Author Archives: Alessandra Pigni
Aid to Zen: F – (The) field
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. Much has been written about the myth of the field and fieldwork. There are countless memoirs about life in the field with … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' burnout, aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: F – (The) field
Staff care beyond the World Humanitarian Summit
I followed the World Humanitarian Summit online. I often got bored and missed key events such as the screening of Sean Penn’s new aid romance (or drama, whatever it was, it was booed at Canned and screened at the WHS, … Continue reading
Posted in Burnout
Tagged aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing, organizational culture in aid
Comments Off on Staff care beyond the World Humanitarian Summit
Aid to Zen: E – Empathy
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. *** Dear all, Apologies for having gone quiet for a bit. The last few months have been unpredictable as … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' burnout, aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: E – Empathy
Aid to Zen: D – Dignity
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. *** We may not think of dignity as an issue of mental health, but it has a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing, humanitarian ethics
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: D – Dignity
Aid to Zen: C – Counselling
Note to the readers: Counselling is probably a kind of western thing and it’s certainly not the only way to make it through a personal and/or professional crisis, so take what’s useful and forget the rest. The point is: we … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' burnout, aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: C – Counselling
Aid to Zen: B – Booze
I was going to write about burnout (again), but as it is becoming the talk of the day among aid workers, I decided to address something slightly more controversial: the pervasive drinking culture among humanitarians. You can read about burnout … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: B – Booze
Aid to Zen: A – Aidland
This is the first post of a new series Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z *** I think universities should consider offering a course called “Aid work is not what you think”. It could … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
Comments Off on Aid to Zen: A – Aidland
Introducing Aid to Zen – The A to Z Guide to Surviving Aidland
When I first visited London both tourists and locals were familiar with a pocket-book called London A to Z. Now also an app, the London A to Z is basically a roadmap that helps you “find your way round literally and metaphorically” in … Continue reading
Posted in Aid to Zen
Tagged aid workers' burnout, aid workers' mental health, aid workers' wellbeing
2 Comments
‘Small things’ in humanitarian work
Anaïs Rességuier, researcher in humanitarian ethics at SciencesPo Paris, reflects on the importance of small acts of kindness and humanity in humanitarian work Is small beautiful? Or is small… just small, as a speaker wondered at the recent Humanitarian Innovation … Continue reading
Posted in Burnout
Tagged guest posts, humanitarian ethics
Comments Off on ‘Small things’ in humanitarian work
Humanitarians, not bureaucrats
World Humanitarian Day: it’s that day when in HQ there’s a moment of silence, maybe a service, events in remembrance of “those who face danger and adversity in order to help others”. It falls on the anniversary of the 2003 bombing at … Continue reading
Posted in Letters to the field
Tagged aid workers' mental health, world humanitarian day
Comments Off on Humanitarians, not bureaucrats