HH PPLL Respectful Recruitment

Humanitarian Horizons: Power, People and Local Leadership November 2023
RESPECTFUL RECRUITMENT IN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE:

Why we need it and how to do it
Acknowledgments
Research team: Suman Ahsanul Islam, Nahid Siddigui (inSights); Hendra Wijaya, Panji Dimas (Pujiono
Centre); Ziad Antonios, Kateryna Korenkova, Dmytro Kondratenko (independent consultants); Jesse
McCommon, Eranda Wijewickrama, Atarah Senn, Kate Sutton (Humanitarian Advisory Group)
Authors: Jesse McCommon and Kate Sutton
Editors: Eleanor Davey and Josie Flint
Copy Editor: Campbell Aitken
Design: Jenny Moody, A&J Moody Design
Cover photo: Shutterstock
Suggested citation: HAG, InSights, Pujiono Centre (2023) Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response:
Why we need it and how to do it. Humanitarian Horizons. Melbourne: HAG.
This publication was funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade. The views expressed in this publication are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect those of
the Australian Government.
Humanitarian Horizons 2021–24

This report is part of the Power, People and Local Leadership stream of the Humanitarian Horizons 2021–
2024 research program. Humanitarian Horizons is a three-year research initiative that adds unique value
to humanitarian action in the Indo-Pacific by generating evidence and creating conversations for change.
It is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The research program for 2021–24 builds on the achievements of the Humanitarian Horizons pilot phase
(2017–18), the previous iteration of the program (2018–21) and Humanitarian Advisory Group’s experience
in supporting the sector for almost 10 years. The research is structured into three interlocking streams: 1)
Power, People and Local Leadership, 2) Greening the System, and 3) Real-Time Analysis and Influence. It
is underpinned by a fourth stream that considers governance, accountability, and monitoring, evaluation
and learning processes.
About the partners
Pujiono Centre is a not-for-profit organisation established by disaster management practitioners in
Indonesia as a new modality and platform for obtaining, sharing and disseminating knowledge about
disaster management, humanitarian response, and climate change adaptation by supporting evidence-
based assessments for policymakers.
InSights (the Institute of Innovation for Gender and Humanitarian Transformation) is a Bangladesh-based
social enterprise providing insights that challenge the current ways of working in humanitarian aid and
gender affairs. InSights aims to transform ideas within the humanitarian, social and businesses sectors,
turning them into innovations, knowledge and strategies.
Independent consultants
Ziad Antonios is an internationally certified SME financing, microfinance, and renewable energy
financing expert and monitoring & evaluation specialist with more than 17 years of experience in
development and humanitarian assistance in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Kateryna Korenkova is an evaluator based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She has a Masters degree in social work and
another in evaluation. She has extensive experience in monitoring and advisory roles in the humanitarian
and development sector in Ukraine.
Dmytro Kondratenko is an evaluator from Ukraine and has nine years of experience in humanitarian and
developmental evaluations. He is a member of the Board of the Ukrainian Evaluation Association (Chair
2018–2020). His expertise is in locally led humanitarian response evaluations, localisation of humanitarian
and developmental assistance, and power imbalances between local and international actors.
About Humanitarian Advisory Group

Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG) was founded in 2012 to elevate the profile of humanitarian action
in Asia and the Pacific. Set up as a social enterprise, HAG provides a unique space for thinking, research,
technical advice and training that contributes to excellence in humanitarian practice.
Humanitarian Advisory Group is BCorp certified. This little logo means we work
hard to ensure that our business is a force for good. We have chosen to hold
ourselves accountable to the highest social, environmental and ethical standards,
setting ourselves apart from business as usual.
Contents
AcknowledgmentsII
AbbreviationsV
Executive summary VI
Introduction1
The big picture: Current recruitment approaches fall short of

respectful practice 6
The need for a fresh approach 10
Exploring opportunities for contextualised solutions: The scenarios 14
Working together towards respectful recruitment 28
Annex A. Ethical recruitment guidelines 31
Annex B. Using the scenarios: Activity guide 33
IV Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Abbreviations
C4C Charter4Change
CBPF Country-Based Pooled Fund
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo
HAG Humanitarian Advisory Group
HCT Humanitarian Country Team
HQ Headquarters
HR Human Resources
INGO International Non-Governmental Organisation
KII key Informant Interview
LHDF Lebanon Humanitarian and Development NGOs Forum
NEAR Network of Empowered Aid Response
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
TSCP Transforming Surge Capacity Project
UN United Nations
Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response V

Executive summary
The recruitment of local and national humanitarian staff into international organisations aligns
with the sector’s commitment to better include and elevate local voices and perspectives
in humanitarian response. However, such staff movements can also have unintended
consequences for local organisations and for local and national capacity more broadly.
Myriad factors contribute to this type of staff movement in the humanitarian sector. This includes positive
opportunities for professional growth as well as the consequences of innate inequalities in the system that
continue to treat national and international staff differently. The nature of humanitarian work requires a certain
level of staff mobility; however, current poor recruitment practices have the potential to undermine and erode
local capacity.
The issue of ethical recruitment in humanitarian organisations has gained attention in recent years, in large part
due to global initiatives such as the Charter4Change.1 However, there is little quantifiable evidence of the impact
of poor recruitment practice on local organisations or the impact of current approaches to mitigate the issue.
WHAT THIS PAPER DOES

This paper explores recruitment in humanitarian organisations, and proposes that a fresh approach is needed
to encourage the sector to adopt respectful recruitment practices. Respectful recruitment extends beyond
ethical recruitment by acknowledging ethical and fair processes as a starting point, but also encourages
humanitarians to develop a better understanding of how the sector can more holistically support local
organisations facing challenges from the loss of staff. It seeks to open a wider conversation about respectful
recruitment in order to explore how a combination of collective and context-specific solutions can enable the
sector to make progress on these issues and better support local systems.
WHY RESPECTFUL RECRUITMENT IS IMPORTANT

Evidence suggests that current approaches to recruitment in the humanitarian sector are falling short of
respectful practice. This includes poor practices such as unethical headhunting and attempts to poach
local staff, as well as generally fair processes that nonetheless detrimentally affect local organisations.
These practices continue to harm local and national organisations, including through disruption and delays
in program implementation due to loss of key programming staff, and consequent reputational damage in
the community and/or with donors; financial strain; and diminished strength of civil society due to loss of
leadership and weakened institutional capacity.
There is little evidence that high-level global initiatives and headquarters-level policies are shifting practice.
This is a complex problem that will require reflection and investment on solutions grounded in local realities.
Humanitarians must move beyond short-term thinking to consider in what shape the system is left when
humanitarian operations cease. Respectful recruitment is essential in order to walk the talk in relation to
localisation and not undermine efforts to support local leadership.
1 See: Charter 4 Change
VI Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

SHIFTING PRACTICE
Improving recruitment practices requires context-specific approaches. No one-size-fits-all solution can
cover the complex influences and impacts of staff movement across humanitarian contexts. This paper uses
research-informed hypothetical scenarios to allow the reader to scrutinise the factors, incentives, processes,
and systems that shape decision-making and contribute to or minimise harm related to staff recruitment.
Each scenario is accompanied by a brief contextual analysis and a list of possible actions to promote
respectful recruitment.
Exploring the drivers and impacts of staff movement across scenarios allowed the researchers to identify and
propose options for actors to consider according to context and circumstance. Opportunities are presented
with each scenario to suggest what options may be of highest priority and/or most feasible according to
contextual factors, but this does not negate their applicability in other circumstances. The paper concludes
by bringing these opportunities together to propose recommendations to different actor groups to support
respectful recruitment across contexts.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations include targeted actions for larger intermediary organisations – the primary audience for
this report – disaggregated by team function to provide additional clarity around roles and responsibilities.
These are supported by recommendations for donors to incentivise and hold intermediaries accountable
for these shifts, acknowledging their key role in creating change in the sector. Finally, the paper gives
recommendations for smaller local and national organisations that focus primarily on collective advocacy.
Larger organisations and intermediaries

Country Directors and leadership teams
Prioritise ongoing dialogue and collaboration with all actors to understand the contextual factors
that influence recruitment practice and develop strategies for respectful recruitment in context.
Ensure that respectful recruitment is embedded in organisational policy, human resources (HR)
procedures, localisations strategies and M&E frameworks.
Make a senior manager responsible for raising awareness and monitoring respectful recruitment
strategies and approaches.
Prioritise investment in long-term institutional partnerships with local actors to build trust and share
capacity over time.
Increase the percentage of funds allocated to local partners when transitioning out of context to
enable them to attract and retain high-level staff.
Program teams
Prioritise respectful recruitment in program design and staffing.
Jointly develop and implement long-term capacity development programs with partners and local
actors.
Invest in supporting national surge capacity through peer-to-peer capacity exchange or
secondments and supporting local and national surge mechanisms.
Collaborate with local actors to develop respectful exit strategies to maintain a healthy local
humanitarian system.
Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response VII

HR teams
Update and socialise recruitment policy and procedure that includes respectful recruitment.
Align recruitment processes with national policy, regulations and mechanisms.
Work with local partners to codify terms to reduce unethical or damaging recruitment practice.
Support local partners to develop HR and institutional capacity by providing resources and training.
Develop and resource training programs for entry-level local staff.
Document and share best practice in respectful recruitment.
Donors
Incentivise and engage in proactive conversations at the country level about contextual factors shaping
staff movement, and develop strategies for respectful recruitment.
Incorporate respectful recruitment in donor localisation strategies and policies. Hold intermediaries to
their commitments and to follow-up and implementation.
Include respectful recruitment in conversations with partners to raise its profile.
Hold intermediaries accountable to the Grand Bargain commitment to transfer 25% of funding to local
partners.
Incentivise increased funding to local partners when international organisations are exiting.
Support pooled fund initiatives to promote respectful recruitment.
Smaller local and national organisations

