How to become an aid worker

This is a cross-post from Peter Casier's blog The Road to the Horizon


Video courtesy of WFP

I regularly get emails from people asking more information on how to join one of the humanitarian organizations, either full time, part-time or as a volunteer.

One of the goals of this site is to provide people with inspiration, and -if possible- make them think about humanitarian issues. So, getting that amount of queries is really great, and I try to give sufficient information to get them on their way.

If you have been interested in this field of work, but never dared to ask the question, then today's post, is your post: "How to become an aid worker, in 1-2-3" or something like that.

I write this with the fear of being grossly incomplete and vague. But it should set you on your way.

1. On the crossroads of life?

Many of the people who wrote to me, talked about being on the crossroads of life. Looking for a new challenge, a new meaning-full job. Have a read how I got into this work ... .


2. What is "Aid Work"? What is "Development Work"? How Does It All Work?

Before we start, you should definitively have a look at this excellent eLearning tool from Alertnet. You might also have a look at this excellent introduction manual from All-In Diary.


3. What kind of people are these humanitarian organizations interested in?

or "Do I have to be a doctor or a nurse to work in the humanitarian field?"

Well, let's compare a humanitarian organization to something we all know. A company. Say, a construction company. The activities in a construction company -like in any company-, you can split in two parts: the internal support part and the external part.

The latter deals with the external world within the specialty of that company. For instance, in a construction company, the external part would be the architects, engineers, construction workers: all people specialized in the core business of that company: "construction."