Being Lokalci: Evaluating the impact of international aid agencies on local human resources: The case of Post-War Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

International aid agencies have a major impact on local human resources through their local staff who run into thousands all around the world. The way external agencies employ and manage their local employees can both enhance and weaken their post-war capacities in the short and long term. This article argues that an outside agency should seek to develop local staff in a manner that helps to reduce their vulnerabilities while increasing their capacities. Through such an approach the agency could achieve two goals: improve the developmental impact of recovery programmes and strengthen local human resources in the long term. These arguments are explored in the context of an empirical study of local aid agency staff in Sarajevo.