Establish forums for collective advocacy (e.g. through consortia or single-issue coalitions).
Collaborate with all actors to identify the contextual factors that influence recruitment practice and
develop strategies for respectful recruitment.
Include clauses in partnership contracts to reduce unethical or damaging recruitment.
Support and participate in mechanisms to strengthen national surge capacity.
Collaborate with international and intermediary organisations to organise capacity exchange.
Collaborate with large humanitarian organisations to develop exit strategies that include a respectful
transition.
Invest in strengthening HR systems.
Collectively advocate that national governments and actors create a mechanism to develop the
humanitarian capacity of job seekers.
VIII Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Introduction
The movement of people is a cornerstone of humanitarian operations. When an emergency
overwhelms the resources at hand, support arrives from elsewhere – starting with
communities aiding each other, and continuing with the roles of local responders, national
organisations, and – when necessary – international agencies. As these organisations
interact, mobility between them has become increasingly common. The humanitarian
sector’s push for localisation has resulted in an increasing presence of local and national
staff in international organisations. This has many benefits for the sector, but also can bring
unintended consequences for local organisations.
Staff mobility can be beneficial to individuals, advancing their careers and/or giving them experiences in new
contexts, and to their employers, who gain new skills, perspectives and capacities. However, staff mobility can
also harm organisations. Its impacts can usually be mitigated in large and well-resourced organisations, but
for small, local and national organisations, they can be severe.
S It’s a constant process of recruiting, training and doing it again. UN and INGOs make us unsustainable.
(National actor, India)2
This issue has attracted attention in recent years and is linked to a wide array of inequalities in the system. 3
However, little is known about ways to tangibly reduce its negative impacts. Conversations around inequality
in humanitarian staff recruitment typically centre on pay scales – including the stark differences in salary and
benefit packages between international and national staff that lead many local staff to seek work with larger
international organisations. 4 This fundamental systemic problem is well documented in existing research,
and is not the focus of this paper. 5 Whilst acknowledging that salaries are a key driver of staff movement,
this paper argues that the problem must be understood more holistically, and its solutions will need to reach
beyond efforts to rectify salaries.
This paper proposes that a fresh approach is needed to push the sector to adopt respectful recruitment
practices. Existing approaches have generally been led by policy groups and international headquarters
(HQs).This type of top-down approach has not produced meaningful change in practice. In some contexts,
a sense of powerlessness has set in. The paper argues that in order to realise meaningful solutions, actors
operating together in a particular response must collectively assess the contextual factors that drive poor
recruitment practices and then take collective action to address them.
S Solutions need to change depending the context and the organisational work. Generic solutions will not
help in moving this discussion. (National actor, Bangladesh) 6
2 Interview 31
3 See: Charter 4 Change; CHS Alliance, Transforming Surge Capacity Project: HR Good Practice for Surge Response; Grand Bargain
Localisation Workstream, Localisation Guidance Notes; NEAR, 2019, Localisation Performance Measurement Framework.
4 Miceli, M. (2023) Brain drain in the aid sector: Unpacking the barriers of the dual-salary system, The Humanitarian Leader, Working paper
033, doi: 10.21153/thl2023art1752; Thurn, J., The Taboo of Humanitarian Inequalities: What can be learnt from the 2010s, Humanium, 4
February 2020; Carr, S. and McWha-Herman, I., Mind the gap in local and international aid workers’ salaries, The Conversation, 17 April
2016; McWha-Herman, I., Interrogating INGO’s dual salary systems to address inequality, Bond, 12 January 2021
5 For more information on salary inequality, see: McWha-Hermann, I., Marai, L., MacLachlan, M., & Carr, S. C. (2021) Developing evidence-
based alternatives to dual salary systems, International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 10(4), 243–246, https://doi.
org/10.1027/2157-3891/a000023; McWha-Hermann, I., & Cook-Lundgren, E. (2021) Expatriate compensation in contemporary organisations,
in Toh, S.M. and DeNisi, A. (Eds.) Expatriates and Managing Global Mobility. Routledge; McWha-Hermann, I., Jandric, J., Cook-Lundgren, E., &
Carr, S.C. (2021) Toward fairer global reward: Lessons from international non-governmental organizations. International Business Review, 101897.
6 Interview 6
Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 1

Embracing respectful recruitment
Humanitarian staff will continue to be mobile. This approach acknowledges that staff movement will continue
to occur in the humanitarian sector, but seeks to ensure that this mobility is supported by recruitment that is
respectful and maintains a healthy system (see Box 1).
Tackling this problem does not, and should not, impinge on the right of humanitarian staff to seek better jobs
and better pay. People have the right to make choices about their careers and how to use and develop their
own skills and knowledge. However, the system can and should develop structural approaches to mitigate the
harms of staff movement.
Box 1: What is respectful recruitment?

Current attempts to curb poor recruitment practice have largely focused on the extreme end of the
spectrum, such as active and intentional headhunting of local staff, often referred to as ‘staff poaching.’7
Over recent years, there has been a push for organisations to adopt ethical recruitment guidelines and
policies to limit this practice (see Annex A).8 This approach is important, but falls short of solving the wider
problems associated with staff movement.
Respectful recruitment considers the consequences of all recruitment decisions and takes action to
mitigate their negative impacts. It seeks to support and maintain a healthy local and national humanitarian
system that will continue to be effective in the absence of international actors. Respectful recruitment
is intended to reduce the harms that accompany staff movement across the spectrum of recruitment,
from outright poaching to the capacity loss smaller humanitarian organisations experience even through
ethical processes. Ethical recruitment guidelines serve as an important basis for discussion and are one
component of a set of wider efforts towards respectful recruitment.
A note on terminology: Throughout this report, the terms ethical and respectful are used frequently to
qualify recruitment practice. While they are complementary, for the purpose of this paper these terms are
not interchangeable. Ethical recruitment practice refers to ensuring that recruitment processes are fair,
open, and transparent. Respectful recruitment practice is fundamentally ethical, but also considers and
mitigates long-term run-on effects and negative impacts on local civil society.
HOW TO USE THIS PAPER

This paper aims to promote wider and more engaged conversation about respectful recruitment, illuminated
through exploration of different perspectives and contexts, and explore how a combination of collective and
context-specific solutions might allow the sector to make headway. It invites readers to consider a series of
research-informed hypothetical scenarios, using them to scrutinise the factors, incentives, processes and
systems that shape decision-making and may contribute to or minimise recruitment impacts. This paper also
includes guidance on how to use scenario-based reflection to promote respectful recruitment in your own
organisation (see Annex B).
7 Staff poaching is deliberately recruiting from other organisations within the same industry. The recruiting organisation benefits from its
new employees’ skills and knowledge to the detriment of the source organisation.
8 The Charter4Change, endorsed in 2015, includes a commitment to support ethical recruitment and encourages signatories to implement
ethical recruitment guidelines and policy.
2 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Who is this paper for?
This paper is for humanitarian actors – especially operational and program managers, human resources (HR)
departments, and organisational leadership. It primarily targets the actions and behaviours of intermediary or
‘larger’ organisations, and their role in supporting the shift towards respectful recruitment practices. It offers
recommendations for donors to incentivise and provide accountability for these shifts. It can also be used as
an advocacy tool for local and national organisations seeking to raise awareness and motivate action.
Why use scenario-based reflection?

Exploring the drivers and impacts of staff movement across multiple scenarios allowed the research to
propose options for actors to consider according to their context and circumstances. This is a complex
problem and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The impact of humanitarian staff movement is driven by
a variety of contextual factors that will require nuanced solutions agreed and driven from the ground up.
Scenario-based reflection and learning have been used to help staff and leaders explore and anticipate the
consequences of choices in other complex areas, such as risk management.9
The scenarios are informed by real-world examples from and the experiences of actors interviewed for this
research. First-person narrative allows the audience to relate to the scenarios and reflect on how their own
organisation may cope with similar situations and the adjustments needed to meet similar challenges in their
own context. This approach draws on ‘narrative theory,’ which argues that narratives are a fundamental way
of acquiring knowledge and increasing engagement. Narrative communication and story-telling techniques
can encourage behaviour change by facilitating greater personal involvement and offering a form of learning
through experience.10
Report structure
The report is structured in 5 sections. The next section explores the big picture: why are current approaches
falling short of respectful practice and why is this important. The third section explains in more detail why and
how our approach is different from previous contributions. The fourth section presents the three scenarios
where we explore the drivers and impacts of staff movement and how humanitarian actors often respond,
based on what we learned from interviews and survey responses. The final section discusses strategies and
opportunities for different types of actors in more detail.
METHODOLOGY
The research sought to describe staff movement in the context of different responses, aid structures, and labour
markets. It used a mixed methods approach, including desk review, a global survey, key informant interviews
(KIIs), and organisational case study analysis (Figure 1). Data collection tools were developed in consultation with
national partners across four country contexts: Ukraine, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Lebanon.
Case study countries were selected in consultation with partners to reflect a diversity of contexts, including
some where humanitarian staff movement is a major issue, and to test assumptions about why the prevalence
of poor practices varies. Case studies involved interviews with international and local/national actors, and
an organisational analysis of a local/national organisation that was badly affected by loss of staff to other
organisations.
9 InterAction (2022) Responding Amid Uncertainty and Managing Risk in Humanitarian Settings: Resources for NGOs.
10 Hinyard L. J. & Kreuter M.W. (2007) Using narrative communication as a tool for health behavior change: A conceptual, theoretical, and
empirical overview, Health Education & Behaviour 34(5), 777–92, doi: 10.1177/1090198106291963.

The desk review served to inform country selection and enable a deeper understanding of existing efforts to
reduce unethical recruitment practice and mitigate its impacts. While there is little existing documentation
of the impacts of staff movement, the desk review identified poor practices with particularly severe effects
and trials of mitigation strategies. The desk review also identified contextual factors that affect recruitment
practice.
Key informant interviews were conducted to learn about the experiences of international, national and
local humanitarian actors across 12 countries and build on the outcomes of the desk review. They enabled
exploration of the influences and impacts of staff recruitment, particularly on smaller local and national
organisations, and the strategies that have been trialled and how they could be improved.
To assess the scale of the problem and gather a wide range of perspectives on recruitment practice and
impacts, a global survey was open from July to September 2023. The survey was used to better understand
the scale of the problem and gather perspectives across a broader sample.
Figure 1: Methodology
4 national partners
Desk review of 30+ 136 survey responses

documents UNDERPINNED across 26 countries
BY ETHICAL RESEARCH
PRINCIPLES
4 case studies 40 key informant interviews

across 12 countries
How were scenarios developed?

The narrative scenarios reflect real experiences shared by research participants; they were adapted and
combined to illustrate three broad sets of dynamics. The scenarios were informed by all data sources, but
draw primarily on qualitative data collected through KIIs and organisational case studies. Data was coded
according to several contextual factors that resulted in common experiences:
Stage of response
Amount of funding available
Level of education and state of labour market in context
Strength of civil society
Existing relationships and trust between international and national actors.

