vault guide to international development

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The media’s watching Vault! Here’s a sampling of our coverage.“For those hoping to climb the ladder of success, [Vault’s] insights are priceless.”– Money magazine

“The best place on the Web to prepare for a job search.” – Fortune

“[Vault guides] make for excellent starting points for job hunters and should bepurchased by academic libraries for their career sections [and] university careercenters.”– Library Journal

“The granddaddy of worker sites.”– U.S. News & World Report

“A killer app.”– The New York Times

One of Forbes’ 33 “Favorite Sites.” – Forbes

“To get the unvarnished scoop, check out Vault.” – SmartMoney Magazine

“Vault has a wealth of information about major employers and job searching strategiesas well as comments from workers about their experiences at specific companies.”– The Washington Post

“A key reference for those who want to know what it takes to get hired by a law firmand what to expect once they get there.”– New York Law Journal

“Vault [provides] the skinny on working conditions at all kinds of companies fromcurrent and former employees.”– USA Today

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VAULT CAREER GUIDE TO

INTERNATIONALDEVELOPMENTCHRISTOPHER MILLER AND THE STAFF OF VAULT

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Copyright © 2009 by Vault.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to theaccuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No part ofthis book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic ormechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault.com, Inc.

Vault, the Vault logo, and “The Most Trusted Name in Career InformationTM” are trademarks ofVault.com, Inc.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact Vault.com, Inc.,75 Varick Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10013, (212) 366-4212.

Library of Congress CIP Data is available.

ISBN 13 : 978-1-58131-621-6

ISBN 10 : 1-58131-621-6

Printed in the United States of America

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AcknowledgmentsVault’s acknowledgments: We are extremely grateful to Vault’s entire staff for all theirhelp in the editorial, production and marketing processes. Vault also would like toacknowledge the support of our investors, clients, employees, family and friends.Thank you!

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INTRODUCTION 1Key Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

THE SCOOP 3

Chapter 1: Introducing the Industry 5

Background and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Practice Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Size of the Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Organization and Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Industry Trends and What They Mean to a Job Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Chapter 2: How It Works 17

Funding Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Implementing Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Chapter 3: Types of Implementing Agencies 25

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Intergovernmental Organizations (also known as multilateral organizations) . . . . . .29

Other Kinds of Implementing Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Chapter 4: Is It for You? 35

Challenges and Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Things to Think About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Important Aptitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

How to Find Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

GETTING HIRED 43

Chapter 5: Education and Experience 45

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Table of Contents

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Chapter 6: Types of Employment and Job Search Strategies 53

Types of Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Preparing for the Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Identifying Organizations That Match Your Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Getting to Know Your Shortlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Applying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Sample Cover Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Sample Resume and CV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Chapter 7: The Hiring Process 73

Who Gets Hired? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Negotiating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Organization-Specific Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

ON THE JOB 83

Chapter 8: Career Paths 85

Career Roles in Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Administrative Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Technical Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Support Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Techniques for Career Advancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Career Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Days in the Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Chapter 9: Culture, Compensation and Benefits 99

Intergovernmental (IGOs) and Government Organizations (Donors) . . . . . . . . . . .102

Implementing Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

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Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentTable of Contents

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APPENDIX 113

Resources for Job Seekers 115

Job Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Professional Organizations and Industry Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Employer Profiles 119

Intergovernmental Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Volunteer Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Other Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 127

ixVisit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice,career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more.

Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentTable of Contents

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IntroductionInternational development is a profession unlike any other. Although moderninternational development has more than half a century of history, the practice ofdevelopment is constantly evolving and the industry is currently in the midst of majorchanges that have the potential to improve the lives of billions of people.Development professionals are working in every country in the world to addressissues including human rights, health, economic growth, environment conservationand many others. As a profession, few career choices can match internationaldevelopment for the sheer range of the industry, challenge of the work or relevancyto the world’s population. In recent years the need for coordinated andcomprehensive sustainable development has been center-stage in world politics dueto increasing awareness of both the issues and the consequences. Developmentchampions including academics such as Jeffrey Sachs, businesspeople like BillGates, politicians and celebrities have helped bring international development to theforefront of policy and economic discussion. At the same time, the world has becomemore globalized, with constant reminders that the problems of the developing worldcan and do affect the entire world.

Yet despite the rapid growth of funding for international development and theincreasing understanding of the need for sustainable development, the industry andeven the term “international development” remain poorly understood. There is nouniversally agreed-upon definition of international development. The term hasevolved over time and there is no single industry group that holds responsibility fordetermining what is and what isn’t development. Likewise, there are no certificationor accreditation bodies that delegate organizations as practitioners of development.Although there is not a universal definition, there are a number of characteristics thatare widely accepted to describe international development. In general, internationaldevelopment:

• Works in developing countriesInternational development generally utilizes resources from developedcountries to fund projects in developing countries. This idea is beingchallenged, however, by the increasing amount of money for developmentbeing provided by developing countries.

• Contributes to the public goodInternational development has an underlying goal of improving living standardsin developing countries. Development projects may work with the public, civiland private sectors, but the end goal is to foster development, not to makemoney.

• Builds sustainabilityInternational development is not about giving money, supplies, and equipment,it is about building the capacity for people to provide these things for their owncommunities.

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• Utilizes professional methods of project implementation and evaluationAs international development becomes a bigger and more professional industry,there is a greater expectation that development agencies adopt modern methodsof management and evaluation. Most professional development practitionersnow have full time staff focused exclusively on these issues.

• Depends on specialized organizations that focus on international developmentDonors rarely have the capacity to actually implement and manage developmentprojects, so they depend upon professional organizations that specialize indevelopment. These organizations include non-governmental organizations, civilsociety organizations, private voluntary organizations and some privatecompanies.

Key Terminology

To get you started, below are some key terms in international development. Additionalterms are highlighted throughout the book.

• Developed countries are the world’s wealthier nations. There are many formaldefinitions used to determine which nations are developed, includingmeasurements based on economic and social indicators. The World Bank usesthe term “high income economy” to describe countries with a gross nationalincome per capita of $11,456 or more. The United Nations uses the HumanDevelopment Index, which estimates how income is turned into educationandhealth opportunities. Regardless of the definition, developed countries arethe main funders of international development.

• Developing countries are, conversely, those nations that don’t meet therequirements of a developed country according to these various scales.Developing countries may also be known as low-income countries or emergingeconomies according to economic indicators. The United Nations uses the term“least developed countries” for nations with the lowest scores on the HumanDevelopment Index. Developing countries are the recipients of developmentassistance, although some developing countries give development assistance inaddition to receiving it.

• Official development assistance (ODA) is the money that governments spend oninternational development. There is a very specific definition of ODA and strictrules about what spending can be counted as ODA. More information on this isprovided in Chapter 2.

• Donor community is a general term to describe the organizations that fundinternational development. These include government development agenciessuch as USAID and DFID, foundations, intergovernmental organizations andother funders of development work. Donors are covered in more detail inChapter 3.

Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentIntroduction

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Introducing the IndustryHow it WorksTypes of Implementing AgenciesIs It for You?

Vault Guide to International Development

THESCOOP

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BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

The modern institutions that comprise the development industry mostly came into existencein the mid- 20th century, largely in response to major geo-political events, including WorldWar II and the Cold War. In particular, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe afterthe physical, social and economic devastation of World War II is widely considered thecatalyst for organized international development led by wealthy donor countries.

Similarly, the Cold War served to raise the visibility of developing countries and contributedto idea of global stability through development. The fear that developing countries in Asiaand the Americas were being influenced politically by financial and policy support from theUSSR directly contributed to increased spending on development assistance from theUnited States. Clearly much of this money was not supporting international developmentas we understand it today, but it did have the effect of showing the links between the welfareof developing and developed countries.

Globalization has been another significant force in international development. Greaterinterconnectivity among world populations and economies has strengthened relationshipsamong countries and raised awareness of development issues. It has also contributedgreatly to economic development through foreign direct investment and remittances.

Many additional trends have also helped promote the ideals of international development.The advent of mass media and the incredible improvements in global travel, in particular,have made it possible for citizens of developed countries to see, firsthand or through theirTVs and newspapers, the conditions that people in poorer countries live in every day. Thisnot only raises money for development, but also galvanizes public support for governmentspending on international development assistance. For example, in the week following theDecember 26, 2004 Asian Tsunami, the United Nations received an unprecedented $1.5billion in relief donations. The massive coverage of the event, including everything fromtraditional media to blogs and camera-phone videos, helped spread awareness of thedisaster and make it easy for people, organizations, and governments to donate to the reliefefforts.

Key dates in the recent history of international development

1944 The Bretton Woods Agreement is signed, setting the foundation for an internationalfinancial system. The agreement establishes the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), now part ofthe World Bank Group.

1945 The Charter of the United Nations is drafted and ratified by 51 original member states.

1950 The role of international nongovernmental organizations in development is enshrinedby the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

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1959 The Inter-American Development Bank is established.

1961 President John F. Kennedy establishes the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), explicitly separating international economic and socialdevelopment from military and political activities.

1964 The African Development Bank is established.

1966 The Asian Development Bank is Establishedestablished.

1970 In a General Assembly Resolution, the world’s wealthy countries agree to set atarget of 0.7 percent of each country’s GNP for official development assistance.Sixteen countries have agreed to meet this goal by 2015.

1974 The European Management Symposium invites political leaders to its annualmeeting for the first time. In 1987, the EMS becomes the World EconomicForum, and the organization’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, attractsleading social, business, and political leaders from around the world.

1979 Official development assistance (ODA) surpasses $20 billion to reach$23.1 billion.

1990 ODA surpasses $50 billion to reach $57.2 billion.

2001 The first meeting of the World Social Forum is held to coincide with the WorldEconomic Forum, highlighting the need for social development in addition toeconomic growth.

The Millennium Development Goals are adopted by the United Nations, targetingeight specific goals for international development.

2005 ODA surpasses $100 billion to reach $119.8 billion.

Millennium Development GoalsThe following are the eight principles of the Millennium Development Goals, alongwith select targets for each. For complete targets and more information, refer towww.un.org/millenniumgoals.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than$1 a day. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer fromhunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education.Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able tocomplete a full course of primary schooling.

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3. Promote gender equality and empower women.Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005,and at all levels by 2015.

4. Reduce child mortality.Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

5. Improve maternal health.Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.Have halted by 2015, and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.Have halted by 2015, and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other majordiseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability.Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies andprograms; reverse loss of environmental resources.Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safedrinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on watersupply).

Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice,career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. 7

Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentIntroducing the Industry

PRACTICE AREAS

While virtually every industry has areas related to international development, there area handful of practice areas accounting for the majority of development projects.These are the areas that developed countries support through ODA. Practice areasin development are commonly split between economic development and socialdevelopment, with an understanding that nearly every area of development is highlyinterdisciplinary, and most projects address both economic and social issues. Inaddition, health and environmental projects are sometimes included in a thirdcategory in recognition of their importance as a foundation for all social and economicdevelopment. The most common practice areas in development include:

Economic development

• Private sector development is a general term for a wide range of activities focusedon strengthening the private sector of developing countries. These projects mayinclude improving access to finance, basic business training, improving thebusiness environment, supporting business associations, and strengthening exportindustries.

• Agriculture is the main livelihood for approximately 2.5 billion people in the world,making it a critical area for economic and social development. NGOs work inagriculture to improve technologies, increase sales, improve environmental

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conditions, increase access to finance for agriculture, promote workers’ rights, anddiversify family income sources.

• Finance remains a key constraint to entrepreneurial activity in much of the world. Inmost places, small business owners have very limited access to loans from traditionalsources of finance and are forced to borrow money from family members or get loansat very high interest rates. Microfinance is the flagship product of this practice area,but other projects are focusing on housing finance, educational finance, andagricultural finance.

