The People Behind the Screens - Part One

by Michael Keizer · 2009-04-15 09:34:00 UTC
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(photo credit: Julien Harneis)

In the background of any global health activity, there is an army of field support specialists. They usually don't catch much of the limelight - they are the ones operating the limelight, making sure that the people who deliver direct health to the population are able to do their work.

There are many different specialists in this area; most jobs and professions in ‘normal' life have an equivalent in the global health field operations (yes, I did meet a field health librarian once!); I will go out on a limb here, and say that probably all everyday jobs and  professions are represented in the field. In this article, however, I will concentrate on those that are most common. Furthermore, I will not discuss those jobs that I don't see as specialised enough to mention, e.g. cleaners, cooks, drivers, etcetera. The choice is arbitrary up to a point, so don't bother arguing about it; if you feel that something is missing here, write your own article and persuade Alanna to post it.

Human resource managers

Global health is labour intensive, and most programmes employ many employees, ranging from several hundred to tens of thousands. The field of human resource management (HRM) is one of the most important support specialism in global health, and HRM specialists are in high demand. They tend to come mainly from two types of background:

  • HRM professionals who at some stage did a stint as a volunteer with a global health organisation, and liked it so much that they stayed in the field.

  • Programme managers who discovered that they liked the HRM aspects so much that they specialised in it.

There seem to be very few HRM professionals who know from the start that they want to make a career out of global health.

Successful HRM specialists are able to understand quickly the legal system and regulations of whichever country they find themselves in; have in-depth knowledge of best practice in HRM; know our programmes well and understand how to strike the right balance between programme needs on the one hand and internal rules and legal aspects on the other; are highly culturally sensitive; and have very good communication and didactic skills.

Michael Keizer
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