World Humanitarian Day 2019 – the annual event founded by the United Nations in 2009 to honour humanitarian aid workers – is being celebrated across the globe on the 19th of August. Individuals and organisations across the UK, however, have already been working hard to make a positive difference for others. 

Open Hearts Open Borders Refugee Aid, for example, recently organised for an eighth shipment of humanitarian aid to leave Saltash in Cornwall bound for Attika Human Support in Lesvos, Greece. 

The 40ft container filled with hundreds of pairs of kids’ wellington boots, toiletries, food, clothing and sleeping bags was made possible thanks to the donations and voluntary work of local residents. 

There were also computers gifted by Marjon University for the Better Days Education Project and 12 boxes of teddy bears from the Teddies Trust. 

In fact, community groups, charities and schools from as far afield as Norfolk, Reading, London and across Devon and Cornwall all donated items of humanitarian aid. 

If you’d like to join such determined drives to help others as an international aid or development worker, you could soon find yourself on the frontline, responding to natural disasters such as earthquakes, emergency situations in developing countries such as crop failure and helping those affected by man-made calamities in the form of terror attacks and conflicts. 

The range of jobs is wide and varied and takes in many sectors, including health, construction, agriculture, education, renewable energy and engineering. 

The main employers are development and emergency aid organisations, such as the Department for International Development (DFID) and overseas job locations include remote villages, refugee camps and huge sprawling cities. But there are jobs in the UK too: for example, DFID employs staff in London and East Kilbride.  

But you don’t have to hold a doctorate or be affiliated to one of the big organisations to become part of World Humanitarian Day. 

There are many career opportunities on wm1jobs for you to join these heroes. 

Working in social services and care work, for example, can be challenging yet immensely satisfying. Above all, you will work in the knowledge that every day you are helping someone to find support, feel better about themselves and improve their lot in life. 

As you can imagine, this sector offers a range of different roles, from housing officers to care assistants and social workers to support practitioners. 

Alongside more experienced staff, there is a growing demand for new starts and younger people who can work with and more quickly understand the needs of clients their own age.  

Of course, experienced workers are important, too: it’s estimated that by the year 2030 the number of elderly people who have care needs will have rocketed to more than four million, which points to a need for older, worldly-wise social and care staff who can empathise and help. 

When we think of humanitarian work tackling poverty, it’s likely we will imagine charity and government organisations working in some of the poorest countries of the world. 

However, poverty can hit much closer to home. This is why charity workers make such an important impact every day in rural and urban communities across the UK. 

Many start off in charity work by volunteering but there are always salaried roles on offer – and there can be few better ways to make a heroic difference to people’s lives than helping the homeless find accommodation and families stay safe and healthy. 

If you’re a registered nurse or health practitioner there are exciting opportunities to work abroad to help others who are ill or in distress but there is also invaluable work to be done for the NHS right here in the UK. 

From the frontline surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists, paramedics and GPs to the associated staff working as admin assistants, trust managers, accountants and policy developers, all are working towards one humanitarian goal: better health and wellbeing for everyone in the UK. 

Telecommunications is another area that offers the chance to help others. 

During a recent two-day visit to Nigeria, the Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin announced a global mobile technology project will provide access to vital services for the country’s poorest communities. 

The move is part of a £38 million partnership to support mobile technology trade body, the GSMA, to boost access to essential digital services to 26 million people around the world over the next three to four years. 

Such initiatives will benefit from the skills and experience of those working in the UK’s own innovative telecomms infrastructure. 

Whether you choose to join a global organisation and travel the world or take up a role at home, you will experience the joy and satisfaction of helping others survive and thrive. 

So, mark your World Humanitarian Day by kickstarting a heroic new career with a position from wm1jobs.