Social development

• Education is a component of nearly all development projects, but also a uniquepractice area. Most development projects in the education field are focused onimproving the human and physical infrastructure of education. Key project activitiesinclude teacher training, curriculum development, financing for educationalinstitutions, and upgrades to schools and classrooms.

• Governance is another large area of international development that deals with the ruleof law, transparency and corruption, democracy, civil society and media. Governanceprojects work to make governments more transparent and accountable, whileensuring that laws are upheld in a fair and consistent manner, and that citizens havea voice in government. These projects utilize outreach and awareness, legal reforms,and capacity-building to strengthen the quality of governance.

• Human rights projects address fundamental issues of equality under the law andadherence to international standards of human rights. Some common areas withinhuman rights include gender equality, displaced populations, post-conflictdevelopment and governmental abuses of power.

Interdisciplinary

• Health is one of the largest practice areas within international development, and oneof the most interdisciplinary since health is so strongly correlated to education,environmental, and economic issues. As a result, virtually every large donor fundshealth projects and many foundations, most notably the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation, have large health portfolios. There are many different kinds of healthprojects, ranging from community education to modernization of hospitals. Mostprojects focus on raising the awareness of safe practices, such as washing hands orwearing condoms or using a mosquito net, building the capacity of local health careproviders, and improving access to health care through public and private sectorinitiatives. Currently one of the main areas of interdisciplinary focus is water. Accessto clean water is one of the leading indicators of development and without access toclean water, health and economic development are much harder to accomplish.

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• Environment, like health, is a key interdisciplinary area, and a prerequisite to mosteconomic and social development. Environmental projects focus on managementof natural resources, conservation, access to resources, city planning, andpreservation of protected areas and species. Some environmental projects alsofocus on disaster preparedness by helping communities plan for disasters anddevelop strategies to mitigate the consequences when they do happen.

International development is a highly interconnected field, and all of these practiceareas overlap each other. When an issue is included across several practice areas,it is referred to as a “cross cutting theme.” Common examples of cross cuttingthemes include rule of law, gender, environment, transparency and education. Forexample, an economic development project focused on training entrepreneurs inbasic business skills might include a gender component to train a certainpercentage of woman-headed businesses or to develop a training module focusedon specific business issues that more commonly affect women.

Other types of international development

While the most inclusive definition of international development would contain anyactivities that contributed to the economic or social advancement of a community, thisdefinition is so broad that it becomes impossible to talk about an industry, or even aunifying body of knowledge. For that reason, most definitions of internationaldevelopment distinguish between direct assistance and development, and betweenactivities carried out explicitly for development and those carried out primarily forother reasons. Because of this, certain activities are not universally considered to beinternational development. Some of these include:

• Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief are often considered a unique subsetof international development or a related field. They are unique from standardinternational development because the focus of the activities is on direct assistancerather than long-term sustainable development. However, it is important to notethat many organizations that carry out humanitarian assistance are also heavilyengaged in international development, and even link the two areas. For example,a humanitarian assistance project to deliver food supplies to drought-strickenregions of Africa might also use its project resources to provide training andsupplies for small-plot farming. This project would thus have both humanitarianrelief and development components.

• Development assistance provided by a religious organization is a highly debatedtopic. There are thousands of NGOs that were founded as religious charities andretain their religious foundations, but don’t include religion in their developmentactivities. Most people would consider these true development organizations.There are also many NGOs that have an explicate goal of spreading a religiousmessage with their international development activities. An inclusive definition ofinternational development would “count” these organizations within internationaldevelopment but their activities generally remain controversial.

Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentIntroducing the Industry

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Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentIntroducing the Industry

• Development assistance provided by multinational corporations is similarlycontroversial because the assistance usually relates to company’s activities, raisingpotential conflict of interest issues. For example, a mining company that builds a newroad and funds water sanitation projects in the community near its mine has clearlycontributed to development, but might not meet the goals of long-term sustainabledevelopment. Some likely concerns would be whether the company used theassistance as a marketing tool or if there was an implicit agreement that thecommunity support the mining activities. Finally, the long-term sustainability of theactivities would also be an issue, particularly weighed against the environmentaldamage likely caused by the mining.

SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY

It is difficult to estimate the real size of the international development industry becausestatistical data is only available in a few areas. The most comprehensive data is on thesize of official development assistance (ODA), which is tracked by the Organization forEconomic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). There is a very specific definitionfor ODA, and, as a result, some sources of funding are not included in these data. ODAincludes money given or lent to developing countries for the promotion of economicdevelopment and welfare. Loans must be concessional, meaning at least 25 percentof the value is provided as a grant and not repaid. In addition, funds for certainactivities, such as military aid, are not included. For more information, and a detaileddescription of ODA, refer to the OECD website. Other types of development assistancefrom governments includes other official flows (OOF) for funds that don’t meet therequirements of ODA but are still focused on development, and private flows,containing funds from private sector sources rather than governments.

The following figure depicts the annual flows of ODA from 1960 to 2007. As this figureshows, funds for international development have risen significantly in the past 15 years,although very few developed countries are currently meeting internationally agreedtargets to donate 0.7 percent of GNP to economic development.

ODA Disbursements 1960 - 2007

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As a measurement of the size of the international development industry, this data hasbecome less reliable in recent years than in earlier periods. The reason can be tracedto the increasing amount of money for international development coming from non-ODA sources, such as foundations, civil society organizations, and the private sector.While these sources of funding are not as significant as ODA, they are growing rapidlyand changing the face of the industry. A few examples from recent years include:

• The funds that NGOs receive from governments are incorporated in the OECD’sODA calculations, but funds received from the private sector are not. In 2006,these contributions were estimated at $11 billion, or more than 13 percent of ODA.

• There are more than 100,000 private sector sources around the world, many ofwhich provide funding for international development projects. Although there is nostatistical data on these funds, they amount to a huge source of money fordevelopment. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone, the largest charitablefoundation in the world, disbursed more than $2 billion in 2007, or 3 percent ofODA.

The figure below shows a more complete perspective on funding for internationaldevelopment work in 2007, but still underestimates the contributions of civil societyorganizations and private sector flows.

South-South cooperation

Historically, most funds for development went from developed countries in thenorthern hemisphere to developing countries in the southern hemisphere. In recentyears however, some of these “southern” countries have began to providedevelopment funds in addition to receiving them. Among the leaders in south-southcooperation are the Arab countries, which provided over $2.5 billion in ODA in 2006.China has also announced a south-south strategy of ODA support for Africa.Although these flows are still small relative to other ODA, they are a growing force anda positive indication of the importance all nations place on global development. For

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Composition of Select Sources of DevelopmentFunds in 2007 - $13.38 billion total

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more information on this topic, refer the UNDP’s Special Unit for South-SouthCooperation: tcdc.undp.org/.

Beyond these donor statistics, there is very little data available on internationaldevelopment as an industry. Employment figures, for example, are difficult to estimatebecause there is no definition of which organizations are engaged in internationaldevelopment. Most countries have an official non-governmental sector (like the non-profit sector in the United States), but there is no data on which of these organizationsfocus on international development rather than on domestic issues. In addition, thereare no industry-wide groups that estimate employment or growth.

ORGANIZATION AND EVOLUTION

Most of the industry-based support for international development has been, andcontinues to be, within focus areas rather than across the development field. Forexample, people working on the prevention of transmissible diseases in developingcountries are more likely to utilize the resources of the health care industry than theinternational development industry, whether attending professional conferences,publishing in industry journals or pursuing continuing education. The same is true ofother focus areas including economic, environmental and social.

International development has only recently begun to take on the characteristics of asingle industry, and it is still only certain aspects of international development that areshared across focus areas. Fortunately, the job hunting process and many issues ofcareer management are some of the similarities among all types of development, so theconcept of a development industry is useful for this book. What unites the world ofinternational development is:

• Professional groups for the promotion, sharing, and creation of industry-specificknowledgeInternational development currently has very few industry groups shared acrossdifferent practice areas. There are many such groups within economic and socialdevelopment, but these tend to focus exclusively on single areas. Some industry-wide groups are beginning to grow, mostly related to job hunting or education andresearch.

• An educational foundation or body of knowledge common to the industryThere are now many university programs at the undergraduate and graduate level tostudy international development. Most of these include a strong technical componentin a specific practice area, but also industry-wide courses on the history ofdevelopment, key skills in development and area studies. These programs are alsoactively creating new knowledge in international development and contributing to theadvancement of the supporting foundations of the industry.

• Sk i l l se ts that are t ransferable among d i f ferent organizat ionsThere are an increasing number of specializations within development that arerequired in all focus areas. These include business development, monitoring and

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evaluation, project management and, of course, all the administrative functions ofdevelopment organizations such as HR, accounting and IT.

• Donors All industries are shaped by their clients, but in development, the number ofsources for funds is much smaller than most other industries. As a result, a widerange of administrative and operational processes are shared among all types ofdevelopment organizations because they are required by donors. For example, thesemi-annual donor reports that a human rights NGO completes for its donors arevery similar, if not identical, to those completed by a microfinance NGO. Donorsare also more actively shaping the monitoring and evaluation of developmentprojects, which is another major area of similarity among NGOs.

As the industry continues to evolve and adapt to new trends, it is likely to becomeboth more dependent upon specialized knowledge, and also more uniform in theimplementation of projects with donor funds. Due to this, the industry-widefoundation of development will become stronger and it will take on more of thecharacteristics of a united industry.

Why do developed countries spend money on international development?

It is often assumed that development assistance is wholly altruistic but, in fact,governments get a number of benefits from their development spending. There is afine line between capturing the auxiliary benefits of development assistance andspending on development for explicitly political purposes. In practice, this distinctionis never clear, and there is constant debate about the appropriateness of certaincountries’ development spending or policies related to their spending. Some of thebenefits that come from development spending include:

• Better relationships with recipient countriesDevelopment assistance is an effective way for a government to build relationshipswith other countries. In many cases, international development assistance is alsoless political than other forms of cooperation between countries, and can be usedto slowly build better relationships between governments. There is, however, a fineline and there are many examples of international development assistance beingtraded for political favors. For example, a donor country might agree to spend tensor hundreds of millions of dollars in a developing country in exchange for miningrights, or an agreement to support a vote in the United Nations, or even in exchangefor the government limiting its relationship with another government.

• Goodwill Similarly, major donors of development assistance earn goodwill from recipientcountries and other nations for their generosity. This has many benefits forgovernments. A particularly generous sponsor of development assistance in aspecific area would earn some leadership status within that field. In addition,development assistance goodwill can be used to offset negative impressions of adonor country in the region of the assistance.

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• StabilityOne of the major justifications for development spending is global stability. This ideaof stability, often associated only with political upheaval, illicit goods trade andterrorism, applies to a much wider range of activities. Indeed, the importance ofstability applies to nearly every sphere of development, from finance to health to theenvironment. For example, the case of the SARS outbreak in China in 2002,demonstrated the importance for every country, rich or poor, having a modern healthscreening and diagnostic infrastructure along with the capacity to manage it. It issimply too easy in today’s interconnected world for a sick person, collapsing economyor ecological disaster to threaten the stability of worldwide social and economicsystems. Therefore, wealthy countries are more willing to spend on developmentassistance to limit the potential consequences of such an event.

• Access to new markets International development is also good for the private sector of donor countries. Asdeveloping countries grow economically, they become potential consumers for goodsand services exported by donor countries. In addition, government developmentspending usually comes with requirements that equipment and employees used toimplement projects with the funding are from the donor country. Therefore, citizensand businesses of the donor country are direct recipients of some of the developmentspending.

