Addressing the unique supervisory needs of humanitarian volunteers: Insights from piloting the ‘Integrated Model for Supervision’ in Bangladesh

Background: The quality and sustainability of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services - as an essential component of any humanitarian response - requires that those delivering MHPSS services avail of regular and supportive supervision. The ‘Integrated Model for Supervision’ (IMS) provides humanitarian organisations with guidance on how to provide such supervision to their workforce. However, the unique supervisory needs of humanitarian volunteers, who comprise most of the global humanitarian workforce, are less well understood. This study explores these needs, identifies how they might be met through supervision, and highlights potential ways the IMS could be improved to better support MHPSS volunteers within humanitarian emergencies. Methods: Nine supervisors (staff members) and supervisees (volunteers) from a humanitarian organisation based in Bangladesh who had participated in an IMS training in May 2023 were interviewed about their experience with the IMS and how supportive supervision could be adapted for humanitarian volunteers. These interviews were then thematically analysed. Results: We identified three principal themes. First, participants highlighted the unique challenges of being a humanitarian volunteer, including a competitive mentality among volunteers, which they believed supportive supervision could help address. Second, participants emphasised the necessary adaptations to supportive supervision to effectively support the volunteer workforce. Finally, participants spoke about the organisational conditions that would pose challenges for implementing supportive supervision for volunteers, including low awareness of the importance of promoting volunteer mental health among organisational leadership. Discussion/conclusion: The current study highlights differences in supervisory needs between humanitarian volunteers and paid staff and how supportive supervision could be adapted to better serve the volunteer cohort. While this study serves as an important stepping stone for understanding these differences, further exploration is crucial to continue to tailor supportive supervision for humanitarian volunteers, particularly given their prevalence in global humanitarian aid efforts.