What is Duty of Care? 

All employers carry a duty of care towards their staff, and frontline aid workers are no different.  Along with their families, they are often experiencing the same challenges and being exposed to the same traumas as the communities they serve.

As the crises the DEC responds to become more complex, it is more important than ever that local staff to have access to practical support. 

Without clear duty of care support, personal issues faced by staff risk being overlooked, such as the impact of a crisis on families, workplace environments and mental health. Incorporating duty of care into the DEC’s humanitarian responses means supporting staff and volunteers to empower them to continue their lifesaving work.  

Research commissioned as part of a collaboration between the DEC, Humanitarian Advisory Group and national research partners in 2026 highlighted the increasing challenges faced by frontline aid workers.  

Why is duty of care support needed?

Local aid workers are central to every humanitarian response. They are the first and last to respond to every crisis, and will be around after international aid organisations leave. They know their communities' needs, and relationships with them are based on trust. Their detailed knowledge of local needs is key to keeping responses led by the people impacted by the crisis themselves.  

However, working locally can also mean living through the same crisis as those you are supporting. For example in Gaza, many aid workers have continued to work tirelessly through conflict, whilst also facing displacement, shortages of food, water and other essential supplies.  

Sahar is the Director of the Palestinian Development Women Studies Association (PDWSA), a partner of DEC member charity ActionAid in Gaza.  

Throughout the conflict, she has led her organisation's humanitarian response, providing essential support to women and families. Sahar has endured many of the same hardships as the women she serves.

Like many others, she has been forced to balance supporting herself, her family and loved ones, with her professional life, while also supporting communities in Gaza. 

“I found myself, as the head of a women’s organisation that had provided services for years, completely cut off from people and from my professional network, unable to secure even the basic things my family needed to survive.

With communications completely cut off, I found myself just another marginalized woman among the many marginalized women in Gaza.”  

What has been done so far? 

The DEC’s Duty of Care fund was set up to respond to the exceptional needs of aid workers in Gaza after years of devastating conflict.

The DEC has designed the fund to be practical and flexible, recognising that the circumstances facing individual staff members, volunteers and their families can change rapidly.

A key focus of the fund has been staff wellbeing, with member charities and their partners prioritising psychosocial aid, stress management, supervision, mentoring, and team wellbeing activities. These measures have helped to strengthen resilience, reduce stress, and maintain team cohesion.

The DEC has also sought to keep the process simple. Member charities submit a short request explaining how they plan to use the money, who will benefit and why the need cannot be covered through existing funds. Reporting requirements have been deliberately kept to a minimum so that organisations responding to the crisis are not faced with unnecessary additional administration. 

The pilot fund provided a one-off £399,000 emergency grant across 13 DEC member charities to support staff, partners, volunteers and their families in Gaza.  

Since starting the fund, partners of the DEC member charities have reported how vital it has been, not only for meeting immediate material needs, but also for recognising and supporting the human reality of many working on the frontline of emergency responses.  

Juzoor, a response partner in Gaza for multiple DEC member charities, used an allocation from the duty of care fund to provide winter support such as blankets to its staff in Gaza, who experienced repeated displacement, loss of belongings, and severe deterioration in living conditions. A spokesperson said:  

“We highly appreciated the flexibility and responsiveness of the DEC Duty of Care Fund and believe this type of support is critical in prolonged crises such as Gaza. 

In Gaza humanitarian workers themselves remain directly affected by the emergency while continuing to deliver life-saving services to affected communities. 

This intervention demonstrates strong flexibility and rapid responsiveness to staff needs.”  

In Myanmar, DEC charities have also built duty of care into their response, including the option to use DEC funding for staff support and measures such as safe accommodation, health insurance, vaccinations and financial assistance for earthquake-affected staff.

Now the option to use funding for duty of care is also available for DEC member charities responding in Venezuela, and any other future appeals.  

The DEC recognises the risks and challenges faced by local staff, and through our funding model, we are working to continue improving and incorporating duty of care in every response, so aid workers have access to the support they need to carry out their vital work.