Monitoring and evaluation

One of the key challenges of international development is assessing its effectiveness,evaluating development projects and learning from mistakes. As an industry,international development seeks to improve economic, social and environmentalconditions in places that are, by definition, among the world’s most challengingenvironments in which to work. In addition, the impact of many development projectstakes years to materialize, and during that time any number of external factors can anddo affect the development project. Imagine a rural economic development project toteach accounting and marketing to tourism companies. The project should result inmore employment and economic growth for the companies and the region, but theseresults may take a few years before the companies can apply what they have learnedand reach potential tourists with their message. If those results materialize, the reasoncould be that the project made a positive contribution or it could be due to widereconomic and travel trends. If the tourism industry does not expand, the project mightnot have been well-designed or was poorly implemented, or maybe there was aninternal or international conflict that discouraged tourism, or a neighboring country mayhave launched a reform to its own tourism industry, increasing competition. There issimply no reliable method to show a causation relationship between a developmentproject and the long-run impact.

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INDUSTRY TRENDS AND WHAT THEY MEAN TOA JOB HUNTER

The field of international development is constantly changing in response to internaland external forces. Thus, planning a career in the field requires continuous learningand close attention to the changing trends. Some of these trends currently shapingfuture career opportunities include:

Growth

As we examined earlier, the funds for international development have been growingrapidly in recent years. The average growth since 1985 in ODA has been 6.8 percent,and this does not include foundation and private money. Due to increased funding,there has been a tremendous growth in the number and kinds of organizationsimplementing development projects. Traditionally, large NGOs and intergovernmentalorganizations provided most of the jobs in development, but today there areopportunities with local NGOs, small development organizations, for-profitcompanies, multinational corporations, volunteer organizations and more. This canmake career planning and job hunting a more time-intensive activity since it takestime to sort through all of the opportunities, but in the end it also means moreavailable jobs.

Greater local capacity

One effect of the economic growth experienced by many developing regions in thelast 20 years has been an increase in the capacity of the local labor force. In manyplaces it is now possible to find local applicants for development positions withinternational education and experience, in addition to an obvious advantage in localknowledge and languages. Also, locally hired employees are usually less costlybecause salary and benefits are based on local market conditions. Utilizing theseskilled professionals in the development of their home country is an excellent trendin the industry, and one with significant implications for development jobs. Oneconsequence is that there will likely be increasingly fewer project-based positions forinternational hires. For example, a three- to five-year project may have traditionallyincluded three or more international staff, but, with a more qualified local candidate,it may reduce the international positions to a single project manager. Beyond jobs,this trend also has implications for the skills that are needed by developmentprofessionals. Communications, language skills, human resource management andstrong functional concentration will all become even more important for internationalprofessionals to be productive in this new environment.

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Accountability

Widespread lack of accountability is commonly seen as one of the great failings ofinternational development. Because of this, large donors, who fund much of the workcarried out by implementing organizations, are increasingly focused on cost-efficiencyand accountability in the projects they fund. So a greater focus will be placed onmonitoring and evaluation with more jobs for specialists in these areas, and a greaterexpectation of understanding these systems for all development workers. The trendalso puts more responsibility on individual professionals to manage their careers with afocus on results and stewardship of donor funds.

Professionalizing of the industry

Many of the elements that exist in traditional industries to support professionaldevelopment, share knowledge and drive new innovations have no counterpart in thedevelopment industry. This is partly due to the incredibly diverse nature of the field—for example, it is not immediately clear how a single industry organization can be auseful resource to practitioners of environmental development, HIV/AIDS awarenessand rural agriculture. However, many organizations are starting to challenge thisassumption and are focusing on the areas of similarity within the industry. Some areaswhere these efforts are most active include educational programs, jobs websites,research centers and industry publications. All of these resources are covered in moredetail in this guidebook. This trend is excellent from a career perspective because thenumber of resources for learning about the industry, managing a career, and findingjobs has never been greater.

Coordination among donors and governments

With the rapid increases in donor funding for international development and thesubsequent growth in the number of organizations implementing development projects,it is more important than ever to coordinate assistance. Historically this was doneamong donors and project implementers, but this role is increasingly shared or shiftedto the governments of developing countries. These governments work together withlarge organizations, such as intergovernmental organizations, to develop long-termstrategic plans focusing on key priorities. This planning helps focus developmentassistance around key needs and ensures that projects do not duplicate efforts. Thereis still a lot of effort needed in this area, but it is becoming more common to see goodexamples of coordination rather than duplicated efforts.

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When most people imagine international development, they think of a group of dedicatedpeople working on the ground in a remote developing country to address a social problemsuch as poverty or public health. These individual projects often provide the public face ofinternational development, and much of the appeal of the industry to job seekers, but inreality, it takes several types of organizations to carry out the process of internationaldevelopment. Supporting these projects on the ground are implementing agencies thatprovide management and a wide range of administration functions from fund raising tobudgeting to monitoring and evaluation. Sometimes these implementing agencies runprojects with their own staff, and sometimes they outsource the projects to third parties.Most jobs in international development are with these implementing agencies and much ofthe focus of this guide will be on them. Finally, implementing agencies pay for their projectsmainly by raising money from funding organizations (commonly called donors). Thesefunding organizations include government aid agencies, foundations, wealthy individuals,educational institutions and many other smaller donors.

An example of a typical project design

Step 1 - An NGO currently working in a developing community on a microfinance projectidentifies a widespread need for small business training and some basic accountingsoftware for businesses. The NGO conducts a needs assessment with relevant communityorganizations to clearly identify the context for the project including the needs, resources,constraints, and risks to a potential project.

Step 2 - The NGO writes a project proposal based on the needs assessment for capacity-building with local government officials, training for business associations, and anassessment of low-cost accounting software.

Step 3 - Once the proposal is complete, the NGO reviews it with its principle donors. Oneof these donors is active in SME projects and shows an interest in funding the project. Thedonor gives detailed feedback and recommends several changes to the project based onhis international experience in similar projects. He also works with the NGO to develop aframework for measuring the results of the project.

Step 4 - The NGO returns to the community and works with the potential project clients torevise the proposal. The NGO also advertises a few key positions on the project, includingan international project manager and several local staff.

Step 5 - The donor grants approval to the project pending his review of the staffing. TheNGO selects a project manager from one of the applicants who currently works at itsheadquarters. The project is formally approved and the NGO sets up an office in thecommunity.

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Step 6 - The new PM hires local staff and begins the project.

This is a common way for projects to be developed, but certainly not the only way.Indeed, the interaction among these levels has been the focus of decades of debateand experimentation in international development. Traditional top-down developmentrefers to projects that are centrally planned at the level of funding organizations andthen implemented in the field. This model of project design has largely been replacedby bottom-up development, which starts in the field with the needs of a community ordeveloping country and then seeks funding to meet these needs. Most implementingorganizations now use a hybrid model that calls for project planning and design at thelocal level but also allows for the experiences and best practices of high-levelorganizations to help refine project design.

FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS

Funding organizations, or donors, provide the money to carry out development projects.Most of them have specific areas that they fund and certain geographic priorities. It isthe responsibility of business development staff within implementing organizations toresearch which donors are potential funders for their projects. Funding organizationsvary widely in their approach to funding and also in their level of involvement withproject implementation. For example, some donors identify their funding strategies atthe beginning of the year and then only fund projects that match their topic andgeographic focus. Other donors have strict guidelines on which organizations mayapply for funding, but then offer these organizations more flexible funding opportunities.

The largest funding organizations are comprised of government aid agencies andfoundations. These sources provide the money that most larger NGOs, and even manymultilateral agencies, use to implement development projects. In addition to being thelargest sources of money, they are also usually among the most professional, with strong

Project development through the hybrid approachAs an example of the hybrid approach, consider an NGO working on women’s rightsissues in North Africa. The NGO develops a project idea by working together with thecommunity to identify the specific needs in this area. This might result in a project totrain police officers on the legal rights of women, and to launch a media campaign toeducate women about their rights. Now the NGO identifies potential fundingorganizations for the project based on the concept outlined above. When aninterested donor—USAID, for example—is found, the project works together with thedonor to refine the proposal based on the broad experience of the fundingorganization. For instance, the donor might provide feedback on the lessons learnedby other projects with a similar topic, evaluation frameworks, or even materials thatmight be available to use on the project. The combination of local knowledge andinternational best practices is the hybrid approach and an effective way to write strongproposals.

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systems used to assess projects, monitor implementation, and evaluate results.Because they get so many proposals, these donors usually have specific timelinesand regulations for submitting project proposals, and only fund NGOs with a strongtrack record of achievement.

Large funding organizations very rarely implement projects with their own funds,because the skills needed to wisely allocate money are entirely different than the skillsneeded to implement development projects. For this reason, most fundingorganizations utilize sophisticated tools for monitoring and evaluating projects in orderto determine which implementing organizations achieve the best results. In doing so,they provide a valuable contribution to the industry, and pressure implementingorganizations to always perform better and be responsible stewards of their budgets.

Government aid agencies

Most developed nations have official government agencies that are responsible fordistributing and monitoring the national aid budget and supporting the nationalstrategy for international development. Many NGOs depend upon governmentdonors for the vast majority of their budgets and develop very close workingrelationships with them. Government aid agencies receive their budgets fromtaxpayers and fund projects that match the strategic goals of the aid program. Theyare also usually the most diversified of the funding organizations, providing funds forall major areas of international development and most geographic areas. Becausethey are funded by governments, the budgets of aid agencies tend to change moreslowly than other organizations, making them fairly consistent.

Government aid agencies are usually very involved with their projects. They approvehigh-level staff decisions, such as the project manager, and carry out project reviewsseveral times a year. While designing new projects is the responsibility ofimplementing organizations, government donors usually work closely with them todesign projects adhering to their standards for project quality, particularly in the areasof monitoring and evaluation.

As employers, government aid agencies provide some of the industry’s best jobs withlots of benefits and better than usual levels of job security. They usually havepositions in the home office and in the field, focusing on project monitoring andevaluation. Citizenship is a prerequisite for most jobs, except local consultantpositions. It is not only the official aid agencies that work in internationaldevelopment. Often there are many other government agencies doing similar work,including the departments of agriculture, science, and natural resources. Moreinformation on getting a job with an aid agency is provided throughout this guidebook.

Foundations

The other main pool of funds available for implementing agencies comes fromfoundations and charities. There are thousands of these organizations, but themajority either do not fund international projects or only provide limited and irregular

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funds. The remaining small percentage of foundations is responsible for significantfunding in key areas.

The foundations’ level of involvement with projects varies greatly by foundation. Somemajor funders, such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are active in shaping thedirection of development in their areas of interest, while other foundations expect littlemore than an annual summary of the project’s activities.

Employment opportunities with foundations are much more limited than eithergovernment aid agencies or implementing organizations. International development isoften a small component of the activities of a single foundation and there may only beone or two dedicated employees. Large foundations with a major focus on internationaldevelopment will hire more frequently but these still represent a small number of thejobs in international development. More information on foundations is providedthroughout this guidebook.

Other donors

There are many other organizations and groups that serve as donors to developmentprojects.

• Religious organizations fund some of the largest NGOs in the world, either throughdonations from large churches or from individual donations. All those commercialsyou see to adopt a child in the third world fund the activities of several large NGOs.

• Wealthy individuals (or high- net-worth individuals) usually fund projects through theircharities and foundations, but sometimes provide direct funding to projects. Manyimplementing organizations seek out wealthy donors to diversify their funding. As arelated category, celebrities sometimes lend their names to projects to supportawareness and fund raising.

• Academic institutions support projects in many ways, sometimes providing fundingbut more often technical expertise. Many universities also have student clubs thatcontribute volunteers to development projects.

• Corporations fund international development through sponsorship of projects ororganizations and support for local initiatives. Multinational corporations, inparticular, often fund social development projects in the countries they work in as away to build better relationships with the local community.

Still other implementing agencies are funded through their membership fees or bycharging for project activities. Some international financial institutions (IFI), forexample, fund part of their activities with their earnings from investments. Numerousprivate sector companies are also starting to engage in development projects,supplementing donor money with fees they earn from clients for their work.

