Impact of the Context Staff Development project

From May 2015 to December 2017, RedR UK ran Context, an innovative professional development training programme, in the Middle East and East Africa. The programme was part of the Talent Development project, one of the many projects in the Disasters Emergencies Preparedness Programme . Context - an initiative of the Start Network, led globally by Oxfam GB with the support of UK Aid - is a comprehensive, dynamic staff development programme for humanitarian organisations. It aims to raise standards and quality in future humanitarian responses by building core skills as well as leadership and management capacity among humanitarian staff - especially national staff, who are increasingly at the forefront of humanitarian response. The project uses the Core Humanitarian Competencies Framework (CHCF) to develop staff skills across the wide range of competencies needed to work effectively in the humanitarian sector.

Context offered two programmes in the Middle East and East Africa: Core Skills Development, a six-month programme focused on key humanitarian skills and concepts; and Management and Leadership Skills Development, a nine-month programme focused on management and leadership in emergency situations.

This report focuses on the learning essays submitted by participants of the training programmes as their final assignment. It examines the impact of the Context project on core skills and knowledge of participants in developing an effective humanitarian response. It also analyses the effect of the training on developing an effective humanitarian response at an organisational level.

The report was co-authored by independent consultants Shana O’Brien and Aisling O’Loghlen, along with Selma Scheewe, Quality and Learning Manager at RedR UK. Support was also provided by Ola Telfah and Winnie Mapenzi, who coordinate the Context project in the Middle East and East Africa respectively.