Each scenario was developed to capture a range of common experiences across actors with common
contextual factors. ‘Setting the scene’ prefaces give background to the contextual factors that influence the
systems’ operations and how decisions are made.
The research team recognises that the three scenarios depicted cannot encompass all the combinations of
factors and unforeseen circumstances that can exist in humanitarian contexts. They reflect the data collected
for this research, and present common challenges associated with staff recruitment and resourcing.
Scope and limitations

Scope: This research does not address the issue of pay scales in humanitarian organisations, which has
been studied at length. The University of Edinburgh Business School’s Project Fair: Fairness in INGO Reward
provides useful information on this topic.11
Representativeness: The small samples of research participants from each country means that the views
represented here do not reflect all groups. Interviews in each case study context included participants from
local/national organisations and international organisations, but few United Nations (UN) or donor personnel.
Contextualisation: The complexity of different contexts meant that it was impossible to cover all the
contextual factors and circumstances that influence staff recruitment and its impact. Meeting the challenges
presented in this paper will require reflection and collaboration amongst humanitarian actors at all levels.
Recommendations are presented to guide discussion and action, but are not prescriptive solutions.
Market analysis: This paper explores the impact of the labour market and strength of civil society on
recruitment practice in different contexts, but detailed market analysis was out of scope. References to the
impact of the labour market require further research for validation.
11 McWha-Hermann, I., Jandric, J., Wakefield, S., Carr, S.C., Grund, C., & Moutou, M. (2017) Project Fair: Exploring practical pathways for
reward fairness in international NGOs. Edinburgh, UK: University of Edinburgh.
Photo: Shutterstock

The big picture: Current recruitment
approaches fall short of respectful practice
One of the factors hindering action on this issue is the dilemma it presents for international actors. A choice
by international actors not to hire national staff, especially in senior positions, could be perceived as falling
short on their commitment to local leadership. Yet, when international actors do recruit national staff, it
invariably comes at a cost to local and national organisations – again, potentially out of step with their
localisation commitments. This dilemma, along with a myriad of other contributing factors, have caused
challenges around staff movement to consistently be placed in the ‘too hard basket’ for humanitarians, with
solutions seeming out of reach.
The harm local and national humanitarian organisations experience as a result of staff movement is widely
acknowledged, but there is very little documentation or analysis of impacts. The problem is not novel, with
evidence starting to emerge in the evaluation of the Indian Ocean tsunami response in 2006.12 It has gained
increased attention over the past decade, primarily in response to major sudden-onset disasters that spurred
large international responses, but has not prompted meaningful changes in practice or support to smaller
local and national organisations.13
Approaches to recruitment vary widely – from attempts to intentionally poach staff to fully ethical and
transparent processes – according to several factors (discussed in the next section). For example, one
international actor explained how their organisation has an ethical recruitment policy, but during emergencies
steps are often missed.14 Another actor from a smaller national organisation shared an example of a staff
member being recruited through a fair process, but the standard one-month notice period was too short to
mitigate the impacts of their loss.15
Impacts can also vary widely. For example, one actor from a national organisation claimed that their
organisation was able to fill vacancies arising from staff moving to larger organisations with little long-term
impact, while another actor from a smaller local organisation reported debilitating impacts on their operations
and financial sustainability.16
The scale of the problem

While the staff movement issue is widely acknowledged in the localisation discourse, there is little evidence
of the scale of the problem. Of 25 local and national actors interviewed in this research, 22 identified staff
movement as having substantial impacts on their organisation. They ranged from impacts that could be
managed relatively easily, such as a larger organisation losing one or two staff in a year, to detrimental
impacts that forced smaller organisations out of business. Of the 15 international actors interviewed,
12 Telford, J. & Cosgrave, J. (2006) Joint evaluation of the international response to the Indian Ocean tsunami: Synthesis report, Tsunami
Evaluation Coalition; Featherstone, A. (2017) Time to move on: National perspectives on transforming surge capacity, CAFOD, Christian
Aid, Tearfund and Islamic Relief Worldwide.
13 Featherstone, A. (2017) Time to move on; Featherstone, A. (2014) Missed again: Making space for partnership in the typhoon Haiyan
response, Actionaid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Tearfund; Antequisa, R., A paradox in practice: To localise aid international agencies
need to address practices that undermine national capacity, C4C, 25 August 2015.
14 Interview 30
15 Interview 6
16 Interviews 7 & 17

12 identified the problem, citing other international actors’ unethical practices or describing their own
experiences of losing staff to better-resourced organisations.
Survey results indicated that 86% of respondents had experienced staff leaving to join larger
organisations, with 30% claiming that this happens often (several times per year). The number of staff
who moved and level of impact varied across respondents (see survey results below).
What percentage of your staff would you How much has staff leaving to work with an
estimate left to join an international or larger international or larger organisation impacted
humanitarian or development organisation in your organisation?
the last 2 years?
0-10%
of staff 52% No impact 15%
11-24% 24% Low impact 20%

of staff
Medium 27%
25-49% 10% impact
of staff
More than 2% High impact 31%

50% of staff
I don’t know 12% I don’t know 7%
The severity of impacts

Despite common acknowledgement of the problem, there is little concrete evidence and documentation of how
staff movement affects smaller organisations. This research identified the following potential areas of impact.
Program implementation
Continual loss of key programming staff delays or even terminates program implementation and delivery of
essential services to communities.17
of survey respondents indicated that staff movement had a high or medium impact on their
60%
ability to deliver programs effectively in a timely manner.18
We see a lot of local organisations are

The impact is direct, particularly on program implementation.
struggling, they don’t have many qualified
When organisations invest in building staff capacity through
staff. If a staff member leaves, they don’t have
induction and refresher training, losing an employee disrupts the
any coping mechanisms, their programs and
workflow. This disruption affects the quality of service delivery,
projects are immediately affected. They have
program deadlines, and the internal dynamics among the
to stop the program maybe two or three times,
remaining staff. (National actor Lebanon)
it has a huge impact on program performance.
(National actor, Myanmar)
17 Interviews 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 27, 31 & 32

18 42% of respondents reported a high impact, 28% of respondents reported a medium impact.

Financial sustainability
Smaller organisations have small budgets for overheads and administration; costs associated with continual
recruitment and training put budgets under considerable strain. Several respondents from local and national
organisations shared experiences of investing significantly in the education of their staff, only to see them
leave to join larger organisations.19
49%
financial sustainability.20
It was a six-month process for recruiting. I The budget on salary increases up to seventy-five
[CEO] had to cover the work during this time. per cent depending how many people we are
And when I couldn’t do it, I had to pay for a training. I tried to invest in training people to keep
consultant to come and do the work. I could them from leaving, but that was not effective, as
not charge this cost to the projects since the soon as you train someone other organisations
consultant didn’t hold the title of grant manager become interested. (National actor, Ukraine)
and donor projects only allow staff costs to
specific titles. (National actor, Yemen)
Reputation
Losing staff to larger organisations often means that smaller organisations are unable to continue efficient
program implementation, which has a considerable impact on their reputation. Affected organisations then
receive less funding because they are unable to meet donor expectations.21
58% reputation in the community and/or with funders.22
When individuals leave or transition to larger organisations after

only three or four months, it creates difficulties in continuing
Many local NGOs face reputation challenges. or completing the projects. Finding qualified and skilled
Staff often prefer to work for INGOs or UN replacements for this limited time to complete the projects
agencies over local NGOs. This preference for becomes a challenge. Furthermore, we are obliged to provide
larger, international organisations can affect clarifications to the donors regarding the reasons for their
local NGOs’ ability to attract and retain talent. departure and the resulting complications for project continuity.
(National actor, Lebanon) (National actor, Bangladesh)
19 Interviews 1, 2, 7, 24, 27, 28, 30 & 31

20 23% of respondents reported high impact, 25% reported medium impact.
21 Interviews 2, 7, 13, 14, 22 & 23

Strength of civil society
Unethical recruitment practices can leave civil society undermined and less effective. This may be masked
by the presence of large UN agencies and NGOs in the short term, but in the long term and as larger
organisations scale back, civil society organisations may fold or diminish to such an extent that they cannot
provide ongoing services or to be prepared for future events.23 Survey responses highlighted the impact on
civil society.
of survey respondents indicated that loss of leadership due to staff movement had a high or
57%
medium impact on their organisation.
of survey respondents indicated that diminished institutional capacity due to staff movement
61%
had a high or medium impact on their organisation. 24
We lose people to high-paying country offices

and UN. Since we don’t have enough money,
This undermines civil society by taking senior members from
we get people from universities whose salary
national NGOs. They have been in the leadership circle of
expectations are not that high. We invest a
their organisations, then they get some sort of administrative
lot of time and energy, when they are trained
position. A humanitarian coordinator in the government
they leave. It causes serious institutional
ends up in a data processing job within the UN system. You
weakening. (National actor, India)
put him in the organisation with no decision-making power.
(National actor, Ukraine)
I know several smaller organisations
that just disappeared because of the
lack of personnel. (National actor,
Ukraine)
23 Interviews 1, 14, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30 & 31

Photo: Shutterstock

The need for a fresh approach
Global humanitarian initiatives and commitments have helped to put the staff movement problem on the
agenda. This has been largely driven by efforts to develop and implement ethical recruitment guidelines (see
Annex A), championed by Charter 4 Change (C4C), inclusion of ethical recruitment practice in localisation
frameworks, and work undertaken by the Grand Bargain Localisation Workstream (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Examples of global commitments for strengthening ethical recruitment
2015 C4C includes 8 commitments to reduce imbalances and inequality in the global
humanitarian system, one of which aims to prevent the negative impacts of
recruiting national NGO staff during emergencies
2017 START Network’s Transforming Surge Capacity Project (TSCP) proposed high-level
ethical recruitment guidelines for the sector. These guidelines explicitly identify staff
poaching as harmful and unfair practice and proposed several mitigation strategies
for INGOs. There is little evidence about the uptake or impact of these guidelines.
2019 Network of Empowered Aid Response (NEAR) launched a Localisation

Performance Measurement Framework, including specific indicators for ethical
recruitment practice.
2020 The Grand Bargain Localisation Workstream issued a series of guidance notes,
including one on partnership practices, which recommends ‘all humanitarian actors
follow ethical recruitment practices. International actors attempt to keep salaries/
benefits within as close a range as practicable to local actors. Local actors strive to
support staff to do their job effectively and treat them fairly and equitably.’
Despite good intentions, there is little evidence that these high-level initiatives have shifted practice. Global
commitments have led to many international NGO HQs adopting ethical recruitment guidelines or policies,
with C4C’s 2022 annual report claiming that 76% of signatories maintain ethical recruitment guidelines. 25
However, there is scant evidence of the impact or influence of these policies or how they are monitored
or enforced. Several INGO actors claimed that their organisations had ‘unwritten but understood’ policies
around ethical recruitment, 26 which may be true but prevents monitoring and accountability. Survey results
further highlighted this challenge, with only 31% of respondents indicating that they were aware of such
guidelines being in place in larger organisations, and 20% claiming that these and similar efforts to
manage staff movement have made no difference.
S The discussion is good but there is a complete disconnect between HQ and country offices […] They
sign on to all the changes but can’t enforce commitments. (National actor, India) 27
25 Charter 4 Change (2022) From commitments to action: Progress report 2021-2022.

