The leadership of major NGOs understands that employees are their most valuable asset. Investing in staff, and in particular staff care, is not only the right thing to do, it is also the cost-effective thing to do. It improves staff retention rates and the completion of assignments, and it decreases the costs associated with frequent staff turnover.

Staff care doesn’t have to be a big-ticket item. There are low-cost and high-impact interventions that NGOs are easily incorporating into their day-to-day programming. Examples of these interventions appear throughout the September issue of Monday Developments, whether it is taking a group of staff members to be tested for HIV/AIDS, setting up peer support networks, or even something as simple as ensuring staff posted in the field have access to television and DVD players to watch movies and relax.