"It makes my heart beat faster": Finding professional purpose through the DRRS expert roster

How the DRRS roster works

The DRRS programme provides technical support to foreign governments and humanitarian actors during all phases of a water-related disaster. Experts with backgrounds in water management, water safety or water supply can sign up for the database. RVO then matches their resumes with specific requests from partners like UNHCR.

The deployments are tailor-made for each challenge. In Miriam's case, this assignment lasted 9 months. This allowed her and Niels to conduct desk research and field assessments in Ethiopia, Chad and Mauritania. Throughout the mission, RVO also has a team of specialists available. Miriam and Niels had regular technical support calls with RVO. The programme also organises training courses to ensure continuous learning for the experts.

A partnership built on active collaboration

Valeria highlighted the positive experience while working with RVO on this deployment. "It was not the classical approach of just providing technical staff," she says. "Colleagues were very open to supporting the programme, brainstorming and providing new ideas, and linking us with other expertise they have.

She believes this type of partnership works well when dealing with challenges that do not fit into one single technical discipline. This collaborative style also allowed the team to present their work at major international events. One example is the Emergency Environmental Health Forum in Geneva, where Miriam presented the project's work. "It was very well received and helped put waste management on the WASH agenda," says Miriam. For UNHCR, the deployment was a success. They have since recruited Miriam to lead the next phase of the project as implementation manager.

The benefits of joining the roster

The roster offers experts the chance to build a large professional network while making a real difference. For Miriam, the experience has been life-changing. But she also has a word of caution. "You need to be the type of person who likes this work. For me, it makes my heart beat faster. My advice is to talk to people who have done it to understand what you can contribute." Her skills from the business world, such as project and stakeholder management and her supply chain knowledge, are highly valuable in humanitarian settings. "A lot of the skills I developed in business are about how you work with people and combine what is needed with what is available," she says. "You can apply that everywhere".

Valeria adds that while technical skills are the backbone of the programme, the best experts bring something extra. "What I really appreciated about Miriam and Niels was their curiosity and will to go a little bit beyond the strict terms of reference of their deployment to UNHCR," she says. "They turned their experience as experts into a learning curve and came back with new capacity and know-how".