26 Interviews 8, 15, 20 & 35
27 Interview 31

Positive steps are evident in some contexts. For example, in Ukraine, national level ethical recruitment
guidelines were proposed by the NGO Resource Centre and adopted by the Humanitarian Country Team
(HCT) in July 2023. These guidelines were created in response to rampant humanitarian staff movement after
the February 2022 invasion. 28 The adoption of national guidelines is an important step towards contextualising
global solutions. While it is too soon to assess the impact of these guidelines, actors in Ukraine interviewed for
this research had poor knowledge of the guidelines or how they were being implemented, again suggesting
limits to the effectiveness of ethical frameworks. 29
One of the key challenges facing global or blanket initiatives on humanitarian recruitment is that responses must
be context specific. This research identified that across 12 contexts, views varied widely within and between
actor groups and country contexts with respect to the impact of the problem and the proposed solutions (see
Figure 3). For example, in Indonesia, where civil society is strong and government regulations restrict access
for international actors, staff movement was generally not perceived to be a problem, except during major
emergencies.30 In Ukraine, a country facing a second year of invasion, the issue is regarded as more serious.31 In
countries where humanitarian actors have been engaged over the longer term, such as Lebanon, some progress
has occurred due to more opportunity for engagement between actors, while in others, such as Bangladesh,
actors report a growing sense of powerlessness, with little hope for meaningful change.32
Figure 3: Different contexts produce different perspectives
Most people think this is an obvious thing

and nothing can be done, just bear with it
and do your best – this is the impression As far as I know, it can’t be said
that I get. They don’t think about solutions, to happen often because this
they just accept it. (National actor, situation [high staff movement]
In [our city], almost all big agencies, Bangladesh) only occurred during the
UN and other are present, and earthquake and tsunami
they are headhunting people. But disaster in 2018. In normal
whatever I do, if we as organisation times, there is rarely any staff
don’t have competitive salary, I can loans or transfers. It only
do whatever I can, but I can’t hire happens when work contracts
a person for a salary that she can’t are completed, as usual.
exist on. (National actor, Ukraine) (National actor, Indonesia)
Some INGOs prioritise partnership

principles and aim to respect local
NGOs, actively refusing the idea of staff
poaching as part of their internal policies.
However, others do not follow these
principles. (National actor, Lebanon)
Alongside global initiatives, some action has been taken at the national and local levels to create solutions.
This study uncovered some examples of locally driven, collective actions leading to more respectful
recruitment practices. In Lebanon, humanitarian coordination forums collaborated to discuss these issues and
agree on their own solutions (see Box 2).
28 Interviews 1, 24, 27, 30 & 40

29 Interviews 1, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 & 40
30 Interviews 35–38
31 Interviews 24, 27, 28, 29
32 Interviews 6, 13, 14–19, 21–23 & 25

Box 2: Positive practice – local solutions in Lebanon
Prior to the Beirut Blast in August of 2020, the Lebanon Humanitarian and Development NGOs Forum
(LHDF) formed a human resource working group to discuss issues around staff movement and recruitment.33
The LHDF includes more than 85 local and national NGOs active in Lebanon and enables coordination and
ongoing dialogue between actors.34 The forum additionally coordinated with the Lebanon Humanitarian
INGO Forum, a coordinating body comprised of 65 INGOs active in Lebanon, to discuss solutions to these
challenges.35 As a result of these discussions, local/national NGOs and INGOs were encouraged to enter
into informal agreements that require INGOs to inform local/national NGOs when recruiting their staff, and
to mandate longer notice periods before staff departures, among other commitments.36 National actors in
Lebanon claimed that these agreements helped to mitigate the impacts of staff movement; however, after the
blast, INGOs received more funding and initiated more projects, which led to a resurgence of poor recruitment
practice; no accountability mechanism was in place to uphold the agreements.37
The Lebanon example demonstrates the importance of ongoing dialogue between local, national, and
international actors to develop solutions to staff movement issues. Existing relationships, trust and forums
allowed actors to come together to assess challenges and implement strategies with enough buy-in to gain
traction. However, it also demonstrates the importance of holding larger organisations to account, especially
when they are acting in intermediary roles.
WHY CONTEXT MATTERS

This research identified several contextual considerations that affect the prevalence of poor recruitment
practices and their level of impact, described below.
Stage and type of response: The type of emergency (e.g. sudden-onset, slow-onset, protracted crisis)
and stage of response (e.g. immediate response to an emergency, several years into a long-term response,
recovery phase) strongly influences how systems and process for recruitment are developed, and therefore
how recruitment is experienced. This research found that respectful recruitment practices are least likely in
the early stages of a rapid onset response, when operations need to be scaled up urgently.38
S Initially there was a lot of growth happening, now we have stabilised. In the last two years, we
have recruited maybe four or five positions, whereas if we came in new, we would look for ten to
thirty in one go. There is not a huge recruitment process going on now. Eight to ten years ago,
this probably would have been very different. (International actor, South Sudan)39
Amount of funding available: Evidence suggests that when funding is plentiful, poor practices are more
frequent and their cumulative impacts are severe. When larger organisations and intermediaries have more
funding for projects, they often recruit local staff to help with their increased workload. When this practice
is widespread, the impact on civil society can be significant because many organisations lose multiple
staff in a short time period. When funding wanes, poor practices are less widespread but tend to have an
intensely focused impact because smaller organisations lack the budget to recruit and train new staff.40
33 Interview 19, 21 & 22

34 Lebanon Humanitarian and Development Forum
35 Interview 22, Lebanon Humanitarian INGO Forum
36 Interview 22
37 Interview 22
38 Interviews 1, 2, 6–12, 20–25, 27, 36 & 38
39 Interview 20
40 Interviews 2, 7–9, 14, 23–25, 27 & 31

S Wethatlosttheythree or four key staff who went to international organisations. The main cause [was]
got a better job offer and job security. It’s quite common because of challenges we are
facing now with the shortage of funds. UN and donors have become more restricted with no
flexibility. (National actor, Yemen)41
Level of education and labour market in context: Evidence suggests that a strong education
system and a strong labour market reduce the extent and impact of poor practices. In theory, a
highly skilled and well developed labour market reduces the need to poach talent developed in
smaller organisations, and there will be enough highly skilled national staff to fill vacancies as they
arise. 42 However, staff mobility throughout a response, including relocation overseas for international
opportunities, can change these dynamics and drain national capacity. 43
S Attracting skilled and qualified individuals has become a significant challenge for the
organisation […], leading many talented people to leave the country. While there is a large pool of
job seekers, finding individuals with the required competencies has become increasingly difficult.
(International actor, Lebanon)44
Strength of civil society: If the national humanitarian system is supported by a well-established and
strong civil society, local organisations will be more capable of withstanding poor recruitment practices
without impacts becoming overwhelming. The prevalence is often reduced because well-established
local organisations are able to implement staff retention strategies and claim that staff remain more
loyal to their organisation. 45 Joint advocacy by civil society organisations may increase the chance of
holding larger organisations to account for their recruitment practices.
S Incolleagues
my experience, staff movement rarely happens due to loyalty in our organisation. Some
have moved for higher salaries, but this doesn’t happen a lot. Some staff even
continue to volunteer after their employment contract has ended. (National actor, Indonesia)46
Existing relationships and trust between international and national actors: In contexts where
coordination forums exist and genuine partnership and collaboration is common, actors can engage
in open dialogue about these issues and maintain transparency in recruitment processes. This can
minimise both the prevalence and impact of poor practice. In contrast, poor communication and
differing agendas and priorities can make respectful recruitment processes less likely. 47
S Informal agreements [not to poach staff] only work when organisations are engaged in long-
term partnerships or consortiums. In such cases, all parties involved have a shared interest in
maintaining the success and sustainability of the collaborative efforts, making it more likely for
the agreement to be respected and upheld. (National actor, Lebanon)48
41 Interview 7
42 Harris, J. (2023) Occupational preferences of skilled workers in the presence of a large development sector, The Journal of Development
Studies 59(3), 342–359, doi: 10.1080/00220388.2022.2139605; Harris, J. (2020) Understanding the effects of a large development sector
on the labour market of a small low-income country: Evidence from Sierra Leone [PhD thesis], University of Oxford.
43 Interviews 8, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 23 & 31
44 Interview 15
45 Interviews 21–23, 29, 31, 35–37 & 40
46 Interview 36
47 Interviews 14, 17, 21–23, 35–37
48 Interview 17

Exploring opportunities for contextualised
solutions: The scenarios
This section presents three scenarios (see Figure 4), each of which is informed by real experiences and based
on a mix of the contextual factors outlined in the previous section. They offer opportunities to reflect on these
dynamics, how they interact, and potential responses. Each scenario includes a rationale, a brief hypothetical
context, and narratives from two perspectives. an analysis of the scenario’s elements, and avenues for the
actors to promote respectful recruitment. This is accompanied by an analysis that unpacks the different
elements of the scenario and a series of opportunities that the actors could have considered to promote
respectful recruitment.
In the scenarios and solutions, organisations are referred to as ‘larger’ and ‘smaller.’ This is intended to
capture a range of experiences such as staff movement from a local to international organisation, from a
smaller local/national organisation to a bigger national organisation, or from INGOs to UN agencies.
Guidance on using these scenarios for discussion or training is provided in Annex B.
Figure 4: The scenarios

Scenario 1: Lines get crossed in emergency response
Response phase: Immediate aftermath of sudden-onset disaster
High levels of funding
Limited existing relationships or trust between actors
Limited specialist experience in the labour market
Moderately strong civil society
Scenario 2: Prolonged response leads to constant cycle of recruitment

Response phase: Ongoing response in a protracted crisis
Stable levels of funding
Established relationships between actors
Weak labour market
Weak civil society
Scenario 3: Lack of respectful exit strategies as funding declines

Response phase: Long-term response and recovery
Low levels of funding
Weak labour market
Weak civil society

SCENARIO 1: LINES GET CROSSED IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE
This scenario is informed by experiences shared across multiple contexts in the immediate aftermath of
a disaster (0–6 months), when funding levels are high and there are limited existing relationships and
opportunities for dialogue between actors. It reflects a context with an active civil society, but limited skills in
humanitarian response.49
Setting the scene: Disaster strikes context with limited existing

humanitarian presence
A major earthquake and resulting tsunami strikes a small island nation,
devastating multiple cities and regions and directly affecting hundreds
of thousands of people. Sub-national government and local civil society
mobilise as first responders; the government requests international
assistance when it becomes apparent its national capacity will soon
be overwhelmed. The existing humanitarian architecture consists of
the national government, a few UN agency and INGO personnel, and
diverse networks of local organisations undertaking development
work. Civil society is diverse and active, and the labour market is
relatively well developed, containing highly skilled individuals but few
with experience in disaster response. The earthquake triggers a large
influx of international funding; in the first two weeks, more than 20 new
international organisations enter the country.
Experience of a larger organisation

I work for an INGO (one of few in the region) that has been active in this country for four years.
We deliver programming through several local partners. After the earthquake, new INGOs
and UN agencies arrived and attempted to recruit new staff, who understand the context, to
implement their programming. Many of our national staff were approached because they have
skills and knowledge that are rare in the local community.
49 This scenario is predominantly informed by examples shared by stakeholders relating to the immediate aftermath of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beirut blast in Lebanon in 2020, Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia in 2018, and the onset
of the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh in 2017. While contextual factors and influences differ, examples were chosen to reflect shared
characteristics of humanitarian response according to identified contributing factors and adapted to fit this narrative. The material was
based largely on interviews 1, 6–14, 17, 20–25, 27, 28, 30, 36, 38 & 40.

