What recruiters are looking for in the Afghanistan response

In August 2021, the Taliban, a fundamentalist group that adheres to its strict interpretation of Sharia law, regained power in Afghanistan, reversing several development gains and setting into motion a more restrictive regime. Women have been banished from secondary schools and universities, from working at NGOs, and going to certain public spaces, while the media has been censored and political opposition repressed. At the same time, a reduction in overseas aid due to this leadership has meant a decline in projects that may have helped alleviate poverty and unemployment. Less money at the government level has also affected services such as health care and clean water. And while the country has been excluded from global climate talks, it is the third most vulnerable to climate impacts. For nongovernmental organizations and aid agencies operating in the country, this means there are a multitude of development challenges to work on and vast humanitarian needs: 17.3 million people are estimated to require assistance. This is layered with a difficult operating context as the Taliban’s restrictions evolve and the threat of violence and conflict is never too far away. With that in mind, experts say potential hires need a specific set of skills and experience to best serve the local population. Devex asked those professionals currently hiring in Afghanistan what they are looking for in new recruits. 1. Development as well as humanitarian experience While Afghanistan is not an active conflict zone, it is a fragile context with both severe humanitarian and development needs, said Thamindri De Silva, World Vision’s national director in Afghanistan. The NGO has worked in the country since 2001, primarily focused on the western region of the country, providing food assistance and working on child protection, education, health, water, sanitation, and hygiene. During November, they were hiring for several roles including a food security and livelihoods associate sector lead, a health and nutrition officer, and a monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning officer. Some of these roles will be filled by national candidates but others are open to international applicants. It would be useful if those applicants had experience that straddled the development and humanitarian sectors in line with the dual needs in Afghanistan, De Silva said. “It's not a humanitarian or development context. It's humanitarian and development. … So the skill sets we're looking for are people who have worked in a fragile context,” she added. That same focus on humanitarian expertise is something that the international humanitarian organization InterSOS is also prioritizing. It is currently hiring internationally for a grant and reporting coordinator and a logistics and supply coordinator with other roles likely to be advertised in the coming months. Someone in their 20s with limited field experience is unlikely to be a good fit, said Greta Cipriani, human resources manager at InterSOS, but someone who has been in a similar context before could adapt well. “You need to have a strong technical and competent background,” Cipriani shared, as well as a passion for the work. The International Rescue Committee in Afghanistan, which is about to advertise several positions for both local and international candidates, is also looking for people with humanitarian experience, ideally in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan is one of the most complex humanitarian situations in the world where half of the country's population needs humanitarian assistance,” said IRC Afghanistan Communications Coordinator Abdul Khaliq Sediqi. “Our staff are the key for our success and it's very important for us to have people … that at least have some experience with Afghanistan.” 2. Women Over the past three years, the Taliban has incrementally ramped up its restrictions on women and girls — the latest being in September banning women from talking loudly in public. NGOs have not been immune to these restrictions. Almost immediately after coming to power, the Taliban made it illegal for local women to work for the United Nations or NGOs. Today, that law still stands but mainly applies to local workers, meaning international NGO vacancies are still open to female applicants. De Silva is a female country director based in Afghanistan and while she said she was among very few a year ago, the number of international female staff is increasing. “Over the past year, I've seen a lot of organizations hiring more and more females,” she said, adding that she has felt safe and secure for the most part. At IRC, Sediqi said its female staff are key to its work and plans to advertise roles on Association of Southeast Asian Nations women's job boards to ensure wide reach among females. “Working in a context like Afghanistan without female colleagues is impossible because we are working on the field level, going village to village where our female colleagues need to interact with female clients,” he said. Being a woman in Afghanistan regardless of nationality does, however, come with certain restrictions. These include having to adhere to certain forms of dress and no longer traveling anywhere alone, said Cipriani — who visited the country earlier this year but is based in Rome at the InterSOS headquarters. In general, regardless of gender though, she believes it is cultural sensitivity that is of the utmost importance. “You need to be able to understand the rules that are written and unwritten of the context, and this is a must to deal with the beneficiaries, to deal with the nationwide colleagues, but also with the authorities,” she said, adding that if a candidate has prior experience in the region, they’ll be more aware of the dynamic. “But this is not a must.” 3. Climate knowledge In addition to the challenges that come with the Taliban’s leadership of the country — which clashes with certain aspects of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 4 on access to quality education for all and SDG 5 on achieving gender equality — Afghanistan also experiences several climate events each year, including droughts, flash floods, and unseasonal frosts each year. These drive up displacement and food insecurity. With that in mind, De Silva highlighted how useful it would be to have people working in the country with specific climate knowledge. “We need a lot of people who have a background in climate change, resilience, recovery, groundwater recharging, those kinds of things,” she said, adding that climate change can often be a trigger for conflict. “One of the key areas that we are focused on is climate change and resilience, and the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus.” Since the Taliban took control and donors withdrew funding, climate funding to the country has been minimal. However, its leaders have shown interest in addressing climate impacts and implementing various climate policies to curb emissions. With these nuances in mind, creative thinkers, problem solvers, and those who have worked on climate change before would be useful to the context, De Silva said. “You've got to figure out what can be done with less.” 4. Resilience It's a very restrictive environment right now, said both De Silva and Cipriani, that requires incoming staff to have a level of resilience and adaptability. “International staff are not able to move freely within Kabul for sure. … But even in areas like Herat, we are restricted to our offices and our team housing kind of spaces,” De Silva shared. “You aren't able to visit the homes of a local because they might be perceived as supporting you or being supported by you, which might mark them.” With that in mind, World Vision, she said, is looking for people who have experience of living and working in restricted contexts. They warned that those who love hiking or the outdoors might find Afghanistan a challenge, especially given the restrictions on roaming freely. Additionally, there are curfews, alcohol bans, and travel restrictions. This is, however, countered by increasingly friendly local staff, wonderful food, and a beautiful landscape, Cipriani said. But that landscape also brings its own practical challenges for staff to navigate. Afghanistan experiences all four seasons and candidates should be prepared to weather those, Cipriani said. “In the winter, it snows a lot, it's quite freezing. In the summer, there is a lot of heat and the amenities are not the ones you can find in Rome or Bangkok,” she said. “The living conditions may be quite harsh compared to the one your people are used to in their own home.” IRC, said Sediqi, offers training and orientation on the context and culture to ensure candidates “are ready to come and take [on] the challenges in Afghanistan.” Regardless of the challenges, Cipriani said every humanitarian worker should be willing to work in Afghanistan “because … the impact that you can have is valuable.” Ready to stand out from the crowd and get noticed by the recruiters who matter most? Update your Devex profile and start connecting with top global development recruiters now.