The Antares Foundation
The Antares Foundation is a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands. Its mission is to improve the quality of management and staff support and care in humanitarian and developmental organizations.
The staff of humanitarian and development organizations is exposed, through the course of their work, to higher levels of stress than employees in other fields of work. Humanitarian and development workers often work abroad, and this work can take them to locations which are unsafe, or which are simply very different to their familiar cultural context. They are often required to work with limited resources in a large population of beneficiaries, and this situation can lead to difficult decision making and a situation of great pressure. Long term stress of this nature can have serious mental health consequences. In conflict zones or situations of political instability, threats to physical security and integrity can arise, also carrying serious mental health consequences.
The healthy functioning of aid workers is not only of great importance to the individual, but also to the valuable work of the agencies themselves.It is therefore essential that humanitarian and developmental organizations work within a framework which allows them to offer support to their employees. The Antares Foundation assists in the development of this framework.We take a holistic approach to stress management in organizations. We work at every level, from management to individual, to create a functional and sustainable system of staff support.
Alongside the psychosocial support we offer, we cooperate with academic institutions in large scale research projects and in developing psychosocial systems and professional management tools. The first edition of our Guidelines for Good Practice was published in 2005 and a second edition followed in 2006. Work continues on their further development, and future publications are scheduled both on our Guidelines and on the broader field of our research. Our Guidelines can be downloaded free from this webpage – just click on the Guidelines icon in the menu. Our Guidelines are also available free in Arabic.
Funding
As a non- profit organisation, the Antares Foundation depends upon external funding and donations. The Antares Foundation therefore calls upon your generosity and invites you to become a donor or a sponsor. Please contact us for details on how to donate.
News!
This month the Antares Foundation will conduct two missions, to Jordan and to Northern Iraq. For a full overview of the work of the Antares Foundation during the last quarter, please read our April-June Newsletter [PDF 115.8 kB].
Managing Stress in Humanitarian Aid Workers - Guidelines for Good Practice. English [PDF 559.2 kB]
Podcasts on Stress Management for Emergency Responders