the icrc is headquartered in the swiss city of geneva and has external offices called delegations in about eighty countries. each delegation is under the responsibility of a head of delegation who is the official representative of the icrc in the country. of its 2,000 professional employees, roughly 800 work in its geneva headquarters and 1,200 expatriates work in the field. about half of the field workers serve as delegates managing icrc operations, while the other half are specialists such as doctors, agronomists, engineers, or interpreters. in the delegations, the international staff are assisted by some 13,000 national employees, bringing the total staff under the authority of the icrc to roughly 15,000. delegations also often work closely with the national red cross societies of the countries where they are based, and thus can call on the volunteers of the national red cross to assist in some of the icrc's operations.