Author: Rich Parker
2025 marks a decade since I launched a consultancy company in support of humanitarian and emergency response organizations.
For anyone who is contemplating stepping out as a consultant this year, I wanted to share a few key learnings that I wish had been available when I first began.
I hope you find it useful - and wish you every success on your journey.
May this be a more peaceful year.
2025 marks a decade since I launched a consultancy company in support of humanitarian and emergency response organizations.
For anyone who is contemplating stepping out as a consultant this year, I wanted to share a few key learnings that I wish had been available when I first began.
I hope you find it useful - and wish you every success on your journey.
May this be a more peaceful year.
Over the years I’ve lost count of the number of friends and colleagues working for UN agencies, INGOs, and government emergency departments who have pulled me aside and confided the same common desire: that one day, they too would like to transition from their staff roles into some form of independent consultancy.
Maybe you’ve thought about it yourself.
Perhaps you’re seeking greater freedom in making work decisions and the ability to diversify your career beyond a single employer.
A potential increase in your income probably doesn’t sound terrible either. Or the ability to choose where you are based, how often you travel, and how many days off you take each month without having to check your agency’s HR policies.
There are thousands of consultants worldwide playing a vital role in almost every area of humanitarian work. From emergency preparedness and response to logistic solutions, strategic advice and technical sectors, the consultancy workforce is a low cost, highly versatile source of expertise and resources that many organizations lack internally or find easier to source elsewhere.
Yet, despite the value they offer, far too many consultants struggle to convert this into the sustainable career and lifestyle they dreamed about.
A gap in sector specific guidance
Stepping into independent consultancy can be one of the most thrilling phases of your career - but it’s not without its uncertainties.
You might wonder:
This feast-or-famine cycle is a universal dilemma for all new consultants, yet it is extraordinary how little guidance exists to support humanitarian practitioners stepping out on this journey.
It’s not your professional skills, expertise, or motivation that are in need of development. You’ve spent years, even decades honing those during your time as a staff member.
It’s the other part of the job that’s less clear.
To thrive as a humanitarian consultant you will need to add a business manager mindset to your repertoire - and it’s this skill area that your in-house career didn’t prepare you for.Sure, there are many coaching programs and resources available to consultants in other sectors, and exploring these can definitely prompt ideas.
But few, if any, help you to adapt them to the unique context of the humanitarian world and, in particular, how to tackle the biggest challenge of all: growing your consultancy business in a client ecosystem that is governed by strict financial regulations, terms and conditions.
Choosing the right business model for you
The most crucial step in navigating these problems is determining the right business model that will align your personal goals with the values and realities of the humanitarian sector. Your choice will shape not just the type of work you do as a humanitarian consultant, but whether or not it will lead you to a fulfilled and balanced way of life.
Below, I’ll break down six legitimate options available to you and explore their advantages and challenges when applied specifically in humanitarian settings.
1. The contractor
The contractor is an external professional embedded alongside or in direct support of regular agency staff members. Contractors usually work for a finite period of time to help implement a set project or portfolio which requires an additional set of hands.
When the admin officers of many aid agencies use the term “consultant,” this is often what they are referring to. Payment is periodic (often month) and calculated using the client’s internal pay scales while taking into account the contractor’s relevant experience. Expenses are usually covered directly by the client.
In humanitarian settings, contractors can also be drawn from a roster of experts that are pre-vetted by the employing agency and mobilized as surge support to complete short term assignments or temporary field deployments.
Advantages:
Challenges:
2. The freelancer
Unlike the embedded contractor, freelance consultants are registered self-employees or solo entrepreneurs, responsible for submitting a tax return independently of their client organizations.
Aid agencies hire freelancers to provide specific deliverables of work, or sometimes advisory services, that are generally not achievable using their own in-house resources.
Payment is usually fixed by the client based on the budget available and the estimated number of working days involved, plus expenses.
