What is an HSP?
Humanitarian Support Professionals (HSPs) are specialist highly-trained, highly-motivated staff recruited and employed permanently by Oxfam to respond to humanitarian crises.
HSPs often have considerable humanitarian experience with Oxfam and have worked in different crisis situations around the world. Roles range from water engineering and public health promotion to advocacy and accountancy.
We maintain a pool of HSPs so we can deploy specialist staff quickly where they're needed. Our Humanitarian Department manages 75 HSPs who are usually employed on open-ended contracts and work short-term assignments of between three and six months (although this can vary) continuously throughout the year.
HSPs are employed as full time staff. They are not paid on a retainer basis, with the freedom to choose or refuse deployments according to their personal preference. The job of an HSP is a commitment to continuous employment coupled with a willingness, in principle, to go anywhere.
What being an HSP involves
HSP deployments can be based anywhere in the world. So for all roles you need to be prepared to travel at short notice, and at times in difficult circumstances. You may be required to move quickly from one assignment to the next, which can mean going without seeing your friends or relatives for prolonged periods. And in a crisis situation, you'll invariably find yourself working long hours under sustained pressure.
You have to work fast, think fast, take decisions fast. If something you need isn't there, you have to improvise, innovate and make something work, in order to keep people alive.
Tim Forster, Public Health HSP
On top of your salary and additional allowances where appropriate, we'll provide you with learning and development opportunities, and career progression through structured performance management and reviews. This can be a demanding role, which is why we have an in-house staff heath team on hand to provide advice and support on dealing with the pressures of humanitarian work.
