MSF provides healthcare to millions of vulnerable people across the globe. To do that successfully, our staff must be willing to work in places that will be considerably different to their everyday lives, in nearly every aspect.
We need you to be able to quickly adapt to different cultures, living conditions and stressful environments. This requires you to have the right skills and experience and, most importantly, the right attitude.
It is important that you take time to find out more about the working conditions in MSF projects and consider the reasons behind your decision.
While working with MSF is professionally and personally rewarding, you should understand the day-to-day realities facing MSF employees who often live and work in unfamiliar surroundings, under difficult and stressful conditions. If you are interested in joining an MSF mission, we recommend that you read the sections below and watch the videos. This will give you a better understanding of the implications of making this commitment and help you prepare for the recruitment process.
Living conditions
When working abroad with MSF, you will have to adapt to many changes, including food, accommodation, daily routine, recreation and language. A new lifestyle awaits you, where free time and privacy can be limited. You may have to share a living room, kitchen and bathroom with other staff. You will usually have an individual sleeping space in a house, hut or tent. In emergency settings, you might be asked to share a room with your colleagues. You need to be sure that you can cope without certain comforts before applying to MSF. However, you will have the convenience of staff who take care of your cleaning and cooking.
MSF projects can be based in locations where the weather conditions are not always mild (extreme heat or cold, high humidity, heavy rainfall or desert climate).
Working in the field requires you to be in good health and to have a healthy lifestyle to ensure that you remain fit and well. This is the best way to avoid disease and to be able to carry out all the tasks required of you. Therefore, appropriate vaccinations are essential, as are certain preventive measures (against malaria, for example).
Mission duration
The standard duration of a first mission is six months (six to eight weeks for medical specialist roles). Depending on the needs in the country, the mission duration may be shorter for emergencies or longer (nine to 12 months, for example) in specific projects.
That being case, we ask you to commit to MSF for at least 12 months, which will most probably include more than one mission. It is also important to take breaks between missions; you will discuss the duration of these breaks with your career manager when you return from your first mission.
We understand that our pool system requires great flexibility from you. Please think about the amount of notice you will need (between the moment we contact you for an assignment and the earliest possible departure date) to be able to organise yourself. Even though we greatly value applicants who can be available immediately, we recommend that you do not leave your current job until you have been offered a posting by MSF. Please factor your job notice period into the departure timeframe that you specify to us during the recruitment process. We will strive to respect your indicated notice period.
Managing stress
MSF field projects can be stressful. Many factors can contribute to this: dire needs faced by our beneficiaries, a complete change of environment, basic living conditions, local food, distance from friends and family, potential health issues, strained relationships with fellow team members, feeling unsafe, frequent project changes, potentially difficult relationships with local authorities, and so on.
Impact on family and private life
Working abroad means leaving your loved ones for several months at a time as, given the contexts in which you will be working, it is not usually possible to bring your family (partner or children) with you. Moreover, communication can be difficult. However, there are some exceptions; in certain contexts, and after a staff member has worked for MSF for some time, it may be possible to secure a family posting. If your family accompanies you in the field, you will receive certain benefits to facilitate this.
What impact will being away for six months or longer have on your private life?
Please consider that during your stay you might find yourself confronted with a high workload, limited means to relax, and a thin line between professional and personal life. The reality of what you experience in the field can be stressful. It is important to take care of yourself and to know your own physical and psychological limits.
Sometimes, returning home after a mission can be as difficult as adjusting to the project itself. Think about what that will mean for you and your relationships with loved ones.
Working with different cultures and realities
While you might already expect to experience a culture shock going to a country you’ve never visited before, be prepared for cultural differences within your own team, too! While they can be enriching, they can also lead to misunderstandings.
These misunderstandings will often be trivial or even funny, but you will need to keep an open mind when it comes to respecting people with beliefs and cultures that differ from your own. Punctuality at work, relations with superiors and between men and women can vary between countries.
Living and working in a diverse, multicultural team can give rise to interpersonal conflicts and misunderstandings. It can be tricky juggling these complex issues in a way that doesn’t compromise relationships with your colleagues, patients and local authorities.
Always remember that your priority is to do your job efficiently and effectively. Being tolerant of people who think and act differently to you is essential. Tolerance and mutual respect are key values within Médecins Sans Frontières.
You will also witness new realities. When applying to MSF, you need to be aware that we work to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable populations in countries where the following factors may be at play:
- Flagrant abuses of human rights;
- Depending on their ethnic, social or tribal origins, women, men and children may not be able to enjoy rights that are generally accepted and recognised in Western societies, or might be neglected or actively persecuted;
- Homosexuality may be punishable by law;
- Rape may be used as a weapon of war;
- Infectious diseases and epidemics are common.
Security
When you join a pool, we will expect a certain degree of flexibility from you to work in different types of contexts. You may be offered a posting in an unstable country where you might feel insecure.
For MSF, the safety and security of staff is a priority. Handbooks have been created for all our projects to limit risks as far as possible. Ensuring your safety and security is both MSF’s institutional responsibility and your own individual responsibility.
Working with MSF in the field means representing MSF day and night, every day of the week, even during your free time and holidays. Everyone is responsible for their own safety and the safety of their team. Interpersonal conflicts, individual behaviour, exposure to multicultural contexts and management practices can all impact security.
Following MSF’s security rules may limit your movements and interactions with the local population outside of working hours. However, it is essential to be mindful that, as a member of MSF’s staff, your actions can have an impact not only on the people you interact with but also on the MSF project and, consequently, can directly impact the beneficiaries. That being the case, it is vital that you follow the rules laid down by MSF. When your working day is over, you may be required to observe a curfew or remain within the MSF compound.
The decision to work with MSF is voluntary, but it should be a balanced and well-informed decision. This will be discussed during your recruitment process and when preparing for future assignments.
The issues we have outlined here are intended to give you an awareness of what working abroad entails. Thousands of people who have worked with MSF over the years have found their experiences in the field demanding, but enriching. For many, an MSF posting proved to be a turning point in their lives.
Working with MSF is a commitment rather than just an adventure or a job opportunity.
