r/humanitarian

Hi everyone. I’m still junior-ish in the sector, specialized in humanitarian aid in conflict settings. I have around 2 years of field experience across MENA and LATAM, plus roughly 1 year of HQ experience. I’d say I have a pretty solid knowledge of the humanitarian sector, especially coordination mechanisms, grants, and humanitarian contexts, so I can also do research/analysis-related work. Somehow I feel I can't really transition to any other sector since my training, knowledge and experiences are very very focused on this.

Field missions are actually pretty good financially: decent pay, accommodation covered, R&R, flights every once in a while, etc. But the truth is that, long term, I’d really like to work fully remotely and travel around the Global South while doing so.

Are there any realistic options for this in the humanitarian sector? And if so, what kind of roles/organizations should I be looking at?

The USA announced its latest funding package last week, and the nearly $2 billion package is exclusively for U.S.-based Christian nonprofit organizations. The majority will go to faith-based hospitals and clinics, with the remainder set aside for humanitarian aid.

The State Department said the funding will be provided to an “extensive network” of international and local faith-based partners — including World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse.

Dev Ex asks:

Isn’t the U.S. government supposed to be moving away from large INGOs and similar institutions? Is it really okay to say faith-based when we mean “Christian” — and can Christian organizations really provide effectively to those of other faiths, or none? And is it a good idea for the U.S. government to be asking others to cover its overheads?

The full article is available for paid subscribers at DevEv.

Built an offline-first emergency app based on WHO/Red Cross guidelines — looking for feedback from people with field experience

Over the past months I've been developing SelfAid, a free app meant to help in situations where every second counts and there's no network coverage.

The core idea: most first-aid apps assume you have signal. This one is built to work fully offline, using on-device AI to walk someone through emergency steps — designed to be usable by children, tourists facing a language barrier, or someone in shock who can barely think straight.

A few design choices I'd love feedback on from people who've actually worked in humanitarian or emergency contexts:

• Offline-first, "Mountain Mode": works with zero connectivity, sends distress signals when possible, meant for remote areas — mountains, deserts, disaster zones.
• Content sourced from WHO and Red Cross protocols, not generic advice.
• No data collection, no ads, open-source — the guiding principle was "saving lives, not collecting data."

I'm not looking to sell anything here — genuinely trying to figure out if this solves a real problem or if I'm missing something obvious that people with field experience would catch immediately. Has anyone here worked with offline emergency tools before? What actually breaks down in the field that an app like this should account for?

(Happy to share more technical details or the project link in comments if anyone's interested — didn't want to lead with that here.)

Hey everyone!

I found a position at the NRC office in Ramallah. I satisfy all the requirements, apart from one: fluency in Arabic, both written and spoken.

I have a very basic knowledge of Levantine Arabic earned during previous fieldwork in Palestine (which I think would be an asset). Despite that, I decided not to apply, because I consider the unmet language requirement too important to be ignored.

Am I making a mistake? Should I still try?

Thank you!

I applied for the ICRC delegate position (June 7 deadline) and received the language test invitation which I have completed mid July. To this date, I haven’t heard back anything. I am afraid my language assessment wasn’t received or something of the sort since internet cut when I was doing it. Is anyone in the same situation or has any idea?