In the first four weeks of the response, we lost four key technical staff to UN agencies. They
were offered significantly higher salary and benefits packages, but had to leave us and join
their new employer within one week. These national staff held critical contextual understanding
and relationships with the communities that we relied on to deliver assistance effectively. With
the short notice these staff gave and the ongoing emergency unfolding, we had no time to go
through the proper recruitment process to replace them. Our organisation has a policy not to
recruit staff from our local partners, but it is not monitored or enforced.My options were limited
because it was an emergency, and we did not have anyone to fill the roles. I spoke privately to
several staff of our local partners who I knew were very competent and offered them jobs on the
spot; they accepted. I told them they would have significantly higher salaries, but I needed them
to start in a week, otherwise I would have to offer the positions to others. I felt bad for pulling
them away from their organisation, but what else could I do?
Experience of a smaller organisation

I am the director of a small local organisation. We have been operating in the region for eight
years. My staff is only 15 people, all from the communities we serve; we also have 20 volunteers
that help us deliver programming. We receive the majority of our funding through short term
projects and have worked with INGOs in the past. After the earthquake and tsunami, one of our
previous INGO partners approached us, and we agreed to work with them again. The project
would provide just enough funding for me to pay my staff for the six-month contract.
Two weeks after we started the project, two of my senior staff told me that they were leaving to join
our INGO partner. They had been offered more than double their current salary, but had to leave in
a week or they would lose the job offer. I did not want to prevent them advancing their career and
earning a fair wage, so I let them go – what else could I do? I immediately advertised the positions
and started asking around, but the salaries I could offer were not competitive with those advertised
by the new INGOs in town. My remaining staff did the best they could to take on the extra workload,
but no one had the skills required to take over the senior positions completely. We were forced to
delay the project while we recruited. This damaged the reputation with the community that we had
spent years building and breached our agreement with our INGO partner.
It took me a month to fill the positions, but I had to hire candidates with no experience in
humanitarian programming; they will need at least three months of training. A new INGO asked
to partner with us to deliver programming, but I lacked the lead technical staff to take on the
project, so I was unable to secure the funding.
Contextual assessment: What factors are at play?
Response phase: Immediate aftermath of sudden-onset disaster

This scenario illustrates a common example of unethical recruitment in the immediate aftermath of an
emergency. Even with good intentions and policies in place, lines often get crossed and strategies to support
local partners can easily be deprioritised. Larger and international organisations face this type of ethical
dilemma when pressure from a donor or an unfolding emergency compels them to hire the best available
people as quickly as possible.

High levels of funding
The scenario demonstrates a domino effect set in motion by a large influx of international funding and
international actors who are under pressure to deliver numerous programs rapidly in a new context. High
levels of funding generally means more and/or larger projects that require more staff and therefore more
recruitment. This creates competition between organisations to secure funding and staff in a new context.
Limited existing relationships or trust between actors

The small pre-disaster humanitarian presence meant a lack of established relationships and trust between
existing and newly arrived actors and little communication about recruitment. The partnership between
the INGO and local organisation was on a short-term contract basis; there were no existing channels for
communication or discussions about perceived repercussions.
Limited specialist experience in the labour market

Little humanitarian experience in the labour market and the pressing emergency meant that new actors
entering the country were far more likely to recruit developed talent from existing organisations than to
develop skills in entry-level employees.
Moderately strong civil society

Due to a relatively well-established local civil society and candidate pool, the local NGO was able to fill
vacancies relatively quickly. However, the less developed skills and experience of the new staff necessitated
lengthy and expensive training.
Context-specific strategies: How can we shift practice?

As is the case for most aspects of humanitarian response, the foundations of respectful recruitment are laid
in advance of an emergency. It is the responsibility of established humanitarian actors to entrench ethical
and respectful recruitment policies within HR teams and organisational culture, so that when disaster strikes
they are the default. Actors must socialise and enforce these policies and eliminate opportunities to disregard
them. Ensuring accountability is critical to success. In locations without a well-established and active
humanitarian presence, building relationships and developing workforce capacity must also be considered.
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Larger organisations can invest in systems and processes to make respectful recruitment
default practice.
International organisations should include respectful recruitment as part of their localisation strategies or
action plans; this will mean balancing their needs with those of the broader humanitarian ecosystem and civil
society. Leaders and managers can identify a point person in the HR team to work on respectful recruitment.
HR processes to support ethical practice could include minimum notice of one month (only alterable through
approval), and requiring the recruiting staff member to explain (in writing) how they are implementing ethical
recruitment guidelines.

2. Organisations working in partnership can codify terms to reduce unethical or damaging
recruitment.
Existing partnerships, frameworks and forums can be leveraged to encourage respectful recruitment. This
includes aligning with national or sub-national government guidelines related to humanitarian recruitment and
deployment. Create spaces for local and national organisations to discuss and define respectful recruitment
practices appropriate to context that they can use to advocate to international organisations. Partnership
agreements can include specific clauses to support respectful recruitment.
3. Donors can hold intermediaries accountable for respectful recruitment practice.

Donors have the ability to hold intermediaries accountable for respectful recruitment and incentivise positive
practice. The best ways for donors to promote respectful recruitment may vary across programs, but they
should develop a policy position on humanitarian recruitment and adapt it to the dynamics in their priority
contexts. Techniques to realise their commitment can then be developed, such as including respectful
recruitment in discussions with partners, allocating dedicated funds to offset the harm of staff movement, and
requiring respectful recruitment approaches as annexes to contracts.
S Donors have a huge responsibility [for respectful recruitment]. I don’t know why they don’t make
changes. One line in a contract and everything would stop. (National actor, Ukraine) 50
4. Larger organisations can prioritise investment in long-term institutional partnerships to build

trust and share capacity over time.
High levels of funding can allow increased funding to flow to local partners. Larger organisations can invest in
long-term institutional partnerships that align with the Principles of Partnership to allow for two-way capacity
exchange and support outside of direct project implementation. 51 Increased focus on partnership and
institutional strengthening can reduce staff movement. Larger organisations can support and work through
local partners to deliver programming without needing to recruit additional staff for direct implementation.
S Wesupporting
need to focus more and more on localisation and partnership to reduce staff movement –
staff in their local organisation, not stealing them to join internationals. (International actor,
South Sudan)52
5. Larger organisations and donors can support and strengthen national surge capacity.
Larger organisations can invest in building capacity in local and national organisations in advance of crises
to reduce the need for a large international expansion of presence. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the
way that surge support is deployed and engaged, encouraging much greater reliance on local and national
capacities. 53 These practices can be built on and expanded, including increasing peer-to-peer support
to encourage knowledge sharing, disseminating requests for surge staff locally and regionally before
internationally, and revising contracts and remuneration policies to facilitate deployments of nationals. 54
S Alternatively, INGOs could step back from bidding on projects and prioritise supporting local
organisations. Currently, consortium-based projects are being awarded more frequently, allowing local
organisations to enhance their capacity in the process. (International actor, Bangladesh)55
50 Interview 1
51 Principles of Partnership, Endorsed by the Global Humanitarian Platform, 12 July 2007.
52 Interview 20
53 HAG (2022) Default to design: Shifting surge post pandemic.
54 Ibid.; ARC (2020) Local response in a global pandemic; HAG (2020), No turning back: Local leadership in Vanuatu response to Tropical
Cyclone Harold; ARC & HAG (2020) Distance deployments: Australian Red Cross’ experience with remote rapid response.
55 Interview 12

SCENARIO 2: PROLONGED RESPONSE LEADS TO CONSTANT CYCLE OF RECRUITMENT
This scenario was informed by experiences across several contexts in active conflicts and in ongoing crises
lasting more than two years.56 It reflects a weak labour market as large portions of the workforce evacuate the
country, and civil society weakened by the prolonged and constant movement of staff. The humanitarian
system is well established in this context, allowing opportunities for communication and partnerships but
external factors continue to hinder these efforts.
Setting the scene: Protracted crisis creates shortage in the labour

market
This country has suffered from ongoing conflict for more than three years.
Intense fighting has displaced many people from their homes. Fighting
between political factions has resulted in a collapse of government and an
economic crisis. The country is also suffering from the impacts of climate
change, including severe food and water insecurity.
Humanitarian actors have been active in the country for over a decade. When
the conflict began, many new actors moved into the country and many new
local organisations formed to aid the response. However, due to the economic
crisis, many local organisations cannot afford to sustain their staff salaries and
local staff are constantly looking to move to international organisations that can
pay them in foreign currency. The remaining labour market is weak, because
poor conditions in the country have caused many highly skilled and educated
people to pursue better opportunities overseas. International organisations
continue to seek out local partners to deliver programs to overcome access
constraints, but local organisations struggle to take on new projects due to
staff shortages and the constant need to recruit and train entry-level staff.

I am the HR manager of an INGO that has been operating here for eight years. We work through
several local partners and are committed to localisation. We just received new funding for a project
in a region where there is ongoing fighting. We are looking to recruit a technical specialist with
local knowledge and access to communities in this region to lead the project. As it is too dangerous
to send our international staff to the region, this person will work directly with our local partner to
implement programming. They may visit the field but primarily will be based in our office, which is
outside the conflict zone.
56 This scenario is informed by examples from Ukraine, Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Bangladesh and
Myanmar. It draws mainly on examples of periods of conflict or political upheaval in a prolonged crisis. While contextual factors and
influences are not the same across these contexts, examples were chosen to reflect shared characteristics in response according to
identified contributing factors and adapted to fit this narrative. The material was based largely on interviews 1, 2, 6–14, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28,
30–32, 34 & 40.