Advantages:
Challenges:
3. The company owner
The company owner registers his/her business as a limited holding company and creates a pyramid structure by employing full or part time staff, or by engaging sub-contractors who are themselves self-employees. The owner can choose to draw a regular wage or accrue income as dividends from company profits.
A company provides quotations and invoices for its services through either a tender process or direct negotiations with the aid organization, who regulates the amount using a daily rate system. Any expenses accrued in carrying out a project are also reimbursed by the client.
Advantages:
Challenges:
4. The product developer
Unlike other models which focus on providing customised services for each aid organisation, the humanitarian consultant may instead turn his/her expertise into products that multiple aid organizations can purchase off the shelf.
Consultancy products include instructional books, online courses, video webinars, podcasts, online templates, apps or other digital products.
Advantages:
Challenges:
5. The productized service
Productized services are pre-specified services that are packaged like products with clearly defined parameters and different pricing options.
The humanitarian consultant takes this offer to focal points within aid organizations who quickly select the right package for their needs and are able to hire the service through regular HR channels.
Advantages:
Challenges:
Maybe you’ve thought about it yourself.
Perhaps you’re seeking greater freedom in making work decisions and the ability to diversify your career beyond a single employer.
A potential increase in your income probably doesn’t sound terrible either. Or the ability to choose where you are based, how often you travel, and how many days off you take each month without having to check your agency’s HR policies.
There are thousands of consultants worldwide playing a vital role in almost every area of humanitarian work. From emergency preparedness and response to logistic solutions, strategic advice and technical sectors, the consultancy workforce is a low cost, highly versatile source of expertise and resources that many organizations lack internally or find easier to source elsewhere.
Yet, despite the value they offer, far too many consultants struggle to convert this into the sustainable career and lifestyle they dreamed about.
A gap in sector specific guidance
Stepping into independent consultancy can be one of the most thrilling phases of your career - but it’s not without its uncertainties.
You might wonder:
- Will I survive outside the structure of an organization?
- How do I secure a consistent work pipeline, when most aid organisations (now my potential clients) are culturally allergic to anything that sounds remotely corporate or “salesy”?
- How do I manage the administrative, legal and operational aspects of running a consultancy business?
This feast-or-famine cycle is a universal dilemma for all new consultants, yet it is extraordinary how little guidance exists to support humanitarian practitioners stepping out on this journey.
It’s not your professional skills, expertise, or motivation that are in need of development. You’ve spent years, even decades honing those during your time as a staff member.
It’s the other part of the job that’s less clear.
To thrive as a humanitarian consultant you will need to add a business manager mindset to your repertoire - and it’s this skill area that your in-house career didn’t prepare you for.Sure, there are many coaching programs and resources available to consultants in other sectors, and exploring these can definitely prompt ideas.
But few, if any, help you to adapt them to the unique context of the humanitarian world and, in particular, how to tackle the biggest challenge of all: growing your consultancy business in a client ecosystem that is governed by strict financial regulations, terms and conditions.
Choosing the right business model for you
The most crucial step in navigating these problems is determining the right business model that will align your personal goals with the values and realities of the humanitarian sector. Your choice will shape not just the type of work you do as a humanitarian consultant, but whether or not it will lead you to a fulfilled and balanced way of life.
Below, I’ll break down six legitimate options available to you and explore their advantages and challenges when applied specifically in humanitarian settings.
1. The contractor
The contractor is an external professional embedded alongside or in direct support of regular agency staff members. Contractors usually work for a finite period of time to help implement a set project or portfolio which requires an additional set of hands.
When the admin officers of many aid agencies use the term “consultant,” this is often what they are referring to. Payment is periodic (often month) and calculated using the client’s internal pay scales while taking into account the contractor’s relevant experience. Expenses are usually covered directly by the client.
In humanitarian settings, contractors can also be drawn from a roster of experts that are pre-vetted by the employing agency and mobilized as surge support to complete short term assignments or temporary field deployments.
Advantages:
- Provides you with valuable experience in consultancy roles and can help maintain your professional relevance.