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The bottom of the pyramid

The bottom of the pyramid is a concept that refers to the potential impact of theworld’s estimated two billion poor as consumers. Some corporations have embracedthis idea by working to find innovative ways to shape their products for this market.One example is Tata Motors of India, which is working to develop a self-assemblyautomobile for $1,500, cheap enough to be within reach of a huge consumer marketthroughout Asia. This is just one example of the many ways that the private sector ishelping to redefine the field of international development.

For more information, refer to CK Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of thePyramid.

IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES

Implementing agencies make up the majority of organizations in internationaldevelopment. They come in every shape and size, and range from academicinstitutions to multinational corporations. NGOs and multilateral agencies are themost common of these organizations, but even within the subset of NGOs, there areall sizes and types of organizations from small operations focused on a single topic inone country to major organizations managing hundreds of projects across the world.

Just as funding organizations specialize in particular aspects of managing adevelopment project, implementing organizations specialize in project design and day-to -day project management. They are responsible for setting up projects, hiring keystaff, and then providing the support to ensure the project is successfully carried out.Most implementing organizations manage numerous projects simultaneously, soadministrative functions like IT, fund raising (or business development), HR, andproject monitoring are managed centrally by the headquarters or regional offices.

In addition to their project support and management capabilities, many implementingorganizations also have technical expertise in certain focus areas. For example, anNGO working primarily on health projects may have several experts in this fieldhelping the NGO write proposals and monitor projects.

Implementing agencies provide the most jobs in international development, and arethe main focus of this guidebook. The following chapter covers these agencies inmore detail, with extensive focus on jobs with development agencies.

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PROJECTS

Projects can be thought of as the individual unit of international development. Theyutilize money from funding organizations and administrative support from implementingagencies to carry out development work. They have a specific start and end date, abudget, and an action plan that describes what they hope to accomplish. Beyond thesekey aspects, projects encompass a very wide range of possible sizes and lengths. Forexample, a school might get a donation from the local Rotary Club to send their healthteacher to a training session on tuberculosis. This could be considered a developmentproject that might last a weekend with only one staff member and a budget of $100.This project would meet our definition of international development because it utilizesinternational resources and addresses a social need. At the other end of the spectrumare major projects by multilateral agencies that can work for a decade under a singleproject with dozens of staff and millions of dollars in their budgets. Average projectsimplemented by international NGOs range from two to five years and with anywherefrom five to 20 staff members.

The projects themselves are usually staffed with employees of the implementingagencies, often hired as consultants for the life of the project. These may be local orinternationally hired employees. In some cases the project, or portions of the project,are carried out by independent organizations hired by the implementing agency.

As noted, this guidebook is mostly focused on jobs at the level of implementationagencies for the simple reason that most of the positions are at that level. Jobs onindividual projects are fiercely competitive, and the percentage of these jobs going tointernational candidates is decreasing as the quality of local candidates improves overtime. That is not to discourage potential job seekers who want to work on the projectlevel (indeed, most people enter the industry because they specifically want to work onthe project level). More information on getting a job on a project is provided in theguidebook, along with strategies for increasing your odds of landing one of thesepositions.

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Monitoring and Evaluation - Output, Outcome and ImpactProjects vary widely in how they are monitored and evaluated, but most professionalorganizations use a tool known as the logical framework or log-frame. Using this tool,the project develops a logical set of indicators that measure what the project does andwhat impact this work should have on the target community. The first step is to writean action plan that includes specific outputs such as the number of people trained,the number of materials produced, the amount of materials purchased, etc. Thepoint is to set quantitative targets that can be measured to determine how well theproject is completing its goals.

From these outputs, outcomes are designed. Outcomes measure the effect of thatproject’s activities. For example, a project activity might be training teachers to use

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an HIV/ AIDS awareness curriculum. One output would be, “Number of teacherstrained,” with a target of 300 teachers. The outcome from this activity would then be“Percentage of teachers that actually use the curriculum in the classroom.” Soperhaps six months after the training, the project would verify if the participants wereusing the curriculum or not, and this would be recorded as the outcome.

Finally, impact indicators measure the long-term effects of the project’s activities. Inour previous example, the impact might be, “Percentage of 10th grade students thathave learned about HIV/AIDS.” The impacts usually cannot be directly attributed tothe project because they are long term and, as a result, are affected by other events.

There is a lot of debate around how to appropriately structure monitoring andevaluation systems. It’s an important question because the success or failure ofprojects is judged by the system used to measure their results. Many of the pastdevelopment failures have been attributed to the poor systems used to monitor theirresults.

A very simple example is provided below of a log-frame for a rural tourismdevelopment project. Most log-frames include more detail and a dozen or moreindicators.

Output Baseline Target

Number of guides trained 0 150

Number of recommended changes totourism policies and laws

AA Aa

Number of advertisements produced 0 3

Number of local members of tourismassociation

6 20

Outcome Baseline Target

Distribution reach of project materials(number of magazines, websites,bookstores, etc.)

0 35

Number of local members oftourism association

0 2

Number of local members oftourism association

55 300

Impact Baseline Target

% of provincial GDP coming from tourism 13 25

Employment in tourism sector 750 2,000

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The focus of this chapter is on the various types of organizations that implementdevelopment projects. This guidebook uses the term “implementing organization” toemphasize the distinctions between donors, implementers and actual projects. Asdescribed in the previous chapter, donors are responsible for improving project design andensuring that the monitoring and evaluation are effectively and thoroughly managed.Individual projects are responsible for carrying out the daily activities that are described inthe project description. That leaves implementing organizations between donors andprojects with the responsibility for making sure projects are able to complete what donorspay for.

There are several common competencies or responsibilities that are shared among thedifferent kinds of implementing organizations. When we use the term “internationaldevelopment industry,” it is these key skills that differentiate the daily work of developmentfrom other industries. These responsibilities include:

• Project designImplementing organizations are responsible for designing new projects, which is often alengthy and expensive process. A typical project design requires an experiencedtechnical specialist to travel to the site of the potential project and complete anassessment, followed by an actual proposal. Both these steps require the participationand support of many stakeholders, including local government, civil society and theproject’s clients. The proposal will undergo several revisions within the implementingagency, then it must be funded. Often donors will need changes to the proposal,requiring additional consultation with local stakeholders.

• Business development (also referred to as fund raising)Implementing agencies are usually dependent upon donor money to carry out theirprojects and fund the permanent staff of the organization. As a result, businessdevelopment is a constant need that involves researching potential donors and ensuringthat project proposals meet the requirements of the donors. A similar responsibility isknown as donor relations. This simply refers to managing the working relationship withkey donors and other activities, such as inviting donors to big events, notifying donorswhen projects are in the news, or serving as a point of contact when donors havequestions or requests.

• StaffingEven before a project has been funded, the implementing organization starts to thinkabout staffing. Most large donors insist on approving the choice for project manager sorecruiting for this, and other key positions, often starts before funding has been secured.Staffing requirements also include determining how many people will work on a project,which positions will be locally hired rather than internationally hired and how the contractswill be structured. Some organizations hire permanent project staff and rotate thembetween projects, while other organizations hire staff only for a single project. Another,

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less common practice is to subcontract projects out to international or localconsulting firms.

• Back-office services (also referred to as backstopping)These are the administrative functions that the implementing organization carries outso that project staff can focus on their individual projects. It is also more efficient andcost-effective for an organization with several projects to centrally manageadministrative functions. These duties include human resources, IT,communications, accounting, procurement and similar administration duties. Mostprojects share some responsibility for these functions, but the majority of the work isdone by specialized staff working for the implementing organization.

• Technical assistanceSome implementing organizations, mostly larger ones, also have permanent technicalexperts that focus on designing projects, supporting existing projects and building theorganization’s technical skills in specific areas. For example, a large NGO with afocus on microfinance would probably have one or two microfinance experts as partof the permanent staff that would support project development but also research,write case studies, develop best practices and ensure the organization stays at theforefront of microfinance.

• Monitoring and evaluationM&E responsibilities are shared among donors, implementing organizations andprojects, but it is the implementing organizations that are ultimately responsible forensuring that projects are tracking their activities and accurately evaluating theirresults. Most implementing organizations have a team specialized in M&E to fulfillthese responsibilities.

• ReportingMost projects are required to complete regular reports for their donors, hostgovernments and/or implementing organizations. These are usually either annual orsemiannual, and cover project activities, budget updates and project monitoring.Although the project teams are responsible for the content of the reports, it is theimplementing organization that ensures that reports are completed on time and to thestandards of the donors.

Harmonizing donor reports

Reporting requirements for projects are improving due to better coordination amongdonors. In the past, a project with three different donors would most likely be requiredto complete three different donor reports once or twice a year, reducing the amount ofproject time spent on actual implementation. Most major donors now attempt tostandardize their reporting requirements with other donors. This allows projects tospend more time (and money) on achieving development results and demonstrates thekind of positive change that is happening in the field.

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The term “implementing organization” is very broad, and covers organizations of alltypes that manage international development projects from small community NGOsto major multinational firms. Understanding the differences between these types oforganizations is critical to effective career planning because opportunities andbenefits vary widely depending on the type of organization. Most of the jobs ininternational development are concentrated among a few types of organizations.These include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmentalorganizations (IGOs).

NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS)

Nongovernmental organizations or NGOs are probably the most common associationpeople have with international development, yet the term has an unclear definitionand no legal meaning in most countries. Simply put, NGOs work in the civil sector asopposed to the public (government) or private sector. In the United States, the civilsector is comprised mostly of nonprofit organizations. Some other names for theseorganizations around the world include charities and civil society organizations(CSOs).

Modern origins

The modern origin of the idea of a nongovernmental organization came into existencewith the United Nations. It was recognized that nongovernment participation in theUnited Nations was critical to making it a truly global organization, so a mechanismfor recognizing these nongovernmental, international organizations was written intothe charter for the Economic and Social Council. The specific definition of whatconstitutes an NGO is provided in the Economic and Social Council Resolution 288.

“The Economic and Social Council may make suitable arrangements for consultationwith nongovernmental organizations, which are concerned with matters within itscompetence.” – United Nations Charter, Chapter X, Article 71

Nonprofits and for-profits

NGOs have traditionally been defined as exclusively not for profit due to the civilsociety orientation of their work and the fact they usually deal with clients who cannotpay for their services. In practice, however, there are numerous for-profit companiesthat carry out the same work as nonprofit NGOs but retain for-profit status for anumber of reasons. This change has been possible, in part, because donors areincreasingly willing to fund projects implemented by for-profit organizations. There iseven an argument that for-profit implementing agencies have a market-drivenincentive to achieve results that nonprofits do not. This is a topic of much debate,but as a trend, the number of for-profit implementing agencies is likely to grow.

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For the purposes of this career guide, the term NGO will be used for both for-profit andnonprofit organizations that have their primary operational focus in internationaldevelopment. The inclusion of for-profit NGOs is reflective of the reality of the industryfrom a career perspective. In most cases, the distinction between for profit and not forprofit is more of a legal issue than operational. For-profit NGOs, by virtue of their workin the civil sector, almost always rely heavily or entirely on donor funding just asnonprofit NGOs do. Because of this, they are subject to the same donor requirementsand, consequently, evolve a similar organizational structure as well as job descriptions,and compensation and benefits. The term “multinational corporation” is usedthroughout this guidebook to refer to for-profit companies that are not primarily focusedon implementing international development projects.

