JUBA, South Sudan — Sarah doesn’t think of herself as working on the front lines. That’s a phrase often thrown around in humanitarian circles, but for her, it’s misleading. “I’m not the one providing medical care or distributing food,” she says. “My job is to make sure those who do can keep working.”
As an area program manager for health programming with a major humanitarian organization in South Sudan, Sarah oversees the admin, budgets, and coordination required to keep aid projects running. Her work isn’t dramatic, but it is essential. Without careful planning, there are no supply deliveries, no trained staff, and no functional health services.
The everyday stress of humanitarian work
Managing humanitarian programs means dealing with unpredictability as a daily reality. Roads are washed out by floods, medical shipments are delayed, and security conditions change with little warning. “You plan as much as you can,” Sarah says, “but this job teaches you to adapt quickly because something is always shifting.”
“We’re constantly having to make tough decisions,” she explains. “If a donor cuts funding, we have to figure out how to scale back without shutting programs down completely. That often means reducing the number of mobile clinics, cutting staff contracts, or limiting essential health services. It’s not just a spreadsheet problem – it has real consequences.”
For Sarah and her colleagues, the pressure is unrelenting. The need in South Sudan remains enormous, but resources are dwindling. The sense of responsibility weighs heavily.
“You’re always thinking: could we have done something differently? Should we have prioritized one area over another?” she says.
Why support for aid workers matters
The humanitarian sector has long been structured around the idea that stress is just part of the job. But the reality is that burnout is becoming increasingly widespread.
Sarah has felt that weight herself. “There’s a culture of pushing through, of just dealing with the stress and moving on,” she says. “But that’s not sustainable.”
For Sarah, accessing mental health support was a turning point. “I didn’t think I needed it at first,” she admits. “But having a space to talk about the stress, without judgment, helped me recognize that I wasn’t alone in feeling overwhelmed.”
A more sustainable approach to aid work
The biggest lesson Sarah has learned is that resilience isn’t about working harder. Through the psychological support she has received, she has developed strategies to manage the demands of her job in a way that allows her to stay in the field long-term.
“We always talk about sustainability when it comes to programs,” she says. “But we rarely talk about what sustainability looks like for aid workers themselves. If we want to keep experienced people in this work, we need to take care of them, too.”
South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis isn’t going away anytime soon, and neither is the need for skilled professionals to manage critical aid programs. But Sarah is hopeful that with the right support, more aid workers will be able to continue their work without burning out.
“This is a job like any other,” she says. “And if we want to do it well, we need the tools to manage the pressure that comes with it.”
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Help us support the mental health of those on the frontlines
Sarah’s story sheds light on the often overlooked challenges faced by aid workers. At Headington Institute, we provide critical support and training to ensure frontline workers can continue their essential work without losing themselves in the process.
Together, we can help aid workers like Sarah face the challenges ahead.