- Establishes trust with new clients and gives you insight into their pain points, which can be useful for building other consultancy offers.
- Compared to other models, contracting is generally light in bureaucracy and administrative workload.
- You may enjoy the variety of moving between contracts. This can appeal to professionals looking for temporary contracts between other careers, or those nearing retirement who work for pleasure rather than financial necessity.
Challenges:
- Limited authority. Contracting often involves implementing others' ideas with less decision-making power than regular agency staff.
- Offers less job security and fewer benefits. You risk being placed of at the mercy of the client’s demands. Provides little in the way of career sustainability.
2. The freelancer
Unlike the embedded contractor, freelance consultants are registered self-employees or solo entrepreneurs, responsible for submitting a tax return independently of their client organizations.
Aid agencies hire freelancers to provide specific deliverables of work, or sometimes advisory services, that are generally not achievable using their own in-house resources.
Payment is usually fixed by the client based on the budget available and the estimated number of working days involved, plus expenses.
Advantages:
- Freelancing offer the benefits of contracting with greater autonomy in shaping your career choices.
- Allows overlapping client projects and diversification of income sources, giving you more earning power if you are willing to work longer hours.
- Engaging multiple clients reduces your risk of career instability if one engagement ends.
Challenges:
- A high proportion of your work tends to be reactive. You are mainly responding to ad hoc client requests rather than running your own calendar.
- A daily rate pricing system can lead into a situation where you are trading your time for money, making it difficult to sustain a work-life balance.
- Difficult to scale. The freelancer model creates a job for yourself but it places limits on your long-term growth.
3. The company owner
The company owner registers his/her business as a limited holding company and creates a pyramid structure by employing full or part time staff, or by engaging sub-contractors who are themselves self-employees. The owner can choose to draw a regular wage or accrue income as dividends from company profits.
A company provides quotations and invoices for its services through either a tender process or direct negotiations with the aid organization, who regulates the amount using a daily rate system. Any expenses accrued in carrying out a project are also reimbursed by the client.
Advantages:
- The company route allows you more freedom to take your offer proactively to potential clients, strategically targeting their gaps rather than waiting for ad hoc requests.
- Building a team of other consultants increases your potential impact and influence on initiatives that you care about.
- Bidding for larger projects can open the door to general company profits, in addition to your own working days.
- If you hold a long-term agreement with an aid organization, this tends to give you a more predictable calendar plan for the duration of the agreement.
Challenges:
- Increased administrative responsibilities, requiring you to put time and energy into people management, administration, and internal team planning. This may detract from the initial appeal of avoiding bureaucracy as an independent consultant.
- Increased responsibility for the livelihoods of your team members can add stress, pressure and legal obligations.
- Because your client is locked to a daily rate system, your company profits are very limited on projects where you assign other team members.
4. The product developer
Unlike other models which focus on providing customised services for each aid organisation, the humanitarian consultant may instead turn his/her expertise into products that multiple aid organizations can purchase off the shelf.
Consultancy products include instructional books, online courses, video webinars, podcasts, online templates, apps or other digital products.
Advantages:
- If you successfully make sales, productizing your expertise is one of the most scalable ways to grow your consultancy business as it creates passive income.
- You get to drive your own work calendar and build it flexibly around your lifestyle. Less time spent on client calls. Less time spent developing a new solution for each project. No more responding to last minute requests.
Challenges:
- Compared to customized service offers, developing a new product requires a lot of effort and sometimes financial investment upfront, with few guarantees of success.
- Products are generally much harder to sell, especially to aid organizations. You are trying to position your products in a sector of work where 90% of traditional marketing techniques are ineffective.
- Even if client focal points are keen and have budget authority, they will need to clear any purchase through their internal procurement mechanism. This tends to be more restrictive and lengthy than hiring services through HR channels.
- Very few humanitarian agencies are able to make online purchases, even for relatively small products. This makes a low cost / high volume product extremely difficult.
