MSF provides healthcare in many countries around the world and offers a rewarding professional and personal experience.
Through its medical, paramedical, and non-medical staff, MSF provides healthcare in many countries around the world and offers rewarding personal and professional experiences. MSF personnel often live and work in diverse intercultural contexts, sometimes under extreme and often stressful conditions. If you are considering a mission with MSF, we recommend reading the sections below and watching the videos. This will help you better understand the implications of this commitment and prepare for the recruitment process.
Take the time to inform yourself and evaluate the motivations behind your decision.
Living Conditions
When working on a mission for MSF, you must adapt to numerous changes, including diet, housing, daily routines, leisure activities, and language. A new lifestyle awaits you, where leisure time and privacy may be scarce. You will likely share a living room, kitchen, and often a bathroom. Generally, you will have your own room in a house or a tent. In emergency contexts, you may need to share a room with colleagues. You should ensure that you can forego certain comforts before applying to MSF.
However, most of the time there are staff who assist with cleaning and meal preparation.
MSF projects are sometimes located in regions where climate conditions can be extreme (such as severe heat or cold, high humidity, heavy rain, or desert climates). You will need to pack clothes according to the local climate, as well as according to the local dress code/customs of the country to which you are being deployed. Women may be required to wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved clothing or a headscarf, men typically are not allowed to wear shorts in the workplace. This is crucial to ensure respect for the communities we work with and contributes to MSF's acceptance in the mission country.
Health
To work on an MSF mission, it is essential to be in good health and maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are mandatory vaccinations you must do, and this will be checked before your departure. Additionally, preventive measures, such as malaria protection, must be taken based on local conditions.
If you join MSF and are offered a mission, MSF will require you to undergo an annual medical examination prior to departure. Your ability to work in a mission country will be assessed during this medical exam, including evaluations for individuals with pre-existing chronic conditions (physical or mental health) to check the stability of their condition and discuss necessary follow-up during the mission.
Find more information in our leaflet.
Mission Duration
The standard duration of a first mission is six months (sometimes shorter for certain specialist doctors). Depending on the needs of the country, the duration may be reduced for emergencies or extended (from 9 to 12 months, for example) for specific projects.
We ask that you commit to MSF for more than one mission, which means at least 12 months. It is also important to take rest between missions, and you can discuss the duration of the rest period with your career manager upon returning from your first mission.
It is important to know that our pool system requires significant flexibility from you. Please consider the length of your notice period (the time from when we contact you for a mission to the soonest possible departure date) so that you can organize accordingly. While we appreciate your immediate availability, we recommend that you do not leave your current position unless MSF has offered you a mission. However, please mention your notice period in the availability timelines you provide during the recruitment process. We do our best to respect the notice period indicated.
Stress Management
Working on mission for MSF can be stressful. Many factors can contribute to this: the urgent needs of our beneficiaries, radically different environments, basic living conditions, local food, distance from family and friends, potential health issues, difficult relationships with other team members, feelings of insecurity, frequent project changes, and potentially complicated relationships with local authorities.
Additionally, remember that during your mission, your workload will be significant, relaxation opportunities will be limited, and the boundary between your professional and personal life will be blurred. It is important to take care of yourself, know your physical and psychological limits, and not hesitate to seek help if needed.
Working abroad involves leaving your loved ones for several months. Communication may be complicated, and internet access is not guaranteed. In specific contexts, and for individuals who have worked with MSF for some time, a family mission may be considered, but it will always depend on operational realities. If your family accompanies you to a mission, you will receive some support from MSF.
What impact will your absence for six months or more have on your personal life?
Each person is different; however, a mission inevitably creates distance between you and your loved ones for several months. This period can be challenging for both you and them, and it is essential to consider this when making your decision. Additionally, returning home can have significant repercussions that should not be overlooked.
In addition to potential culture shock upon arriving in an unfamiliar country, you may encounter cultural differences within your team. These can often be enriching but can sometimes lead to misunderstandings.
You must keep an open mind to respect individuals with beliefs and cultures different from your own. Remember that your priority is to perform your work efficiently and effectively. It is essential to show tolerance towards those who do not think or act like you. Tolerance and mutual respect are fundamental values within Médecins Sans Frontières.
You will also face new realities. If you apply to MSF, be aware that we work to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable populations in countries where the following factors may be present:
- Flagrant violations of human rights
- Women, men, and children, depending on their ethnic, social, or tribal origins, may not enjoy rights generally accepted and recognized in other societies; they may face neglect or persecution
- Homosexuality may be criminalized
- Rape may be used as a weapon of war
- Infectious diseases and epidemics are common
Engaging with MSF means accepting to deploy to unstable countries.
The safety of personnel is a priority for MSF, and everything is done to minimize risks, but it is important to understand that zero risk does not exist. Even if you deploy to a stable country, the context can deteriorate and create insecurity.
For all our projects, we conduct risk analyses and regularly update manuals to limit risks as much as possible. Ensuring your safety is both MSF's institutional responsibility and your individual responsibility.
Working in a mission for MSF means representing MSF day and night, every day of the week, even during your free timeare responsible for your own safety and also contribute to maintaining the safety of your team. Interpersonal conflicts, behaviours, exposure to multicultural contexts, and staff management practices can all impact everyone's safety. Keep this in mind at all times.
MSF's security rules may limit your movements and interactions with the local population outside of work hours. However, it is essential that you understand that your actions, as an MSF staff member, can impact not only the people you interact with but also the MSF project, and thus directly affect the beneficiaries. So it is vital that you adhere to the rules established by MSF. At the end of your workday, you may need to comply with a curfew and remain within the MSF compound.
Working for MSF is a choice, but it must be made with full awareness of its implications. This is addressed during the recruitment process and your future assignment decisions.
The aspects discussed above aim to inform you about what working abroad with MSF entails. Thousands of people who have worked for MSF over the years have found their mission experience challenging yet rewarding. For many, embarking on a mission has marked a turning point in their lives.
Working for MSF is more a commitment than a mere adventure or job opportunity.
