Shadow Care Chains
Shadow care chains refer to the invisible redistribution of care responsibilities that occurs during disaster and crisis response efforts. While humanitarian and emergency interventions often aim to address care inequalities, the care needs of frontline workers, volunteers, responders, and caregivers themselves are frequently overlooked in project design, implementation, and budgeting. As a result, care does not disappear; it is simply displaced, shifting onto other bodies, households, and communities in ways that remain largely unseen. As conversations around care justice continue to grow, there are increasing calls for crisis responses to account for their own care costs and the hidden transfer of care burdens they may produce.
CURRENT STATISTICS
67%
Women make up approximately 67% of the global health and care workforce. Health, care, and crisis response systems rely heavily on women’s labor, while their own care needs often remain overlooked.
2x
During crises and disasters, women and girls typically take on significantly more unpaid care and domestic work than men. Emergencies often deepen existing care inequalities and shift additional responsibilities onto households.
80%
Around 80% of long-term care worldwide is provided by family members and close networks without pay. In times of crisis, these often-invisible care networks absorb responsibilities that formal systems cannot meet.
CURRENT CARE POLICIES
Care Policy Recommendations Tool
At İhtimam, we curate emerging care policy recommendations and translate them into practical guidance for different stakeholders. Select a stakeholder group and thematic area to explore relevant policy recommendations, strategies, and actions from Türkiye and around the world.
THE FUTURE OF CARE
Care Radar
The Care Radar tracks emerging developments, weak signals, and evolving conversations across the care landscape. It is designed to help us understand how care is changing and to explore these shifts through an ethical and systems-oriented lens.
The Hidden Costs of Care Interventions
Projects designed to address care inequalities often overlook the care responsibilities carried by the very people delivering them. The invisible care costs of interventions are becoming an increasingly important area of discussion.
The Suspension of Care Networks in the Field
Humanitarian and crisis response workers frequently put their own care arrangements on hold while supporting others. Care does not disappear; it is shifted onto other households, family members, and communities.
The Persistence of the Hero Narrative
Humanitarian workers are often portrayed as endlessly resilient and self-sacrificing. This narrative can make their own care needs seem secondary or even incompatible with professional commitment.
Growing Recognition of Secondary Trauma and Burnout
Awareness of the emotional and psychosocial impacts of frontline work is increasing. Yet these risks are still rarely reflected in project budgets, staffing models, or programme design.
Care Considerations in Project Design
Travel requirements, intensive fieldwork, and performance expectations are often planned without fully accounting for workers’ caregiving responsibilities. The tension between operational efficiency and care realities continues to grow.
Emerging Experiments in Collective Care
Some organizations are piloting supervision structures, reflective practice sessions, peer-support mechanisms, and collective care spaces. While promising, these approaches have not yet become standard practice across the sector.