5. The productized service
Productized services are pre-specified services that are packaged like products with clearly defined parameters and different pricing options.
The humanitarian consultant takes this offer to focal points within aid organizations who quickly select the right package for their needs and are able to hire the service through regular HR channels.
Advantages:
- Converting to productized services can be a highly efficient way to scale your consultancy business. Given that virtually any type of service can be packaged in this way, it is remarkable how rare the model is within the humanitarian profession.
- Allows you to take control of your workload by using a repeatable process rather than building a new solution each time. This means that you can take on more projects concurrently, thus increasing revenue.
- By training other members of your team to complete steps in your repeatable process, you are able to focus your own time on the parts where you can add most value.
- Because your clients can hire your productized services through their regular HR channels, they do not need approval by their procurement departments.
- You are able to introduce recurring revenue to your business by adding lower cost repeat packages to your productized service offering.
Challenges:
- Your client base may narrow as those who only want a fully customized service may look elsewhere.
- While it requires less lead time than developing a pure product, building a productized service still requires you to create a system beforehand with: a clear service offering; continual marketing efforts to maintain a steady client pipeline; and a support team to handle parts of the process you prefer not to manage yourself.
Above image: Greg Hickman / Alt Agency. 2024
6. Software with a Service (SWaS)
The SWaS model combines elements of several other models, allowing consultants to offer their expertise alongside, or in complement to a software solution that is useful to the aid organization.
Advantages:
Challenges:
Conclusion
Fulfilling your career potential as a humanitarian consultant means finding ways to transcend the barriers faced by your client focal points. While many humanitarian consultants do survive, very few grow to fulfil their true potential during the course of a long term career.
Most independents gravitate towards one or two business models mainly because these are the default norms used by others. Additionally, aid bureaucracies have conditioned them to view consultancy as a conventional, linear transaction where financial remuneration is traded for their time - not for their expertise or the value they add.
Few humanitarian consultants are aware that a wider range of valid options is possible, and even less how to use these dynamically to scale up a business.
To achieve this, your core professional skillset alone is not enough. You must also learn how to build and position an offer that client focal points need, want, and are able to allocate agency funds towards, despite the constraints they face.
By strategically combining the methods outlined in this article you are capable of earning three, four, or even five times the salary of the highest position you held in your staff career.
Most importantly, you can achieve this with a balanced lifestyle and greater autonomy, while continuing to make a meaningful impact on the humanitarian initiatives you believe in.
6. Software with a Service (SWaS)
The SWaS model combines elements of several other models, allowing consultants to offer their expertise alongside, or in complement to a software solution that is useful to the aid organization.
Advantages:
- Enhances your service offering, helping you stand out with a unique solution.
- Can appeal to humanitarian clients by providing them with access to desirable software, without them having to navigate complicated IT procurement processes.
Challenges:
- Relying on non-proprietary software carries potential risks and usually an upfront cost.
- Developing proprietary software of your own requires significant lead time and effort.
Conclusion
Fulfilling your career potential as a humanitarian consultant means finding ways to transcend the barriers faced by your client focal points. While many humanitarian consultants do survive, very few grow to fulfil their true potential during the course of a long term career.
Most independents gravitate towards one or two business models mainly because these are the default norms used by others. Additionally, aid bureaucracies have conditioned them to view consultancy as a conventional, linear transaction where financial remuneration is traded for their time - not for their expertise or the value they add.
Few humanitarian consultants are aware that a wider range of valid options is possible, and even less how to use these dynamically to scale up a business.
To achieve this, your core professional skillset alone is not enough. You must also learn how to build and position an offer that client focal points need, want, and are able to allocate agency funds towards, despite the constraints they face.
By strategically combining the methods outlined in this article you are capable of earning three, four, or even five times the salary of the highest position you held in your staff career.
Most importantly, you can achieve this with a balanced lifestyle and greater autonomy, while continuing to make a meaningful impact on the humanitarian initiatives you believe in.
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