Geographic distinctions

Another important distinction among NGOs is their focus either domestically orinternationally. NGOs are traditionally thought of as international organizations, but thisis not always the case. And, indeed, the United Nations changed the formal definitionof NGOs to allow national nongovernmental organizations in 1996. Most people areinterested in international development for the international component; there are anincreasing number of opportunities in development with domestic NGOs. In the UnitedStates, the great majority of domestic NGOs are nonprofit organizations working forsimilar social and economic development goals as international NGOs. Manydeveloping countries also have very active civil societies comprised of domestic NGOs.In international development, these are commonly referred to as local NGOs. Althoughlocal NGOs are not the focus of this guide, they are an important segment of thedevelopment industry and can be a source of jobs, networking and skills development.Many people working professionally in development have worked for a local NGO in thepast. In addition, most implementing organizations work closely with the domestic civilsector and partner with local NGOs on project implementation.

Areas of focus

Finally, there is a distinction among NGOs based on the focus of their activities. Themajor types of activities that NGOs engage in include advocacy, the direct provision ofservices, training and outreach, research/knowledge management and projectimplementation. For example, a disaster relief organization might focus mainly ondirectly providing relief services but also on advocating for better emergency services inrisk-prone areas. A Washington, D.C.-based contractor with several USAID projectswould focus primarily on project implementation but might also engage in someresearch or knowledge management. A Christian charity, on the other hand, mightengage in a lot of outreach and advocacy along with the direct provision of services.Most jobs in international development are with organizations that focus on projectimplementation simply because most of the money to hire employees is tied to projectfunding. Larger NGOs, and those with secure funding, often engage in other areas inaddition to project implementation.

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Direct implementation

Most NGOs are direct implementers of development projects, meaning they hire andmanage the employees that carry out the project. These may be either consultantswho are hired for some portion of a single project, or permanent employees who workon multiple projects. In addition, NGOs support their projects with backstopping,which allows the project team to focus more on implementation. Some NGOs do notdirectly implement projects. Instead they subcontract implementation to anotherfirm, often a local company or NGO.

The importance of donor funding

Most NGOs are constrained by donor funding in how large their permanent, non-project staff can be. For example, some donors stipulate that only 10 percent of theirfunds can be used for administrative purposes. This 10 percent must then cover thecosts for the headquarters office and all the permanent employees of the NGO. Thus,larger NGOs that are implementing more projects and have more diversified sourcesof funding usually have more opportunities for entry-level professionals to learn theskills of the industry. Smaller NGOs may only be able to hire a few permanentemployees so they only consider experienced professionals.

Part II of the guidebook covers jobs with NGOs in more detail.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (IGOS)

Intergovernmental organizations are like exclusive clubs that countries can join to getaccess to finance, technical expertise, policy advice and more. These organizationsrange from the United Nations, which has agencies in almost every area of the publicsphere, to regional banks that provide loans and grants to governments in the region.Governments derive many benefits from joining an IGO but the process is long andrequires significant commitment from the government. First, an officially recognizedsovereign entity (in most cases, this long term just means a country) must beaccepted by the organization and then ratify the organization’s charter by vote of itsgovernment. This vote is a treaty that gives the IGO a similar status to a foreigncountry and many of the same rights, including, in many cases, diplomatic status foremployees, tax exempt status and access to the highest levels of government.

These organizations were once considered the elite members of the developmentworld due to their high-level government access, huge budgets and great influenceover policy development. In addition, they are fiercely competitive, attract highlyeducated and accomplished employees, and provide excellent pay and benefitspackages. This perspective still holds much truth but the balance of power in theindustry is constantly changing due to the many factors we examined in Chapter 1.In particular, the well-publicized failures of the policy advice given by IGOs, and thesometimes glacial pace of their administrative policies, have created many

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opportunities for younger and more creative development agencies to compete for topprofessionals and donor dollars.

NGOs vs. IGOs

One of the key differences between NGOs and IGOs is that, unlike most NGOs, whichare primarily focused on implementing development projects, IGOs serve many roles,including advising governments on policy, compiling official statistics and reports, anddistributing and monitoring loans and grants. In addition, IGOs charge dues to theirmembers each year, and use these dues to fund their activities. Therefore, most IGOsare not dependent upon donor funding – although many IGOs compete for, and receive,donor funds for specific projects.

Dues

The dues each member pays depends upon many factors, but mostly the GDP of themember country. For example, the United States pays about 22 percent of the overallUnited Nations Regular Budget every year, or nearly $500 million, while the leastdeveloped members each contribute 0.001 percent or $20,000. Some IGOs generaterevenue from their activities as well. For example, the International FinanceCorporation, part of the World Bank Group, earns money from its investment activitiesaround the world. This money supports the operation of the organization and also goesto fund technical assistance.

What they do

Most IGOs are not primarily concerned with implementing development projects. Thedivision of IGOs that do implement projects is usually referred to as technicalassistance, development assistance or advisory services. IGOs vary in their level ofmanagement of development projects. Some IGOs hire full teams to carry out theprojects, while others outsource or subcontract the entire implementation.

Examples of IGOs

The most well-known IGO is the United Nations, which consists of 192 member states,five primary bodies and 16 specialized agencies. Of all of the IGOs, the United Nationsis most global, with agencies working in every policy area and nearly every country.Beyond the United Nations, most IGOs are concentrated in areas of finance andeconomics. These organizations are sometimes referred to as the InternationalFinancial Institutions or IFIs. The best-known of these organizations are the WorldBank Group and the regional development banks. There are many other kinds of IGOs,covering military, regional and cultural affairs, but these have limited involvement withinternational development.

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Intergovernmental organizations are owned by governments, funded by governmentsand work every day with governments, so it is no surprise that they also share anorganizational culture common to governments. This has positive and negativeaspects from an employment perspective. On the positive side, intergovernmentalagencies provide the most generous pay and benefits in the industry, in addition tobetter job security and perks such as diplomatic status. On the negative side, theseorganizations tend to be top-down, bureaucratic and resistant to change. Some otheraspects of IGO culture that differ from NGOs include:

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UNITED NATIONS ORGINIZATIONS

Members Budget

166 country offices ~$5 billion in 2007

193 members ~$3.3 billion in 2007

120 country offices ~$3 billion in 2007

Employees

More than 7,000

More than 8,000

Name

UNDP

WHO

UNICEF

INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Members Budget Employees

48 states – 26 that can receiveloans

$10 billion in loans in 2007 ~2,000

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Members Budget Employees

67 members – 48 in the region $10.1 billion in loans in 2007 ~2,400

WORLD BANK GROUP

Members Budget

181 member countries $12.8 billion incommitted lending in2007 on 112 projects

185 member countries $9.96 billion incommitted lending in2007 on 299 projects

Employees

~2,300

~3,100

Name

IBRD

IFC

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• MandateIGOs are owned by their member states and have a permanent presence in thecountry, known in development as a resident mission. They usually have a policymandate as well, and are closely involved in the development of national policy. Asa result, IGOs work closely with high-level government counterparts as opposed to thelocal, community-level counterparts most NGOs work with.

• Time frameNGOs generally design projects on the timeline of funding availability, which is usuallytwo to five years. Because NGOs are dependent upon this donor funding, they willonly maintain a presence in the country as long as they are implementing a projectthere. IGOs, on the other hand, have a permanent presence in most countries theywork in, so their time frame is much longer.

• ResourcesNearly all IGOs are self-sufficient, meaning their annual operating expenses arecovered by the dues of their member states and additional regular donations. As aresult, these organizations are less dependent upon donor funds, and maintain largerstaffs of permanent employees, including specialists in their key technical areas.

More information on jobs with IGOs is covered in the Getting Hired section of this guide.

OTHER KINDS OF IMPLEMENTINGORGANIZATIONS

Although governmental and nongovernmental organizations are the main implementersof development projects, there are many other types of organizations that engage indevelopment work. The difference is that most of these organizations are not solelyfocused on development, and usually don’t have the same range of competencies andresponsibilities as dedicated implementing agencies. Some of these agencies include:

Multinational corporations

You should recall the distinction that was previously mentioned between for-profit NGOsand multinational corporations. For the purposes of this guide, MNCs are organizationswithout a primary operational focus on implementing international developmentprojects. Many MNCs, however, do engage in some development work for manydifferent reasons. One industry increasingly working in development is consulting.There are hundreds of for-profit consulting firms around the world that compete withNGOs for development contracts, particularly in fields of policy, institution reform andpublic awareness or outreach. In addition, some of the world’s biggest consulting firmsare expanding their work with governments of developing countries.

Another broad category of MNCs active in development is companies either producingor selling goods in developing countries. For example, a consumer goods company thatsells health products might spend a few million dollars on training clinical workers or

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doctors on the importance of basic sanitation. This has health benefits for the localcommunity and develops a market for the company’s products. These kinds ofprojects are often controversial, with critics arguing that these projects are more aboutmarketing or buying off opposition to the corporation than achieving sustainabledevelopment. Another common example is the extractive industry. Mining andlumber companies very often provide generous support for community developmentinitiatives in the areas where the company is active.

Institutions

In most cases, institutions, such as universities, hospitals or religious organizationsengage in development through a donor role. The institution decides on adevelopment goal in a specific place then gives the money to an implementingorganization. In some cases, however, institutions like these may choose toimplement the project themselves. As we have seen, the skills needed to implementdevelopment projects are very different than the skills needed to run an institution, sothere are a limited number of projects that can be responsibly implemented by theseinstitutions. Some examples include donation projects to provide some materialgoods, such as books, medicine or clothing, exchange projects, or limited technicalassistance projects. For example, several large universities have internationaldevelopment clubs that carry out development projects every year as a way for theirstudents to get field experience. These clubs serve as implementing organizations byproviding the administration and securing the funding for the projects to beimplemented.

Volunteer organizations

Instead of implementing development projects, volunteer organizations placevolunteers in the field. The bigger and more developed volunteer organizations putthe same support into placing a volunteer that NGOs put into designing andimplementing a project. In fact, the process is very similar. For example, the UnitedStates Peace Corps works with governments in developing countries to identify prioritydevelopment needs that Peace Corps can respond to, and then designs placementsfor volunteers to work in these priority areas. Once the volunteer is put in place thePeace Corps conducts regular monitoring and evaluation. In this way, the daily workof a volunteer organization utilizes the same administrative and technical skills as anNGO.

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The rewards of working in international development tend to be better understood than thechallenges. Indeed, most young professionals and volunteers are attracted to the field forthe glamorized benefits of world travel, learning about new cultures, and making adifference in the world. These are great aspects of the field, but it is equally important tounderstand the many challenges and long-term issues of a career in development.Particularly for professionals (e.g., full -time employees and not volunteers) the field has anumber of aspects that can make career management, advancement, and life balance achallenge. These issues will be examined in the following chapter.

CHALLENGES AND REWARDS

Most of the rewards in international development are directly linked to the challenges,because the work is so closely tied to dealing with these challenges.

Fund raising is a collaborative but constant need

No profession is without the need to generate revenue. Private sector firms needs theircustomers, governments need taxpayers, and development agencies need donors. To befair, the donor/development agency relationship is far more cooperative than these othersbut it is also more concentrated. Most development agencies depend upon two to fivesources for the majority of their funds, making these relationships very important and theoverall organization highly susceptible to fluctuations in funding. The result is that fundraising and donor relations can sometimes seem like the main focus of developmentagencies.

The work is meaningful but it is rare to see the results

One of the most rewarding aspects of the field is the opportunity to do meaningful work thatfocuses on improving living conditions in developing countries. Even the most cynicaldevelopment workers generally share a sense of idealism for the changes that can, and do,come from the work. However, it is every easy to lose sight of the long-term results of thework, especially when faced with daily reminders of the overwhelming nature of thechallenges. In addition, the results often take years to materialize, and even then, there israrely a major change in conditions. The results of development work are much moregradual.

It is a learning-oriented field, but deals with the world’s worst problems

As an industry, international development offers an environment of constant learning. Thisincludes not only new technical skills and knowledge areas but also learning about newcultures and languages. While these are positive aspects of the learning, there are also

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social issues that international development deals with. For example, domestic abuse,corruption, poverty, and human trafficking, to name a few. It requires a lot of fortitudeto be exposed to these problems on a daily basis.

