Staff care in humanitarian interventions : A case study of the Lutheran World Federation program at Kakuma refugee camp

Abstract: This study analyses the hazards and support factors perceived by national humanitarian staff working at Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. Fourteen in-depth interviews with participants from the staff was analysed from a theoretical perspective provided by stress management theories. This was contrasted with an Effort and Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire completed by the same participants.   The result indicate that the perception of hazards and support factors differ between local staff, from the county of Turcana, and national staff, from other parts of Kenya. This highlights the need to adapt staff care to local hazards and to the different needs of national and local staff. The result also indicates that the organisational support actions corresponding to a participatory climate, such as collaboration between staff, trust to work within a given mandate, and appreciation, prevented several psychosocial hazards often found to affect humanitarian staff. The result from the ERI questionnaires show that staff perceive efforts at work, but that 75% of the participants perceive more rewards than efforts.   The study contributes to the humanitarian field by focusing on local staff care, a topic often overshadowed by the focus on international staff care. The study also explores the impact on staff care in the context of protracted displacement, a circumstance found to work both as a hazard and a support factor.