We have an ethical recruitment policy and try to follow it as much as time and resources permit. We
posted the job advertisement openly online, and received nearly 200 applications, but we could only
consider those with at least five years of experience in humanitarian work and the specific technical
training required for the new project, this allowed us to easily narrow down the candidate pool. We
interviewed the five top applicants; our candidate had the most experience, acquired through working
for a national NGO. I called his current employer for a reference check; she was surprised to learn
this person was looking for other work and noted that her organisation would suffer significantly from
losing him, but still gave him an excellent reference. I offered to do some technical capacity support
for her organisation; she seemed interested, but I have not had time to follow up – things are so busy
right now with this new project. We offered our new colleague the job on a six-month contract, paid
in US dollars. He accepted, and we offered him the standard one-month notice period.

I am the director of a small national NGO. We have been operating here for 10 years. I have 25 staff.
have always tried to give my staff lots of training and education opportunities, but since the conflict
started I have been recruiting new staff constantly – we are always operating with a 15% vacancy
rate. There is less time and fewer resources to invest in staff. It seems as soon as they are trained
they leave for a better position, and there is nothing I can do.
One of my senior staff had been with us for six years, and was critical to our programming in
contested regions. One day I received a call from an INGO staff member asking for a reference for
him; I had no idea he had applied for work elsewhere. When I asked him why he was leaving, he
said he wanted an office role with less risk than the front line where he currently worked and with
a higher salary that could provide for his family better; I would never stand in the way of that. The
caller from the INGO had offered to provide technical capacity support, but this is not something
we really need. I suggested another form of support, and he said he would get back to me, but I
have not heard from him again.
We knew recruitment and training would take more than the one month notice period. I advertised
the position and received over 200 applications, but few with much experience of humanitarian
work, as is often the case. Our recruitment process includes long-listing, shortlisting, a written test,
and interviews to narrow down the candidates. I made an offer to the best candidate, who met
only 50% of the job requirements, but he turned it down because we could only pay the salary in
the local currency. I had to re-interview; in the meantime, we began spreading the work over other
staff, even though they had full roles already and different skills. I eventually selected the next best
candidate, who only met 20% of the job requirements, but was the best I could find for the salary
I could offer. It took me two months to fill the position; by this time my old staff member was long
gone, and I had to train the new employee myself. I called the INGO about support in training my
new employee, but no-one got back to me. It took more than six months of training before the new
employee could meaningfully fill the role.

Response phase: Ongoing response in a protracted crisis

This scenario highlights the significant challenges that arise when political and economic crises and security
concerns diminish smaller organisations’ ability to retain staff. It demonstrates the stark gap between salary
and benefit packages offered in national and international organisations, and shines a spotlight on the deep
inequalities in the humanitarian system. It shows that even when international organisations implement and
follow ethical recruitment guidelines, this is rarely enough to prevent harms.
Stable levels of funding

When funding is more stable, respondents indicated that attempts to intentionally ‘poach’ staff and mass exodus
of personnel is less common than in the early stage of a response, when funding levels are high. Nonetheless,
the gradual churn of humanitarian staff being trained by local and national organisations and moving on to
bigger organisations as soon they develop valuable skills is constant and a source of great frustration.

A well-established humanitarian sector and existing relationships in this scenario allowed for reasonable
communication and even an offer of capacity support, but evidence suggests these promises often fall short
of needed capacity exchange.
Weak labour market

Difficult conditions throughout the country led much of the skilled workforce to search for better jobs
elsewhere or with international organisations that will eventually post them elsewhere. In this scenario, both
the larger and smaller organisation posted the job advertisement openly and received similar numbers
of applications. Many people seek jobs within the humanitarian sector because it has become one of the
biggest employers in the country. However, the INGO had the luxury of narrowing down the pool to the few
candidates with experience, while the smaller organisation was forced to go through a lengthy process and
ultimately employ a less experienced person.
Weak civil society

Local organisations train staff, who then seek new opportunities with larger organisations. This weakens the
fabric of local civil society. It also affects morale, creating additional incentives for people to move on. Many
local and national respondents in these contexts reported a sense of apathy, feeling that this is the way things
are and nothing can be done to improve the situation.
Context-specific strategies: How can we shift practice?

This scenario highlights the need to overcome longstanding perceptions that challenges associated with
humanitarian staff recruitment in these contexts will never be resolved. When the labour market can offer few
people with relevant skills or specialisations and local civil society has become weak, local actors’ critical role
in training and supporting new humanitarian staff must be recognised and resourced. Staff movement will
continue to occur in these situations, but as the urgency of the onset of a crisis subsides, there is more time to
collectively assess the problem and devise and trial new solutions.

OPPORTUNITIES
1. Organisations can come together to discuss what the key issues are and how they can
collectively address them.
Create spaces for ongoing dialogue and collaboration between local, national and international actors, and
donors on ways to improve recruitment practices. This may involve coordination forums or specific working
groups to discuss HR and recruitment issues in a particular context. Opening channels of communication
between local actors and donors will also help to elevate these issues. Actors must agree on shared goals
and priorities for respectful recruitment to be able to build motivation and buy-in. Donors should engage in
these discussions and support the rollout of agreed strategies.
S We need to really open up the space and demand direct communication with donors, for the most part
they are not aware [of these issues]. More direct communication and dialogue between local actors and
donors could help come up with a solution. (International actor, Global HQ)57
2. Meaningful long-term capacity development programs can be jointly designed and

implemented.
Larger and smaller organisations can collaborate to design capacity development programs that benefit
everyone. Larger organisations can support smaller organisations in organisational development, policy and
strategy; smaller organisations can support larger organisations by sharing local knowledge and training
them on local systems (not one-off training, but ongoing collaboration and support). Consider seconding staff
between larger and smaller organisations as a way to transfer capacity without staff moving permanently.
S They can work with us, if their experts can work with us then we can develop ourself; it’s not training,
it’s a joint working approach. (National actor, Bangladesh) 58
3. Larger organisations can be more intentional in developing staff skills from the entry level.
Design and resource training programs for entry-level staff. Invest in training junior local staff to fulfil
commitments to build national capacity. Training programs should enable new staff to fill vacated positions
as they arise without needing to recruit top talent from elsewhere. Identify the critical skills needed across
the team and implement specific and targeted programs to develop them as part of the recruitment process.
Develop a pipeline of staff ready to fill positions as needed.
4. Donors can support a dedicated mechanism within country-based pooled funds (CBPF) that can
be accessed by local and national organisations specifically to support recruitment, retention,
and replacement of staff.
Donors must prioritise and resource strategies to support respectful recruitment. Utilising existing CBPFs
to dedicate specific funds to support respectful recruitment strategies will allow organisations to progress
these opportunities. These funds can be used to support the roll out of agreed strategies (as outlined above)
and also to support smaller organisations to strengthen institutional capacity and cover additional costs
associated with recruitment and training of new staff.
57 Interview 5
58 Interview 25

S Iforganisations
donors allocate separate funds in the budget for organisational capacity development, then local
can utilise these funds to establish HR pools and enhance operational skills, among other
things. (National actor, Bangladesh)59
5. Smaller organisations can prioritise and invest in strengthening HR management systems.

If possible, smaller local and national organisations should invest in strengthening HR management
systems. These processes can be supported by the CBPF and other forms of institutional support. This may
include allocating increased resources to HR functions and the development and strengthening of existing
institutional policy. 60
S It’san environment
not only about money, addressing the root causes of staff poaching is crucial. Focusing on creating
where staff members are content, valued, and have opportunities for professional
growth can significantly reduce the appeal of leaving for other organisations. (National actor, Lebanon)61
59 Interview 11
60 For guidance on strengthening HR management systems, please see: CHS Alliance and Cornerstone Foundation (2022) Human
Resource Toolkit for Small and Medium Nonprofit Actors.
61 Interview 22
Photo: Shutterstock

SCENARIO 3: LACK OF RESPECTFUL EXIT STRATEGIES AS FUNDING DECLINES
In this scenario, funding has decreased significantly. It depicts a long-term recovery from a major disaster;
however, this mix of contextual factors can also relate to other contexts in which funding is decreasing,
including protracted crises. The impacts of long-term responses on civil society and the labour market can be
similar, but impacts on smaller organisations can be more severe in contexts with limited funding. This
scenario is informed by experiences across several contexts in crises lasting more than two years and their
ongoing recovery phases. 62
Setting the scene: Decreased funding during recovery stages

weakens civil society
Two years ago, several large urban areas and the surrounding
countryside suffered widespread and severe flooding. The floods
damaged houses, roads, bridges, infrastructure, and contaminated
drinking water, including beyond the flood zone. The disaster triggered
a huge international response and influx of donor funding. Two years
later, thousands of people are still displaced from their homes and living
in temporary shelters. Many infrastructure projects have stalled, and
many people still lack access to clean drinking water.
International funding is beginning to dry up as donors move on to new
emergencies. Many INGO and UN agencies are exiting the country,
even though there is still much work to be done. They are taking with
them many local staff recruited in earlier phases of the response,
thereby draining national capacity. Many smaller local organisations are
being forced to close permanently in the absence of funding.

I work for an INGO that came to this country immediately after the floods two years ago. At the
height of the response, we had 60 staff in country, including 20 international staff and 40 national
staff recruited within the first six months of the emergency. Now we are down to only five staff in
our country office; most of our organisation has moved on to other posts in other countries. We
used to have at least five sources of donor funding; now we only have one. Those of us that remain
are still implementing programming; there is still years of recovery work to do, and we are doing the
best we can with the funding we have.
62 This scenario is informed by examples from Bangladesh, Lebanon, Yemen, DRC, South Sudan, and Myanmar. It draws mainly on
examples which reference long-term recovery phases and scale downs of international support. While contextual factors and influences
are not the same across these contexts, examples were chosen to reflect shared characteristics in long-term response and recovery
phases according to identified contributing factors and adapted to fit this narrative. The material is based largely on interviews 2, 6–10,
13, 17, 19, 20–23, 25, 29, 31, 32 & 34.

