Building an HR foundation for humanitarian work at MSF Norway

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Border) relies on coordinated teams to deliver humanitarian aid around the world. Behind every mission are complex HR processes that must run smoothly, from onboarding fundraisers to managing staff deployed to international projects. 

Before Sympa, MSF Norway lacked a dedicated HR system. All employee information lived inside a finance tool and important documents were scattered across various channels. As Derek Widme-Rickards, Domestic HR and Systems Administrator at MSF Norway, explains: “Contracts, job descriptions, signed and unsigned copies, PDFs, Word files. Everything lived in different places and we needed a single source of truth.” 

Without self-service, HR became the bottleneck for basic updates and requests. It was time for a system that could provide structure and free up staff to focus on their humanitarian mission. 

What they needed

MSF Norway set out to modernise its HR operations and provide a smoother experience for employees across different roles and contexts. 

They were looking for:

• A single source of truth for all HR master data 
• A system accessible to office staff and direct dialogue fundraisers alike 
• Self-service capabilities to reduce back-and-forth with HR
• A partner able to handle custom needs such as complex seniority calculations 

Above all, they needed confidence that the system would streamline operations without adding complexity. 

What Sympa delivered 

MSF Norway’s implementation began in early 2022, with Derek joining during the crucial testing and build phase. Working closely with Sympa’s team, MSF Norway refined their data structures, workflows and permissions, ensuring that by launch the system supported their day-to-day reality with confidence. 

Today, Sympa serves as a core HR master data system for both domestic employees as well as those working on overseas missions. Data flows reliably into IT, payroll and finance, forming a single foundation for all downstream processes.

How it added value

Sympa has significantly reduced administrative workload within MSF Norway’s HR, finance and fundraising teams. Replacing email threads and manual updates with self-service means teams spend less time on admin and more time supporting humanitarian work. 

Sympa’s integrations also play a key role. Derek highlights one capability in particular: “E-signing is my Gold Star feature. I don’t know how I would live without it now.” Before Sympa, contract signing meant scattered files and long waits. Now, everything flows automatically: documents go out, signatures come back and Sympa stores it all without extra work. 

Solving complex challenges together 

One of MSF Norway’s biggest hurdles was their unusual seniority calculation model, which couldn’t be supported by standard HR systems. Instead of simple year-over-year counts, they calculate seniority based on previous roles, responsibilities and duration. 

Sympa built a custom background calculation tailored specifically to their logic. It took several rounds of collaborative testing, but the end result was seamless. To this day, Derek does not know how our team pulled it off: “It works. But I still don't understand how.” 

A foundation for the future 

From improvements to UI and UX to enhanced role-based permissions, MSF Norway sees huge potential in how Sympa will continue to evolve. Looking ahead, Derek is already hoping for broader, multi-country adoption: “It’s much easier to add new environments than purchase an entirely new system.” 

Thanks to Sympa, MSF Norway now has a stable HR foundation that reduces admin time and strengthens governance. Sympa gives us structure so we can spend our time, energy and privately raised money on where it's needed the most: saving lives.