The lifestyle can be fulfilling but also very challenging

There are many positive aspects of the lifestyle for development workers, both in thefield and at headquarter offices. These include the opportunity to travel, good benefits,and working in incredibly diverse surroundings. In field offices, the lifestyle alsoincludes the fun and challenge of living in a foreign environment and learning about anew country. Some field office staffers are also compensated at an international level,allowing them to live a very comfortable local lifestyle. However, there are manychallenges to living abroad, in a developing country. Some of these include thedifficulty managing daily chores like laundry, paying bills and using the internet;increased visibility as a foreigner makes crime a bigger risk; and the lack of services,such as reliable health care or international schools for children.

The field is constantly changing

Development is a dynamic industry that is evolving rapidly and, as a result, jobs indevelopment are also changing constantly. Most people working in the field rotate tonew positions every two to three years, and many people working in headquarterschange positions almost as frequently. In addition to physical job changes, the focusof projects changes over time to meet the needs of the developing communities wherean organization works, as well as the availability of funding. This change has an addedbenefit: work is seldom boring or repetitive, but it can also be stressful, especially forpeople who value job security or have families that need some stability.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

International development is an industry unlike any other. By definition, the work dealswith some of the world’s most pressing problems in some the most challengingenvironments. Travel, language study and the constant need to secure funding oftenmake international development more of a lifestyle than a career, and it is important tothink carefully and objectively about the industry as part of your career planning. Somekey issues that can affect career development are highlighted below.

The value of private sector experience in the nonprofit sector

One very common question among people just starting their careers is whether or notto get private sector work experience before finding a job in development. There aremany opinions on this topic, and no single right answer. As a general rule, privatesector experience is an advantage when applying for a job in development as long as ithas some relevance to the position. That is certainly not to say that it should be seen

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as a prerequisite, and more and more professionals enter development from thebeginning of their career.

There are many benefits to working in the private sector before development. Salariesin the private sector are usually higher so many people work until they pay off theirstudent loans or other debt and then find a job in development. In addition, a privatesector background can sometimes make a candidate more competitive ininternational development, particularly for management positions or technical areasfocused on private sector development. Obviously if you are going to advisegovernments in developing countries on reforms to their manufacturing industry, youwill need experience in this industry. Finally, a private sector background is alsohelpful for people who want to transition out of development and into the privatesector.

Historically, there were fewer non-volunteer positions in development for youngerprofessionals, so the private sector was a common way to enter the field. As theindustry becomes more professional (often by mirroring the practices of the privatesector), there are an increasing number of opportunities for young professionals aswell as more appreciation for the unique skills that come from development work. Forexample, the skills that a volunteer attains through her work are often considered asimportant to success in a development job as the skills that might come from a similarpath in the private sector. These include abilities such as communications skills, firsthand knowledge of developing communities and the ability to live and work inchallenging environments.

Family and lifestyle considerations

International development tends to be a young field, dominated by people in their 20sto 40s. This is due to many factors that make the industry more appealing to youngerprofessionals, but some issues also make it harder to stay in development later in acareer. Some of these include:

• Job securityEven the largest development agencies are prone to changes in staffing. As onearea of development becomes a greater priority (for example, public health inSoutheast Asia), another area usually suffers in donor attention (e.g., environmentalconservation in Southeast Asia). Organizations and, as a consequence,development workers who specialize in the former area will find it harder to fund

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Two viewpoints are provided below to summarize the debate. Private sector experience is important to get before starting a career in internationaldevelopment.their research needs.

It is not necessary to have a background in the private sector before working ininternational development.

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Vault Career Guide to International DevelopmentIs It for You?

their work and either shift in focus or pursue increasingly limited opportunities. As aresult, long-term employment with a single organization is more the exception thanthe norm in development. This is less of a problem for younger professionals early intheir careers who can afford to spend a few months finding a new position, but formore experienced professionals the lack of job security is a significant drawback.Some areas of the field with better job security are donor agencies and multilateralorganizations.

• Living abroadMany people enter the field in order to experience firsthand the process of working indeveloping communities. Living abroad, particularly in these environments, isincredibly rewarding but also very demanding. Because of this, many internationaldevelopment professionals spend several years abroad but then transition back totheir home countries. With their field experience, it is usually possible to find jobs indevelopment in home offices of development organizations, but only in major citieslike Washington, D.C., or London. For people who want to live in other locations, it isoften hard to find a suitable position.

• FamilyMarriage and children can significantly change the prospect of working ininternational development, primarily for field-based positions. Families living abroad,usually in developing countries, face many challenges from finding employment for aspouse to finding schools for children. In addition there are the very real concernsabout the quality of health care, possibility for an active social life, and availability offamily or grandparents. Of course, none of these challenges makes it impossible tohave a family and work abroad, and indeed hundreds of families do so, even in themost challenging environments. Most development agencies also provide somebenefits for families, such as increased cost of living adjustments, insurance andhealth care, while larger organizations often fund a portion of the costs for education.

Some areas of the field less prone to these problems include home office positions withlarger organizations, government development agencies, and multilateral organizations.Despite these family and lifestyle considerations, many experienced professionals doremain in the industry later in their careers and it is likely to become easier to do so inthe future as development organizations become more professional.

Languages, travel, etc.

Many positions in international development include aspects of work that requiregreater levels of personal commitment than other industries. These may includefrequent travel, working in challenging environments, learning new languages andfrequent long hours of work. While positions in home offices may involve one or two ofthese challenges on occasion, they are normal conditions for field-based positions.Even for people who enjoy business travel and relish in the opportunity to challengethemselves, these conditions can become tiring over time.

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Transitioning out of international development

All these considerations make it important, even when starting a career ininternational development, to think carefully about your options for findingemployment outside of the industry as well.

Entering the traditional private sector, say finance, marketing or management, with abackground in international development is harder because there are feweropportunities to get the skills needed by those fields. As an applicant, you would haveto clearly demonstrate how your international development experience has preparedyou for the positions. This is one reason that some people choose to get private sectorexperience before entering development. More information on this is covered inChapter 10.

Some common industries to enter following international development include:

• Domestic non-profit • Government• Academia• Consulting• Think tanks• Entrepreneurship

Of course, going back to school for another degree is an excellent way to transitionfrom international development into another industry, and almost any graduateprogram will look favorably on the diversity of experience that comes withinternational development.

IMPORTANT APTITUDES

The following list describes some of the personal and professional aptitudes commonto most jobs in international development. This is not intended to be an exhaustivelist but rather to provide an idea of the various characteristics demanded in the field.If you share many of these qualities, then international development is likely to be agood match for you; if you do not, then you should look for specific opportunitieswithin the industry that are the best match for your aptitudes.

International development is well suited for people who can:

• Work independently with little directionMost development organizations are chronically understaffed with managementsupport in short supply. Employees are expected to work with little direction andtake initiative to help the organization accomplish its goals.

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• Work with teams of diverse peopleWhile the ability to work independently is important in development, so is the abilityto work on small teams of highly diverse staff. Almost all tasks have teamcomponents, and the ability to complete group deliverables either working in personwith teams or remotely via email and phone is important.

• Communicate wellDevelopment professionals are constantly communicating. Project clients, staff,donors, media, and managers all require a constant stream of information, and, inmany cases, do not always speak a common language. Clear communication is a vitalcomponent of the work, and one that is constantly inhibited by poor or non-existenttelecommunications and the distances involved.

• Work under tight deadlinesAlmost all work in international development is on a strict timeline. Individual projectshave their own specific timelines and donors operate according to deadlines forproject proposals and reporting. Regardless of where one works in development,deadlines are a constant aspect of the job.

• Write and edit easily Many jobs require a great deal of writing in various formats from technical documentsto media stories to proposals. Often these are structured documents that requireediting a great deal of information to find the key points and present them in clear,simple writing. Audiences are often extremely busy and unlikely to forgive poorwriting, whether they are donors or government counterparts.

• Continue learning throughout a lifetimeInternational development requires constant learning. Every new proposal includesthe need to develop technical knowledge in a specific area and geography. Manypositions also require learning a new city, culture and language.

• Work and live in challenging situationsInternational development professionals work in some of the most challengingenvironments in the world. It is crucial that things like a week with no electricity, lackof email and telephone contact with loved ones, working in conditions of extremepoverty and taking a high level of responsibility for personal safety don’t inhibit theability to complete daily work.

• Be creative problem solversDue to the range and nature of the challenges in the industry, problem solving is aregular need - and in most cases, traditional solutions don’t work. As a result,development professionals need to be efficient in assessing a problem anddeveloping possible solutions that fit the unique context.

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HOW TO FIND OUT

Reading this career guide is an excellent first step in deciding if you want to want towork in development but there is no substitute for firsthand experience. Fortunatelydevelopment offers a number of ways to get short- or long-term experience, and,unlike many other industries, even volunteers have an opportunity to do professional-level work. Some ways to get this experience are covered in Chapter 5.

It is very valuable to get work experience at several different levels of development,not only on an actual project. While working on the ground with a project is awonderful and life-altering experience, it is not the easiest way to enter the field as apaid professional. In addition to the project experience that many volunteer programsprovide, it is worthwhile to get some administrative experience as well by working orvolunteering with a headquarters office. This experience will often provide a betteroverall view of the industry and the types of work that are key to any developmentcareer.

Beyond work experience, you can learn a lot about the industry by talking to currentemployees of development agencies. Many people working in development are veryreceptive to speaking with potential development workers and will share theirexperiences openly and honestly. If you don’t know a lot of people working indevelopment, expanding your network into the industry should be a priority. Thereare many networking strategies covered in Chapter 6 showing how to make theseconnections.

Finally, you can discover more about international development by immersingyourself in the industry and learning as much as possible. There are many booksabout it and a number of small trade magazines. In addition there are an increasingnumber of formal events for international development, including conferences, jobfairs, debates and lectures. Universities are also good sources of information andevents focused on international development, many of which are available to thepublic. For more information on these resources, see the appendix.

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Education and ExperienceTypes of Employment and Job Search StrategiesThe Hiring Process

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One of the challenges in navigating a career in a complex field like internationaldevelopment is making good education and work experience decisions. The educationaland experience requirements for jobs in international development vary greatly by positionbut are often more flexible than jobs in the private sector due to the broad nature of thework. For instance, you might be applying for a project administrator position on a ruralhealth care project that includes teacher education, nurse training, health policy and amedia campaign. This project utilizes dozens of different industry and functional skills thatno single applicant is likely to have. The successful candidate for the position may have amaster’s degree in public health, international affairs, international development, or evenpolitical science.

EDUCATIONMost entry-level and volunteer positions only require a bachelor’s degree, although it is notuncommon for even these jobs to go to applicants with graduate degrees. Beyond entry-level positions, a master’s degree is the industry standard. It may be possible to turn avolunteer position into a professional position without a master’s degree but withoutpostgraduate qualifications, career advancement is difficult, even within an organization forwhich you are already working. If you are just starting out with a bachelor’s degree, you canfind many entry-level opportunities that will help you decide if a career in internationaldevelopment is for you before you commit to specialized graduate education.Undergraduate degrees with some international component are helpful, although almostany degree can be suitable for international development if it is balanced with volunteerexperience or extracurricular activities.

For administrative positions the choice of degree is very flexible. A master’s in internationalaffairs (MIA) or a master’s in public administration (MPA) are standard choices, but thereare several alternatives. Even for administrative positions, it may be beneficial to earn amore technical degree, such as a master’s in business administration (MBA) or a master’sin public health (MPH). These degrees will give you more flexibility to take on technicalwork in the future, and may help distinguish yourself from other applicants.