We used to work through local partners as much as possible – most donors have localisation
strategies that require it, and were providing enough funding that we had specific budget lines
for support to local partners. Over the last year our funding has decreased significantly. Even our
remaining donor provides less funding for the same amount of work. Often the first budget line to
be cut is non-project-based support for local partners Because of this, we have significantly scaled
back our work with local partners; when we do work through them, we are only able to fund direct
project staff – no overheads (etc.). We have had to revert to more direct implementation.
We are beginning a new project soon that requires local expertise that we no longer have internally.
Many of the local partners we worked with previously have closed or are not available, and we
don’t have the time or resources to identify and perform due diligence on a new local partner.
Instead, we advertised for a new local staff member. We won’t be able to pay them much, but
we can offer a salary in foreign currency, which should be very attractive. We received many
applications, but not many qualified applicants. We ended up selecting someone who works for a
nearby local NGO. We offered the standard one-month notice period, but he said he does not need
it because his current employer is temporarily closed due to lack of funding.

I am the director of a small national NGO. We have been operating here since long before the
floods. I have a staff of 20. I lost six key staff after the floods who moved on to roles with INGOs
or UN agencies. I had to replace them with entry level staff, but I invested in them over time with
increased funding from the disaster. After the chaos of the emergency began to settle in the first
year, I made a significant effort to try to retain my remaining staff. I know that salaries and benefits
are better in international organisations, but I offered flexible working hours, opportunities for
remote work, family support, and education. I think these strategies were very helpful in retaining
my staff.
Unfortunately, over the past year our funding has decreased significantly, and I can no longer afford
to maintain these retention strategies. There are fewer opportunities to secure new funding and
projects, because many INGOs are now implementing directly. I struggle even to pay my staff;
many of them have moved on to better opportunities. We had to close for three months between
projects because I could not afford to pay salaries. When I was finally able to find a small amount of
new funding, I called my senior staff back to take on the project, but one had taken a new job with
a nearby INGO. I could not be upset – I understood why it was necessary, but I no longer had staff
who could replace him. I started the recruitment process but received very few qualified applicants.
I identified one candidate that could potentially fulfil the role, but I did not have the funding to pay
her sufficiently, so she declined my offer. To secure the funding and be able to pay my remaining
staff, I had to fill the gap in programming myself. I took no salary as director during this time,
because the funding only covered program costs. When the project finished, I was forced to close
again until we could secure new funding.

Response phase: Long-term response and recovery

This scenario depicts the unfortunate reality that many humanitarian contexts face as international attention
wanes and funding begins to dry up in long-term responses and recovery phases. Local humanitarian actors
inevitably suffer when funding begins to dwindle, but strategies can be put in place to mitigate the harms.
Low levels of funding

In this example, decreased funding resulted in decreased support to local actors and some INGOs reverting
to direct implementation. This can lead to increased recruiting of local staff rather than working in partnership.
Smaller organisations are unable to cover overhead or administration costs and bid on new projects.

Long-term response generally creates an interconnected and resilient humanitarian system. However,
decreases in funding can damage trust between organisations and weaken or end existing partnerships,
limiting opportunities for open dialogue and collaboration on recruitment issues.
Weak labour market

In this scenario, the decrease in funding led to a significant drain on national capacity as skilled national
humanitarian staff left the country with international organisations or to pursue other opportunities. This, of
course, is not always the case; many national staff are let go when their contracts end. However, there is scant
evidence of national staff who have worked for international agencies returning to national organisations.
Weak civil society

This scenario highlights an example of local civil society being strong enough to withstand impacts
immediately after an emergency but less so over time due to lack of funds, which forces many small
organisations to close permanently.
Context specific strategies: How can we shift practice?

Strategies and default systems must be implemented to prevent the breakdown of partnerships and the
erosion of local civil society as humanitarian funding decreases. Donors must hold intermediaries accountable
for funds transferred to local partners. Humanitarian exit strategies must be considered from the onset of
a crisis to reduce the significant drain on national capacity that often occurs as international humanitarian
organisations leave the country.

OPPORTUNITIES
1. Larger organisations can collaborate with national and local organisations to develop exit
strategies that considering downsizing and staff strategies.
Exit strategies should be considered from the onset of a crisis to ensure the system remains intact after
international actors leave the context. Implement strategies that encourage national staff to return to national
organisations to continue the work that they are doing. Consider seconding staff to smaller organisations
in the months before exiting to share capacity and enable smaller organisations to take over ongoing
programming.
S WeLet’sneed to take a moment to pause and think about the system we want to build. It’s never done.
talk about what sort of system do we need to leave behind when we leave in five years’ time.
(International actor, Global HQ)63
2. Donors can hold intermediaries accountable to their commitment to transfer 25% of funding to
local partners.
Donors must reinvigorate momentum behind the push for 25% of funding delivered as directly as possible
to local and national actors, as per the Grand Bargain. 64 Intermediaries must be held accountable to these
commitments regardless of funding levels. In the lead-up to downsizing and exit strategies, the percentage
of funding transferred to local and national partners should (ideally) increase to enable them to reabsorb staff
and sustain recovery.
3. Dedicated funds from CBPFs can be used to support national systems to develop humanitarian
capacity.
In contexts where there is a shortage in the labour market and high demand for humanitarian staff, CBPF
funds dedicated to respectful recruitment can be used to develop humanitarian training programs for job
seekers. After training is completed, candidates can be listed on a humanitarian HR database.
S Itshould
should be dealt with by the market, if there is demand for humanitarians, local HR organisations
be activated and make a database or pool for that […] it’s not one organisation’s responsibility,
it’s systemic work. (National actor, Bangladesh)65
4. Document and share best practice.
The importance of sharing good practice spans all scenarios and stages of response, but there may be more
time for reflection as a response scales down. Before and after the emergency response phase, embed
respectful recruitment goals within your organisations’ monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning
practices. Measure and document the impact of your recruitment practices as well as what you have tried to
do differently. Share your insights internally and externally so that learning can be applied across contexts or
among organisations within contexts. This documentation should include the perspectives of national and
local organisations that your recruitment practices may have affected.
63 Interview 3
64 IASC (2023) Grand Bargain beyond 2023.
65 Interview 25

Working together towards respectful recruitment
The fresh approach that is needed is contingent on actors being able to come together to undertake a
collaborative assessment of the contextual factors that are influencing recruitment practice and the realistic
opportunities to meet these challenges. Global conversations and initiatives are important in driving attention
to the issue but are not enough, on their own, to produce meaningful change on the ground. Global actors
and donors have the ability to create spaces for these conversations and to incentivise commitments, but the
process must be driven from actors operating in the context.
The best way to understand the dynamics shaping recruitment may take different forms according to context
and circumstance. However, what is needed across the board is the motivation and incentive to tackle
these issues. Donors and operational actors, particularly those in intermediary roles, must come together to
understand why this is important – to unite behind the shared goal to leave a healthy system behind when
international actors exit. Organisations must think beyond the short-term needs of their individual organisation
to see the bigger picture beyond their exit strategy.
Existing commitments to ethical recruitment guidelines and practice can become a cornerstone of achieving
respectful recruitment processes. In turn, respectful recruitment can be part of a larger conversation about
how the humanitarian sector can better support local actors and systems. Respectful recruitment must be
embedded into organisational policy and culture. Commitments to localisation and building local and national
capacity must consider respectful recruitment as a priority in delivering effective support. If these issues can be
elevated, there will be greater opportunity and motivation to come together to develop context specific solutions.
Encouraging context specific strategies does not invite piecemeal and ad hoc solutions with no accountability.
Rather it requires decision-makers and donors to incentivise these processes and create a shared vision for
why this is important. They must create an enabling environment for operational actors to champion this
cause and drive change on the ground.
Recommendations to support respectful recruitment

The opportunities presented under each scenario reflect the mix of contextual factors presented in each
narrative. They are presented this way to highlight how certain contextual factors may prioritise some
strategies over others, but it does not mean that they only apply to that particular mix of factors. For example,
commitment to ethical recruitment practice is not only applicable in sudden-onset situations when funding is
high; however, evidence suggests that this is when it is the most urgent.
Recommendations draw on the opportunities from all scenarios presented in the previous section, and are
adapted to specific actor groups. Most recommendations outline action larger intermediary organisations
can take to shift recruitment practice. These are further disaggregated by team function to clarify roles and
responsibilities, and to reiterate the importance of respectful recruitment being prioritised across the whole
organisation.
Recommendations for donors focus on holding intermediaries accountable for and incentivising improved
recruitment practice. These are followed by recommendations for smaller local and national organisations that
focus primarily on collective advocacy. They do not seek to limit the agency of smaller organisations, but place
the onus of responsibility on larger organisations to help mitigate negative impacts. It is outside the scope
of this research to provide targeted interventions or advice for developing or strengthening HR policy and
management strategies; guidance on these topics can be found here.

Below is a summary of actions that different actors can take to contribute to respectful recruitment,
with the understanding that solutions may need to be adapted according to contextual factors.
Larger organisations and intermediaries

Country Directors and leadership teams
Prioritise ongoing dialogue and collaboration with all actors to understand the contextual factors
that influence recruitment practice and develop strategies for respectful recruitment in context.
Ensure that respectful recruitment is embedded in organisational policy, human resources (HR)
procedures, localisations strategies and M&E frameworks.
Make a senior manager responsible for raising awareness and monitoring respectful recruitment
strategies and approaches.
Prioritise investment in long-term institutional partnerships with local actors to build trust and share
capacity over time.
Increase the percentage of funds allocated to local partners when transitioning out of context to
enable them to attract and retain high-level staff.
Program teams
Prioritise respectful recruitment in program design and staffing.
Jointly develop and implement long-term capacity development programs with partners and local
actors.
Invest in supporting national surge capacity through peer-to-peer capacity exchange or
secondments and supporting local and national surge mechanisms.
Collaborate with local actors to develop respectful exit strategies to maintain a healthy local
humanitarian system.
HR teams
Update and socialise recruitment policy and procedure that includes respectful recruitment.
Align recruitment processes with national policy, regulations and mechanisms.
Work with local partners to codify terms to reduce unethical or damaging recruitment practice.
Support local partners to develop HR and institutional capacity by providing resources and training.
Develop and resource training programs for entry-level local staff.
Donors
Incentivise and engage in proactive conversations at the country level about contextual factors shaping
staff movement, and develop strategies for respectful recruitment.
Incorporate respectful recruitment in donor localisation strategies and policies. Hold intermediaries to
their commitments and to follow-up and implementation.
Include respectful recruitment in conversations with partners to raise its profile.
Hold intermediaries accountable to the Grand Bargain commitment to transfer 25% of funding to local
partners.
Incentivise increased funding to local partners when international organisations are exiting.
Support pooled fund initiatives to promote respectful recruitment.

