional network of organizations that tolerate each other?
• If you began working in this sector in the last 10 years, you probably have heard about the Grand Bargain. But what about the 2011 transformative agenda or the 2005 reform? Have you taken the time to review the evaluations of humanitarian responses that gave shape to those proposed changes?
• Can you trace the origins of some of the humanitarian aid organizations we're all familiar with today? The ICRC? MSF? Save the Children? Concern? NEAR? ALNAP? OCHA?

It took me a lot of time to understand many of these things (and it has helped me realize there's even more I still don't know), and I hope others can now benefit and learn about them on their own.

P.S.: You can also help me identify mistakes and inaccuracies!

Hello all,

As the title says, r/charity wouldn't let me post (not enough comment karma), but what are some free or low cost ways to help with the global hunger crisis.

Daily, I play for 1000 grains on FreeRice and donate 0.80$ USD to ShareTheMeal, both through the WFP.

I know these are small gestures in the grand scheme of things, but if you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Thank you all, and have a great day!

I’m volunteering for a UN conference at my university tomorrow. There will be a number of international charities and UN staff in attendance all to discuss the future of the humanitarian sector. I’d love some tips for how and who to network with as I won’t have much time to talk to people and there will be a lot of people who would be willing to talk/connect. any advice or tips are welcomed as I’m new to this!

background of me: 30M Currently volunteering only for the admin side of a humanitarian evaluation charity (ALNAP) and in my first year of my humanitarian development degree. Preferably I want to work in evaluation and monitoring, write fictional books based in humanitarian effectiveness research and do as much good as I can, but overall still trying to figure it out.

I'd like to know what the living situation there is like. I've done a few compound life and other field missions but I'm unsure what it's like there.

This documentary follows migrants from their journey across the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya through their arrival in Europe.

UNICEF has laid out a proposed plan for its $218 million humanitarian grant from the U.S. State Department, shedding the first light on one of several so-called macro awards the Trump administration has given to large aid agencies this year.

In early internal documents shared with Devex, the United Nations agency splits its award into four separate pillars: rapid response to natural disasters, complex emergency response, rapid response within complex emergencies, and integrated nutrition response for women and children.

The entire article is free to read if you register on DevEx.

Hello group!

I am an international candidate(neither Argentinian nor Brazilian) looking for job opportunities at humanitarian/development NGOs in Argentina and Brazil.

I speak both Spanish and Portuguese quite fluently, but do not currently hold the right to work in these countries.

I would like to know if anyone could share insights on how to secure jobs in this field in these two countries as a foreignor or if there is any chance of getting one in one of these two countries as a foreignor (if any INGOs are hiring people to send them there)

These are my favorite countries so before it's two late I just wanted to see if I can continue my career as a humanitarian and get to live in my favorite country at the same time.

Any recommendations or thoughts?

It’s open question I just need to collect everyone’s opinion and get more information About this situation

Ok, I wanted to share some background on what this idea is and how it came to be. During my summer break, I found an organization that provided free academic support to underserved communities, and I started teaching two students online. I actually enjoyed teaching these students, and I saw the difference it made. Hey, might I say that Im pretty good at teaching. Later on, I got another student, this time through a family friend who was impressed by my teaching.

Those few weeks of experience made me realize just how much I want to expand this and make a real impact here as well. My goal is to build a student-led initiative in Dubai that is dedicated to providing free tutoring, learning resources, and general mentorship to students who may not have access to these resources or simply those who require guidance.

I'm really passionate about this idea because I LOVEEE teaching, and I enjoy seeing others flourish! But operating in Dubai makes it a bit tricky since there are so many rules and regulations here that just prevent it from happening. Im also stuck on outreach and how to establish myself out there so that I can get more people on my team and make this an ACTUAL thing.

If anyone has experience with student initiatives, knows of community channels/networks to look into, or has general advice on navigating this, I’d really appreciate your help!
I wanna make this into a long-term sort of thing so that in the future, 10 years later when it's expanded, I can make this into an NPO, NGO, or whatever category it comes under.

Hi everyone — I’m looking for nonprofit-sector feedback on a free bilingual crisis navigation guide I built for people in the US who don’t know where to start during a crisis.

It covers housing, utilities, food, benefits, domestic safety, mental health, medical bills, debt, court papers, childcare, transportation, lost documents, caregiving, and related situations.

I’m doing a clarity, safety, and usefulness review before sharing it more widely.

I’m not asking for endorsement, funding, client information, personal stories, or crisis support. I’m also not asking anyone to take responsibility for the guide. I’m just hoping for fresh eyes from people who understand public-facing resources, referrals, access barriers, and overwhelmed users.

If you’re willing to look, I’d be grateful for feedback on:

\- Can you tell quickly what the guide is and who it’s for?
\- Is the language clear enough for someone who is stressed, scared, or overwhelmed?
\- Does the navigation make sense?
\- Are the referral paths realistic?
\- Does anything feel unsafe, misleading, outdated, or outside its lane?
\- Are there places where it should more clearly say “contact a local agency / legal aid / advocate / clinician”?
\- Is anything too many steps for someone with limited time, energy, transportation, internet access, or trust in systems?
\- Does the bilingual English/Spanish structure work, or does anything important seem easier to find in one language than the other?

The guide is here:
[https://www.notion.so/3c1b147e80a880c3903eef43b9763c85\](https://www.notion.so/3c1b147e80a880c3903eef43b9763c85)

The two pages I most want checked first are the quick-number pages, because a dead number or unclear warning there could cause the most harm:

\- Quick Access Contacts / Contactos de acceso rápido
\- Every Number, One Page / Todos los números, una página

If you only answer one question, please answer this:

Is anything wrong, outdated, unsafe, confusing, or likely to send someone to the wrong place?

Thank you either way. Please be picky, not nice — I’m trying to find the flaws before someone in crisis relies on it.

Hi all! I've been wondering for sometime on how i can help out others in need (humans and animals) when i have very little income. I'm not talking about helping out communities because i do what i can for homeless people and their dogs in my area. I want to have a good global outreach on helping firsthand, not any donations as i don't fully trust most charities and companies that say they donate to those in need. I've seen videos online where people rescue dogs and cats from meat trades and also people that help others get a house and give them a brand new start to life. This might even feel like a stretch and the reality of the situation could be that i just don't have the finances, i'm wondering if there are organisations that i can volunteer through that don't cost a fortune (most volunteering camps outside of my country require a down payment of 1.5-3k, which is quite silly and really expensive). If anyone has any ideas that would be much appreciated!