The first day of InterAction's 2010 Forum was a busy one with two major plenary sessions and a diverse array of workshops. One of the workshops, Caring for NGO Staff After a Disaster, discussed an issue again impacting many InterAction member organizations after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
More than half of the 75 workshop attendees had experience working in disaster zones. Only one-third of those attending who were represented in InterAction's 2007 report on staff care had an organizational staff care policy currently in place. Right now, according to the panelists, staff care is only being practiced in isolated areas and no mass movement is in place.
Most agreed that staff care is an essential component of disaster response, however, there is no strong force pushing to add staff care to the NGO agenda. Haiti was mentioned as the most recent of many examples where staff care is often forgotten as NGOs focus their energies on meeting the needs of the local community.
The workshop also addressed questions regarding techniques for stress reduction in staff care, the importance of having staff care in-house before an organization responds to a crisis, and the integration of staff care into the working structure of an organization to help decrease unnecessary causes for staff stress in an emergency environment.