Smaller local and national organisations
Establish forums for collective advocacy (e.g. through consortia or single-issue coalitions).
Collaborate with all actors to identify the contextual factors that influence recruitment practice and
develop strategies for respectful recruitment.
Include clauses in partnership contracts to reduce unethical or damaging recruitment.
Support and participate in mechanisms to strengthen national surge capacity.
Collaborate with international and intermediary organisations to organise capacity exchange.
Collaborate with large humanitarian organisations to develop exit strategies that include a respectful
transition.
Invest in strengthening HR systems.
Collectively advocate that national governments and actors create a mechanism to develop the
humanitarian capacity of job seekers.
CONCLUSION
This report uses scenarios to demonstrate that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to recruitment challenges
in the humanitarian sector. However, common lessons and findings can be drawn across all contexts.
Ethical dilemmas associated with recruitment practice are entrenched in the humanitarian sector. Respect
in recruitment decisions (i.e. considering negative impacts on local actors) can be overpowered by urgent
programming needs, donor commitments, and competition to hire the best people to secure funding. The
nuance and complexity of these dilemmas present significant barriers to implementation of respectful
recruitment practice and underscores why recruitment issues have prevailed in the sector for so long.
Human resource management and policy can easily be deprioritised in humanitarian contexts. HR teams in
humanitarian organisations often lack power and influence to mandate and monitor respectful recruitment,
and hiring decisions are often program driven. As such, change cannot be led by HR teams alone, but
must be prioritised by leadership in strategy and decision-making and incorporated across the work of
programmatic and operational teams.
Effective solutions will require collaboration and collective action across all levels. Achieving respectful
recruitment will require the sector to unite behind the long-term goal of maintaining and strengthening the
humanitarian system, not only for the next few years, but for the foreseeable future. If the sector is genuine in
its commitments to shift power to local actors and support the localisation of humanitarian response, it must
find better ways to more holistically support local and national organisations to take the lead.
The impacts of staff movement for local and national organisations are increasingly apparent, but top-down
approaches are not creating meaningful change. Global initiatives, donors and INGO HQs have the ability to
increase momentum, elevate the issues, and incentivise change, but meaningful solutions must be developed
from the ground up. Actors must come together to prioritise and support contextualised and localised
approaches to respectful recruitment, considering the full range of influences, impacts and mitigating actions.

Annex A. Ethical recruitment guidelines
Ethical recruitment guidelines typically focus on ensuring that all candidates for roles are treated in a
fair, equal, respectful and confidential manner. Guidelines have been developed and adapted by various
international organisations, and include many of the recommendations presented below (adapted from the
START Network’s TSCP, which proposed sector-wide ethical guidelines in 2017).
1. Widen the pool of candidates both internally and externally. While traditional ‘advertising’ may not
always be possible, avoid relying on word of mouth.
2. Be transparent about recruitment decisions. Processes and decisions should be documented and
shared with relevant parties.
3. Employ multiple selection methods. Interviews should cover the approaches, behaviours and attitudes
of candidates as well as their technical skills and ability to deliver. Additional methodologies might include
written tests, practice exercises, etc.
4. Check references thoroughly. Standard practice requires two references; at minimum, one reference
check must be conducted. Other checks may be necessary (e.g. police, child protection, anti-terrorism).
5. Be mindful of legal requirements and obligations of NGOs in context. Any legal requirements in
country, including registration as an employer, should be adhered to with regard to recruitment practices,
but the relevant ministry may also specify obligations for INGOs (e.g. a government representative on
every interview panel).
6. Respect notice periods of other organisations. Do not pressure new staff to start as soon as possible
and disregard their notice periods.
7. Avoid ‘poaching from other organisations and support national organisations to fill gaps.
National staff should not be headhunted. When a staff member from a national organisation is offered a
position, recruiters should consider opportunities for secondment or to provide additional support to the
organisation losing staff.
8. Develop an ethical recruitment policy. Organisations should have a publicly available statement that
confirms their stance on ethical recruitment. This should guide humanitarian response recruiters and
ensure candidates are aware of the recruitment practices the organisation will follow.66
66 Adapted from START Network’s TSCP sector wide standards for ethical recruitment guidelines, published in 2017.

Ethical recruitment principles endorsed in Ukraine
National guidelines proposed in Ukraine exemplify how these broad commitments can be contextualised
according to current practices and prevalent challenges. Guidelines endorsed by the HCT in Ukraine
include commitments to:
Post job vacancies openly and receive applications through official channels.
Give preference to regular contracts.
Coordinate transparently with relevant parties throughout the recruitment process and respect
existing notice periods.
Include specific provisions in partnership agreements that limit partner staff movement to the
sub-contracting organisations.
Ensure HR teams are aware of this issue and the ethical recruitment principles.
Facilitate recruitment in a way that does not undermine the capacity of other organisations.
Ukrainian guidelines also include commitments to AVOID:
Use of aggressive headhunting practices
Depletion of senior management and technical staff of another organisation during a
recruitment process.
Dissemination of recruitment advertisements via private emails or mailing lists of coordination
forums, clusters, or technical working groups.
Imposition of caps on the salary scales of partner organisations.

Annex B. Using the scenarios: Activity guide
Organisations or groups looking to explore opportunities for respectful recruitment may
wish to use the scenarios in this paper as a training tool or prompt for discussion. This
section offers some guidance for doing so.
Step 1: Tell participants why it matters

Awareness of this issue varies across organisations and roles within them. You may wish to provide some
brief materials to frame your discussion. What is most helpful will vary, but here are some ideas:
Gather some experiences from your own organisation that illustrate the challenges and their importance
Select some statistics or examples from the ‘big picture’ section (pages 6-9) to illustrate the issue
Share the definition of ‘respectful recruitment’ (Box 1, page 2).
Your existing organisational practice might be relevant here too. Are commitments related to respectful
recruitment already part of your organisation’s strategy? Is there a policy you would like people to be familiar
with before the discussion? Priming people so that they have the organisational context in mind can help
them to see the connections with their work and motivate participation.
Step 2: Share the scenarios you wish to discuss

Participants should have the information in the boxes that sets the scene for each scenario, as well as
the narratives from different perspectives. For the purposes of the discussion, it may be more effective
not to share the contextual assessment or strategies that accompany them until after you have explored
participants’ own reactions to each scenario.
Step 3: Discuss
Below are some questions that can be used to guide discussions about the scenarios. You may wish to adapt
them for your purposes.
Questions to help you explore the scenario:

What external factors are influencing the actions in this scenario (i.e. what contextual factors outside of
each organisations’ control are influencing the circumstances)?
What internal factors are influencing decision-making in this scenario (i.e. how is organisational policy,
culture, etc. affecting the decisions of the person in this scenario)?
What triggered or led to poor recruitment practices? How could this have been handled differently?
What are the short- and long-term implications of poor practices for both the larger and smaller
organisation? How might this affect support to affected communities?
How is this scenario similar or different to your own experience?

Questions to help you reflect on your own organisational practice and develop strategies for respectful
recruitment:
What external factors influence recruitment practice in our context? How can we improve management of
the implications of contextual factors?
What internal factors influence decision-making in our organisation? What systems or processes need to
be developed or strengthened to support respectful recruitment? What steps and resources are needed to
achieve this?
If faced with a situation similar to this scenario, how could we respond in a way that prioritised respectful
practice? What support or resources would we need to take this approach?
How can we hold ourselves accountable for respectful recruitment?
How can we encourage others in the sector and in our context to prioritise respectful recruitment?
What steps can we take to better support local partners, considering the impacts of staff movement?
Step 4: Compare
Give participants the contextual analysis and strategies that accompany the scenario you are discussing.
Comparison between these and the ideas or issues raised by participants can underpin the next phase of
discussion. For example:
How does the contextual analysis of the scenario relate to the contextual factors in our context? How are
they similar? How are they different?
How do our proposed solutions compare to those identified in the scenario? How are they similar? How
are they different? Why?
How can we adapt the solutions presented with the scenario to our context?
Considering the solutions presented with the scenario and those proposed in your earlier discussion, what
are three priority areas on which our organisation should focus?
Step 5: Identify action points

Your group may wish to identify action points to take these issues forward. This will include identifying
priority areas and developing action plans to shift practice, and processes for monitoring and evaluating the
outcomes.
Please feel free to share your experiences and feedback with us. We are always pleased to receive feedback
and hear how our research has been used.
For more information about this research or support in embedding respectful recruitment practice in
your organisation, please contact the research team at:
Jesse McCommon at [email protected]
Eranda Wijewickrama at [email protected]

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Humanitarian Horizons: Power, People and Local Leadership November 2023

RESPECTFUL RECRUITMENT IN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE:

Humanitarian Horizons 2021–24

About Humanitarian Advisory Group

The big picture: Current recruitment approaches fall short of

The need for a fresh approach  10

Exploring opportunities for contextualised solutions: The scenarios 14

Working together towards respectful recruitment 28

Annex A. Ethical recruitment guidelines 31

Annex B. Using the scenarios: Activity guide 33

IV Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response V

WHAT THIS PAPER DOES

WHY RESPECTFUL RECRUITMENT IS IMPORTANT

1 See: Charter 4 Change

VI Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Larger organisations and intermediaries

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response VII

Smaller local and national organisations

VIII Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 1

Box 1: What is respectful recruitment?

HOW TO USE THIS PAPER

2 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Why use scenario-based reflection?

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 3

Desk review of 30+ 136 survey responses

4 case studies 40 key informant interviews

How were scenarios developed?

4 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Scope and limitations

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 5

The scale of the problem

6 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

11-24% 24% Low impact 20%

More than 2% High impact 31%

I don’t know 12% I don’t know 7%

The severity of impacts

We see a lot of local organisations are

17 Interviews 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 27, 31 & 32

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 7

When individuals leave or transition to larger organisations after

19 Interviews 1, 2, 7, 24, 27, 28, 30 & 31

8 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

We lose people to high-paying country offices

23 Interviews 1, 14, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30 & 31

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 9

Figure 2: Examples of global commitments for strengthening ethical recruitment

2019 Network of Empowered Aid Response (NEAR) launched a Localisation

25 Charter 4 Change (2022) From commitments to action: Progress report 2021-2022.

10 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Figure 3: Different contexts produce different perspectives

Most people think this is an obvious thing

Some INGOs prioritise partnership

28 Interviews 1, 24, 27, 30 & 40

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 11

WHY CONTEXT MATTERS

33 Interview 19, 21 & 22

12 Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response

Respectful Recruitment in Humanitarian Response 13

Humanitarian Horizons: Power, People and Local Leadership November 2023

The need for a fresh approach 10

Exploring opportunities for contextualised solutions: The scenarios 14

Working together towards respectful recruitment 28

Annex A. Ethical recruitment guidelines 31

Annex B. Using the scenarios: Activity guide 33