Devex jobs: Career advice from a Medair emergency responder

From Medair’s headquarters in Switzerland, James McDowell, head of the global emergency response team, supports colleagues all over the world who are responding to natural disasters, displacement crises, or disease outbreaks. On the ground, these teams can face visa or access issues, government bureaucracy, and insecurity. They are also working with traumatized populations and sometimes seeing needs to which they don’t have the funding or expertise to respond. It’s challenging but meaningful work, McDowell said, and rewarding to be part of a team effort that helps people when they need it most. Prior to this role, McDowell had been involved in several of Medair’s emergency responses and held country and program leadership roles. But working as part of the emergency response team was something he said felt “close to his heart.” McDowell told Devex about the challenges of the job and the personal qualities that are needed for emergency response work. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What is the job of an emergency responder with the humanitarian organization? In short, the main job is to save lives ... to move quickly, efficiently, and bring real practical assistance to those that are in need. The assistance in emergency responses is often not really complicated; it's responding to basic needs [such as] food, water, shelter, but the environment and the nature of the crisis is often what's complicated. “The more obstacles you face early on in your career, the better suited you are for the future. Your best education is experience.” --— James McDowell, global emergency response team head, Medair What does your average day-to-day look like? It's always different. If we're involved in a specific response, it's almost 100% [spending time] on that response [but still] monitoring other emergencies that are happening. During the rare times that we're not responding somewhere or doing an evaluation or report writing on the response we've done, we might be doing a desk assessment on a potential strategic startup, working on partnership tools, training materials, or helping with things in the wider organization, [such as] security. My team also fills some pretty critical senior management gaps in our country programs at times, so we are deploying a lot [and] we serve as a [sort of] external focal point for our emergency partners and networks that we're a part of. [During a response] there's a lot of moving parts, but the main thing is to have strong communication with the team that's on the ground. We'll usually have a team lead on the ground. ... It [all] starts with good communication, being on the same page, getting information from the field, hearing the decisions that need to be made, but also giving the perspective from headquarters around funding donors. It's kind of putting the pieces together … but mainly supporting and directing the team on the ground to ultimately go and work where the need is the greatest. What are some of the biggest challenges, and what lessons have you learned to help you overcome those? By nature, emergencies are chaotic. … You can only control so much in the response because of the context, the environment, so you need to constantly be adjusting your plan. You need to be OK with that [and] be flexible. Hopefully, your plan is not changing to the point where you're no longer serving your purpose. [Another] lesson learned … is to expect the unexpected. Disasters or emergencies always happen when you least expect. … Sometimes they all hit at the same time, which can be a real challenge. It doesn't work as linear as you'd like it to. It’s also really important to do your best to evaluate and learn from the responses, not to just go to the next one without taking time to debrief and [consider the] lessons learned. There's a lot of things that you can't control, but the things that are within your control [and] that you can fix, I think it's really important to address those so you improve [with every response]. What are the best — and worst — parts of the job? Doing lifesaving work is really fulfilling. I think if I wasn't doing this job in the humanitarian context, I'd probably be in emergency medicine. It's hard work, but it's a real privilege to be serving people at their time of greatest need. One of the worst parts or biggest struggles is funding around disasters or emergencies when they're not mediatized. Sometimes it feels like you're scraping the barrel fundingwise and the needs far outweigh the funding. The [COVID-19] pandemic has minimized the attention to [other] emergencies that are happening ... typhoons in the Philippines, hurricanes in Latin America at the end of last year. [These are] heavily underreported. How have you seen your role change a bit in the last year? It’s always changing, but I think it feels incremental. There's new trends [and] some go, but many stick around. [There’s been a] lot more attention on localization, and there’s been a big effort on our part on how to do that well as an organization, especially in the emergency response. There's a lot of new innovations, new technology, and it's really important to keep up with what's possible [and adding value]. Other [approaches] — cash programming, for example, has really grown a lot, and so we've had to adjust to that. It is very difficult in an emergency, especially if the government is not so familiar with cash programming or [allowing it]. ... [So we’re] looking at adjusting our model, our approach, depending on the context, and each place is different. What kind of person would this job be well suited to, or what should people know before pursuing this kind of career path? Hardworking, passionate people who really care. If you are in this work and you feel you're being hardened or not caring, I think it's important to step away for a bit. Other [important] qualities [are] adaptability, being flexible and able to adjust to the obstacles that arise, being able to wear several hats and do lots of different things. Being a good decision-maker is also key [because] you need to make a million decisions in emergency response. I think a certain level of independence [is important] and people who can deploy for short or long periods of time. This work ... can have a real impact on your relationships back home, so it takes a special person who is okay with that but also has a support system around them and understanding from family and friends that this is meaningful work and worth putting their all into. What advice do you have for others considering this type of career? For those starting out in the sector, I'd say get as much experience as you can, as it helps you narrow in on what you're passionate about and where you want to focus. Get experience in both relief and development [work] and see how you're naturally fitted or suited. [Even if] your end goal is to be a country director or an adviser, it is really helpful to get experience in what I call the fundamentals, [such as] logistics, HR [human resources], finance, and IT [information technology]. Those types of things are real building blocks. ... You may have a specific role, but you need a lot of these pieces to do any job well. [It’s also important for humanitarian professionals] to be open to all places, especially those with the greatest need. There's been a few countries that I have been hesitant to go to in the past, early on in my career, maybe because they had a history of insecurity. But those countries are now some of my favorite places in the world. Each country is beautiful and intriguing in its own way. And the more obstacles you face early on in your career, the better suited you are for the future. Your best education is experience.