Abstract

The humanitarian sector is increasingly characterized by precarious employment conditions and work precarity, including short-term contracts, unclear renewal terms, inadequate compensation, heavy workloads, and job insecurity, exacerbated by volatile donor funding. The 2025 U.S. funding cuts have intensified these vulnerabilities, particularly in countries like Egypt, with massive humanitarian operations because of being a significant destination for asylum applications and one of the largest refugee host countries. Despite the prevalence of precarious work in the humanitarian sector, limited research examines its effects on workers' mental health and work performance, especially during funding crises. This qualitative study explores the perceived effect of precarious employment and work precarity on 18 Egyptian humanitarian aid workers following the 2025 U.S. funding cuts. The research examines how employment conditions affect workers' psychological well-being and professional effectiveness and identifies moderating factors at the organizational and individual levels. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with Egyptian humanitarian workers employed by international and non-governmental organizations affected by the cut.

Findings revealed that participants' awareness of precarity evolved through employment experience, with stress intensifying during contract renewals and peaking following the 2025 U.S. funding cuts, which affected all workers directly or indirectly. Five dimensions of precarious employment—contract type, contract continuity, inadequate compensation, heavy workload, and intrinsic job features—shaped workers' experiences, alongside an unanticipated factor: discrimination across contract types and between local and international staff.  Based on the perceptions of the humanitarian aid workers interviewed, precarious conditions negatively impacted mental health, work performance, workplace environment, daily life, future planning, and personal relationships. Contrary to expectations, organizational responses to funding cuts—rather than the cuts themselves—emerged as the primary exacerbating factor. Identified moderating factors focused primarily on mitigating precarity's impacts rather than addressing root causes, with individual coping strategies centered on personal safety nets rather than organizational support.

This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between precarious employment and worker mental well-being in the humanitarian sector, extends precarious employment theory to this unique context, and offers practical recommendations for organizations and policymakers to address workforce precarity and improve employment sustainability in humanitarian work.

School

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Administration

Graduation Date

Summer 6-15-2026

Submission Date

2-11-2002

First Advisor

Shahjahan Bhuiyan

Committee Member 1

Hamid Ali

Committee Member 2

Charles Kaye-Essien

Extent

93 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Disclosure of AI Use

Thesis text drafting; Thesis editing and/or reviewing

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