Establishing the Learning Needs of National Staff in Emergency Response: Results of Learning Needs survey

It is generally agreed that national staff, within organizations, represent the most significant untapped resource in scaling up to meet the high demands in an emergency. In light of this, ECB organizations articulated the need to develop the potential of their national staff to become key staff in their own countries and beyond.

One ECB initiative to build national staff capacity is to create a sustainable development program for them. This program of development would be delivered in line with existing processes or forums wherever possible. To progress this initiative a learning needs survey was undertaken to determine the perceived gaps in knowledge and skills of national staff and to give a sense of which of these should be prioritised. The survey substantiates earlier work on necessary competencies for humanitarian staff and establishes priorities to inform:

1. A core development program for all professional roles involved in emergency response, and
2. A program focussing on skills and knowledge in emergency work for program managers.