In addition, many universities are starting to offer specialized programs in internationaldevelopment, and it is very common for international development to be offered as aconcentration within a technical degree, such as an MBA, MPH or MIA. The benefit ofstudying in a specialized program in international development really depends on your ownunique background. A returned Peace Corps volunteer, for example, might benefit morefrom an administrative degree like an MPA or MBA rather than a master’s in internationaldevelopment. Someone with no work experience in international development may choosea specialized program to make up for his or her lack of work experience. Another common option is to earn dual degrees in international development and a more technical field, suchas an MPA, MPH or MBA.

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Education and ExperienceChapter 5

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For technical positions, your education should reflect your chosen specialty. If you wantto work in private sector development, get an MBA. If you want to work in health policy,get an MPH. A master’s degree in international affairs with a concentration in privatesector development or public health may be enough to get you a job but it will notmatch a technical degree. That it is becoming more common to see internationaldevelopment- focused students in MBA courses is indicative of the trend towardincreasing specialization and professionalization in the industry. This is an importanttrend to be aware of when considering your educational goals.

Weighing your academic options

Things to consider include:

• CoursesAlmost all colleges and universities offer several courses focused on internationaldevelopment. These may be offered through any number of schools depending onthe focus of the course. For example, a school of medicine might have a course onpreventative approaches to public health in developing countries, while a businessschool would have specialized economic development courses. Many of thesecourses are at the graduate level, but larger universities or those more focused oninternational issues should have a wide range of courses for undergraduates as well.

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Should I earn a master’s degree in international development?Choosing to earn a master’s degree that is specialized to international developmenthas several important pros and cons to consider. Programs in internationaldevelopment provide an excellent introduction to the industry, including both theoryand practice. If you are passionate about development, you will certainly appreciatebeing in an environment devoted to the industry with other likeminded students. Thefocus of these programs also contributes to benefits like career services, alumninetworks at development organizations, faculty with industry contacts andopportunities to get work experience in development during your studies. In addition,most of these programs offer several concentrations, allowing students to specializein particular areas.

The disadvantages of specializing in international development are the limitations itmay place on your career. Most for-profit consultancies and many NGOs are focusedalmost exclusively on implementing projects and, thus, look more favorably on atechnical degree than a general degree in international development. In addition,these degrees will offer less flexibility in pursuing work outside of internationaldevelopment. Students with prior work experience in international development maybenefit more by complementing their experience with a technical degree.

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• Development tracks for established degreesAnother growing trend is for graduate schools to offer international development asa track (also known as a concentration or focus) within their existing degrees. Forexample, a master’s in pubic administration with a concentration on internationaldevelopment or a master’s of business administration with a focus on emergingmarkets development. These programs offer the professional training associatedwith the degree but with course work tailored to the context of development work.

• Degrees in international developmentSome schools offer master’s degrees in international development or specific areasof development. The most common pure development degree is the master’s ofdevelopment studies, which is offered through many universities, more commonlyin the U.K.

The primary difference between a professional track in international development anda degree in development studies is that a professional track will generally not includecourses on the theory or basic skills of international development. Rather,professional concentrations will focus on applying the skills of the program to thecontext of international development.

This distinction is not always clear, as some schools offering a master’s degree ininternational development may, in practice, relate more closely to professionalprograms. The easiest way to assess potential schools is to refer to their requiredcourses. The following courses would be common to a degree in internationaldevelopment:

• Theory, History and Policy of Development• Civil Society and the Development Process• Development Practice• Globalization and Development• Research Methods in Development Studies• NGOs as Development Agencies• Political Economy of Development• Project and Program Management• Fieldwork Methods

Notable programs

The following universities offer a wide range of well-respected degrees and/orconcentrations in international development. This is by no means an exhaustive list;it is intended simply to demonstrate the range of degrees currently available to thosewishing to pursue international development careers.

School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) Department of Development Studieswww.soas.ac.uk/development

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Harvard UniversityJohn F. Kennedy School of Governmentwww.hks.harvard.edu

The Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)www.sais-jhu.edu

Columbia UniversitySchool of International and Public Affairswww.sipa.columbia.edu

The London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)Development Studies Institute www.lse.ac.uk/collections/DESTIN

University of Oxford Oxford Department of International Developmentwww.qeh.ox.ac.uk

Brown UniversityWatson Institute for International Studieswww.watsoninstitute.org/ds/grad.cfm

The George Washington UniversityThe Elliott School of International Affairswww.gwu.edu/~elliott

Cornell UniversityInternational Programs of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciencesip.cals.cornell.edu/academics

University of PittsburgGraduate School of Public and International Affairswww.gspia.pitt.edu

Duke UniversityDuke Center for International Developmentwww.pubpol.duke.edu/centers/dcid

Other things to look for in a program

Whether you are looking for administrative or technical positions, there are someimportant characteristics to consider when evaluating educational programs.

• Alumni networkIn many cases, one of the most valuable components of your education will be thenetwork of contacts you will be able to access. Most schools provide lists ofemployers that hire their graduates, which should give you a sense of what kinds of

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opportunities you may have. You might also be able to go beyond this and have anadmissions representative give you a tour of the alumni website where you shouldbe able to search for graduates working in specific organizations.

• ConcentrationsEven if you are pursuing a primarily administrative career, you will want to developsome technical concentration. Look for a master’s degree program that offerscourses within that concentration then check out those courses to learn more aboutthe reading lists, instructors and any other information that will help you determineif it matches your interests.

• Internship/extracurricular programsGraduate school is an excellent time to get practical work experience ininternational development. Most schools will offer some kind of internationaldevelopment club and many schools will even fund travel for members of the clubto work on pro-bono development projects.

• Loan assistanceGraduate school can be a major financial undertaking and you will likely have lowerearning power after school than students entering the private sector. Some schoolsoffer limited forms of loan assistance for graduates who work for nonprofitorganizations. Research this carefully if it is an important factor in your decisionbecause these programs often have very specific rules and regulations.

What to do if you don’t have the necessary education

A weakness in education can be offset through several factors, most primarily ofwhich is your relevant work experience. However, if the position requires a master’sdegree and you have a bachelor’s degree, or the position requires a PhD and youhave a master’s degree, there may not be a lot you can do. There will simply be toomany other applicants meeting the educational threshold required. If you have thelevel of education required, but not the exact degree specified, there is often moreflexibility as long as you can still fit your qualifications to the position. Liberal artsdegrees like political science or anthropology often contain many courses, if notspecializations, that relate to international development. Emphasize these coursesand any relevant experience you have in your cover letter.

EXPERIENCEExperience requirements vary greatly by position, but most entry-level opportunitieswill require less than two years of work experience and many are available to recentgraduates. Spending six months or a year volunteering after you graduate is anexcellent way to get practical work experience while you build your professionalnetwork. Mid-career positions tend to require three to five years of experience andcommonly expect some or most of it to be in international development. The

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relevancy of your work experience is usually more important than the length, so yourfocus should be on finding positions that match your professional background ratherthan just looking for any openings for which you meet the minimum requirements.

A common debate in international development is the relative value of private-sectorexperience versus development experience: having only one or the other isn’t ideal,although not having any development experience is probably a more serious problem.

Development experience

Most jobs require some international experience or prior development experience.Even for those jobs that don’t explicitly require prior experience, it will most likely be acomponent of the evaluation process. Development organizations value priorexperience because, like any other industry, it will make training much easier if youalready know the ins and outs of the work. In addition, prior experience shows that youhave an understanding of the challenges of the industry and have most likely workedin diverse, international environments. The fact that you want to stay in the industrydespite knowing the challenges also means that you are less likely to quit after anorganization invests in training. This requirement can be frustrating for those withoutinternational development experience but the good news is that industry experience isrelatively easy to come by, especially if you are a student. Some ways to getinternational development experience include:

• Join a clubMost universities and larger cities have clubs focused on international development.They do everything from discussing development literature, to engaging politically ininternational issues, to raising money for development projects, to actually travellingto work on projects.

• Take a class If you are still a student, take an elective course or two in international developmentor related issues. This will give you several points you can raise in cover letters andinterviews to demonstrate your interest in the field. If you are not a student, look intocourses you can take as a non-degree student or through a community college. Evensomething like an international business course can help meet the requirements forsome positions.

• Follow the field Anyone interested in international development should follow the industry by readingdevelopment literature and staying up to date on related international issues. Yourability to speak intelligently about development can go a long way toward covering fora lack of experience.

• Volunteer While spendFing your summer vacation teaching marketing to rural businesspeoplein Africa or training community leaders in preventative health in Southeast Asia maynot seem like extensive industry experience, it will show that you care aboutdevelopment, have spent time abroad and worked in the context of a developing

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community. There are thousands of volunteer opportunities ranging from the veryshort term to multiyear engagements. Some people volunteer throughout theirentire career, earning enough to live comfortably in whatever country they findthemselves in.

• Get a transfer If you are already working for a large company, it may be possible to relocate to adeveloping country. While field postings are almost always more competitive ininternational development, the opposite is true for many private-sector companies.Working out of a developing country for a year will show that you have the ability towork and live internationally and that you have developed interculturalcommunication skills.

Private sector experience

There are many advantages to having private sector, or non-development, workexperience in your career history. International development organizations are oftencriticized as inefficient and lacking in high- quality management systems. There iscertainly some truth in this perception and, as a result, private sector work experienceis often valued for providing more rigorous professional tools. If you have strongprivate sector experience, you should certainly highlight these skills in yourapplication materials.

In addition, many areas of international development are focused on strengtheningthe private sector of developing nations. Having worked in a well-functioning privatesector, you will have a better idea of the missing components as well as a certain levelof professional authority to work on implementation.

Finally, certain kinds of technical work may require a private sector background dueto the nature of the work. For example, investment officers with the IFC have allworked as investment bankers in the private sector.

If you are transitioning to international development from the private sector your maintask will be to show that you understand and are committed to the field. Many hiringmanagers have experienced new employees from the private sector who quicklybecome frustrated by the nature of the work and leave after a few months. You mayneed to overcome this attitude by showing that you know what you are getting into.

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53

TYPES OF EMPLOYMENTInternational development as an industry is unique in the sheer variety of positions. Thetype of work, compensation, benefits, and work environment cover the entire spectrum ofpossibilities from volunteering in a remote developing country to negotiating internationalagreements in London. Some of the most common distinctions that you should considerwhen thinking about a career include:

• Paid or volunteerAn obvious, but important, distinction is between paid employment and volunteer work.Unlike many other industries, volunteers in international development are involved inhigh-level work with demanding responsibilities. In addition, volunteerism is widelyaccepted as “real” work experience that can lead directly to paid employment.

Volunteer positions come in many varieties with widely differing benefits. The mostreputable organizations will have lengthy application procedures but provide goodbenefits, such as travel and health care. Other volunteer organizations don’t provide anyfinancial benefits but may still be valuable career experience. Finally, there are volunteerpositions that come with a price tag, and you will be expected to pay for your work.

• Local or internationalNot all paid positions are equal. Most organizations, particularly larger ones, differentiatebetween locally hired staff and internationally hired staff. This is especially true for fieldpositions. The main difference is that locally hired positions are paid at local wages, anda strong preference is given to citizens of the country. Foreign residents can sometimesget these positions if they are willing to work for the local wage. Although the pay andbenefits are not as good, these are excellent opportunities to get experience with aninternational development organization provided you have the relevant countryexperience. Some organizations even have a hybrid position sometimes called a “half-pat” hire, which offers a salary higher than the local wage, but not internationallycompetitive. It is usually clear from the job description if the position is local orinternational, but if you are uncertain be sure to ask.

• Permanent or fixed-term A permanent position is open-ended without a fixed contract length. These jobs may alsobe referred to as staff positions because they generally aren’t associated with a singleproject. Most entry-level opportunities fall into this category.

