On this World Humanitarian Day, 19th August, members of ATE team give their thoughts on what it means to be a humanitarian aid worker. Read the thoughts of ATE’s Special Needs Awareness Programme Leader, Kaamil Issahaku, here:
I have been an aid worker for some two and half years now. Over the years, I chose this job to help people who are vulnerable and in distress, and I feel good about this job especially in this Covid-19 pandemic where my Special Needs Awareness Programme (SNAP) clients need more interventions in food, health care, education and safeguarding among others.
I can imagine the future, and it’s not the life we knew – countries, cities, and villages around the world might slowly be coming back to life, but there’s no going back to “normal”.
The economic uncertainty of the pandemic has caused many workers to lose their jobs and exposed others for the first time to nonstandard work models and there is a need to assess what must be protected as organisations move forward through the crisis. Increase in remote working and employee’s using technology more frequently.
It’s also important not to let the increased social capital which has been build during the crises disappear. The community spirit, the wave of volunteering and the collaborative relationships being built need to be nurtured and not allowed to fade away.