Fixed-term contracts may last for any period of time from a few weeks to several years.These types of contracts are commonly used to staff projects, and are limited to the

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length of the project. Some organizations encourage their project staff to move toanother project when one is complete while others hire entirely new staff for eachcontract. Fixed-term staffers are commonly referred to as consultants.

• Home office or fieldAn important part of the application process is determining where you want to liveand how often you are willing to travel. The majority of permanent positions arebased in the organizations’ home offices in cities such as Washington, D.C., orLondon, and may involve frequent travel to field offices.

Field office positions are generally more competitive, and many organizations givepreferential consideration to current employees when a field position becomesavailable. In fact, if you want a paid, field-based position in internationaldevelopment, you may get there faster by spending a year or two working in a homeoffice.

This career guide is focused on permanent positions rather than fixed-termconsulting positions because permanent jobs offer by far the best opportunities forentry-level positions. In addition, more development organizations are moving towardstaffing projects with full-time employees rather than consultants for many reasons.Full-time staffers are usually less expensive than consultants, and they already havea track record inside the organization so management is less uncertaint about theirability to do the work. In addition, more development organizations are achievingenough financial sustainability and a large enough operational footprint that they canretain staff between contracts.

The final reason this guidebook focuses on long-term positions rather than consultingjobs is simply that positions hired out to consultants tend to be fiercely competitiveand require significant professional expertise in addition to experience local to thecontract. The average technical consultant position in a field office would require atleast 10 years of relevant professional experience, post-graduate education, andlanguage and regional knowledge. If you have a lot of relevant professionalexperience, most development organizations keep a database of potentialconsultants.

PREPARING FOR THE SEARCHFor many reasons, getting a job in international development is more challenging thanmany other industries, particularly for entry-level professional positions. Most of theresources geared to helping job seekers in other industries, such as trade fairs andprofessional organizations, don’t yet have a corresponding entity in internationaldevelopment. In addition, organizations doing development work tend to be smallerwith less regular hiring practices, and the competition for these jobs is often surprisinglyhigh. Because of this, you should be prepared for a longer job search than might beexpected in other industries.

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Fortunately there are a number of steps you can take to significantly improve yourexperience. Following the strategies outlined in the next chapters will ensure thatyour search is targeted to the organizations most likely to offer you a position. Ingeneral, you should be prepared to submit a lot of applications. Every background isdifferent but you will probably find that you get one interview for every 10 to 20applications you submit, and it may take several interviews to get an offer. It is notuncommon, even for experienced applicants, for a job search to involve 50 to 100applications! This may seem like a lot of work, but if you follow a good strategy youcan greatly reduce the amount of searching you do and increase your chances forgetting hired.

Developing your strategy

A successful job search begins with intensive preparation. This is true of anyindustry, but particularly so in international development where the sheer number ofapplicants for open positions means that only the highly qualified will make theshortlist. With a carefully developed job search strategy you can dramatically increaseyour chances of being considered for the positions for which you apply. Thecomponents that should be included in your job search strategy are outlined below.

IDENTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS THAT MATCH YOURINTERESTS The first, and often overlooked, component of a successful job search is focusing yoursearch on those organizations that match your qualifications and interests. Withthousands of organizations working in international development, you should be ableto create your own shortlist that will help provide focus to your applications andnetworking. Your goal in this step is to create a list of 25 to 50 organizations for whichyou would like to work.

Finding a subset of development organizations that matches your needs can seemlike a daunting task, but once you learn to navigate the world of internationaldevelopment it can actually be very rewarding. You can begin by identifying whatcharacteristics you are looking for in an organization. In particular, you should decidein what kind of work you are interested. The more specific your answer, the easier itwill be to find relevant organizations, but you don’t want to limit your choices toomuch. For example, you might be interested in public health policy forcommunicable diseases. That is an excellent and very specific focus area, which willyield a handful of organizations working on that exact issue. However you may alsofind it useful to consider organizations doing more general public health issues orothers working in capacity-building in rural hospitals. These different focus areas willobviously overlap but should result in a greater number of organizations that might bematches for you job search.

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Other characteristics that might help with your shortlist include a geographic focus,size, status as a nonprofit or for-profit organization, major funding sources and potentialnetwork of co-workers. For example, you may want to work for a large nonprofit ineconomic development that has projects in north Africa and the Middle East. Thiswould be a good starting place to find the hundreds of organizations meeting thesecriteria.

Once you have developed your criteria, you can find organizations that meet themthrough several strategies. Some useful strategies include:

• Follow the moneyBecause most international development organizations depend on donor funding,you can often get a quick list of implementing organizations by researching funding.For example, USAID is a major funder of economic and social development projectsaround the world. If you are interested in promoting democracy abroad, you cancheck out USAID’s website to see which organizations they fund in the regions youare focused on. This information is usually easy to find online. Other major donorsexist for virtually any career focus. For example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationis a major funder of health projects. You should get a good idea of the main donororganizations for your professional focus through the process of your research.

• Start with a location If location is the key requirement for your job search because you want to be basedin a specific country or city, then start from there. If you want to work out of Londonor Washington, D.C., that may not help refine your job search too much, but if youhave a random language skill or want to work in a particular country, you can focuseasily on the development organizations that work in the country. The easiest way todo this is to simply search the internet for NGOs active in the country or, even better,speak to someone in the international development industry in the country. He or sheshould be able to identify many of the other main NGOs.

• Network The value of effective networking can be tremendous in international development.The development community within a specific focus area is often well connected, soa project manager with one NGO working in environmental conservation is very likelyto know many of the other conservation-focused organizations in the area. Talk toyour colleagues, friends and teachers to get names of organizations in which youmight be interested. Universities are an especially useful resource, as they tend tocollaborate with a wide number of organizations.

• Use job sites Although job sites devoted to international development are becoming morecommon, there are still only a handful of them out there. Fortunately more employersare beginning to utilize these sites and the number of resources is steadily growing.In addition to finding potential jobs, these sites are useful for identifying organizationsto include in your shortlist. Finally, some sites that offer memberships may have toolsto help with networking.

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Developing your own list of organizations to focus on has additional benefits as well.The process of finding these organizations should greatly increase your knowledgeof the industry and give you a good idea of what kinds of projects on which differentorganizations are working. This will make you well informed during your interviews.You also may be asked about other organizations you are looking at for employmentand having a good list of peer organizations will show hiring managers that you havedone your research.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SHORTLISTNow that you have a list of organizations to focus on, get to know each of them. Youdon’t need to devote a great deal of time to this, but you should have enoughknowledge to effectively pursue employment. Go beyond their website’s job page andresearch what projects they are working on, who is on their executive board, whatprofessional conferences or career events they attend and how they got started. Onepurpose of this research is to identify opportunities for networking. You may find thatthe organization is about to start a project in a remote province in which youhappened to volunteer for a summer or that they have a board member who teachesat your university. Any of these connections will give you a good reason to contactsomeone inside the organization and start to build your network.

During this step you should also make sure that you know where the organizationposts its available positions. Besides their own websites’ job sections, mostorganizations advertise openings on one or more job clearinghouses. You shouldregularly check all these sites to stay informed of openings, and also to find additionalorganizations to add to your shortlist.

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Finding work in Afghanistan Mona wanted to spend her summer vacation getting field experience in post-conflictreconstruction and development in Afghanistan. She started by making a list of allthe organizations she could find carrying out reconstruction projects in Kabul. To findthese organizations, she looked on USAID’s website to get a list of contractors havingreceived funds to work in Afghanistan. This single list gave her more than 50organizations, including local NGOs, international NGOs, engineering firms,consulting companies and educational institutions that had active projects. Next,Mona researched each organization and narrowed down the list to 15 candidatesmatching her work interests. She got in touch with each of these organizationsthrough their websites or her professional network, and eventually had two offers fora summer internship.

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NETWORKING Once you have a good idea of which organizations you might want to work for and somefamiliarity with each, you can begin building your network. Anyone scared of the word“networking” should get a copy of the Vault Guide to Schmoozing, which will help youbecome comfortable with responsibly building your peer network. The goal of this stepis to develop contacts inside the organizations in which you are most interested that youcan email with a question or submit your resume for an opening. It is not necessary tohave a contact within every organization on your shortlist but the more you have, thebetter your chances of getting a job. Remember, the purpose of networking is to ensurethat your application passes the screening phase and will be reviewed by someone whocan make a hiring decision. If you are fortunate enough and have a great network, youmight even be considered for an unadvertised job.

In some ways, networking in international development is easier than other industries.Most people in the field will readily acknowledge the challenges of navigating theuncertainties of the industry and are willing to share their own advice with you. It is onepositive aspect of the industry that most people share a genuine passion for the workand even high-level managers are often willing to spend time with volunteers or entry-level professionals to offer advice. This will be particularly true if you have done yourpreparation and can speak intelligently about the field. Always take advantage of theseopportunities and treat them as job interviews by coming fully prepared, asking goodquestions and not pushing for a job. For such a large industry, internationaldevelopment is a surprisingly small world, and you are very likely to encounter many ofthe same people throughout your career.

The informational interview

The basic tool of networking is the informational discussion, sometimes also called aninformational interview. This is really nothing more than an informal conversation thatyou arrange with someone working for an organization you are interested in who agreesto speak with you as a professional courtesy. Mostly these are phone calls but personalmeetings are also possible, as are email exchanges. The difference between aninformational discussion and a formal interview is that the discussion is not tied to aspecific job. Rather an informational interview is simply a way for you to get moreinformation about a prospective employer while demonstrating your interest in workingthere. In fact, you should not spend much time discussing jobs at all.

Setting up an informational interview generally requires more than a basic interest inthe organization. You should have a specific purpose for the conversation, such as aninterest in a recent project they have completed, questions about an article theypublished, or a follow- up email from a previous encounter. The easiest way to get aninformational interview is to share a professional or educational connection withsomeone in the organization. Being alumni from the same university or both beingreturned Peace Corps volunteers is often enough reason to get an informationalmeeting.

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E-mail examples

When you set up an informational interview, state the purpose of your request in youre-mail and don’t ask for more than 10 to 15 minutes. Also, specify how you got theperson’s contact information. Here is an example:.

Here is an example of an e-mail to send to a school alumni:

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Dear Ms. Holt,

I got your email address from James Wasserman, who I worked with in Mexico last summeron a microfinance evaluation. I am in my final year of my MPA and I am focusing on smallbusiness finance. I read your article on finance for rural agriculture in last month’s RuralDevelopment Newsletter and I was hoping that I might be able to ask you a few questionsabout it. I would be happy to give you a brief call at any time or even send my questionsby email. Thanks.

Dear Mr. Wai,

I found your contact information while browsing the UW alumni database forgraduates working in economic development in Africa. I will be graduating this springand I am currently researching opportunities to get field experience in businessenabling environment projects. I would really appreciate getting your perspective onthe field. If you have 15 minutes anytime in the next couple of weeks, I would be gladto give you a call. Thanks.

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After your informational interview, send a thank you e-mail to the person and mentionthat you will keep an eye on opportunities with his or her organization. If you came wellprepared for your informational discussion, the contact will likely offer to speak with youagain about job openings in the future. When you do find an opening for which youwant to apply, copy your contact on the e-mail you send to submit your resume and adda short note thanking them again for speaking with you. This is usually enough for yourcontact to steer your resume to the hiring officer, bypassing the screening stage.

There are many strategies to creating a contact for informational discussions. Some ofthe best include:

• Alumni contactsAlways check your educational contacts to see if there are any alumni in theorganizations you are targeting. Most schools, particularly graduate programs, haveonline databases for alumni to connect. If you have any alumni in an organizationyou are targeting, they are usually very receptive to arranging a phone call to discusstheir work.

• Similar regional or technical experienceAnother random possibility is that an organization you are targeting has a project areathat you have worked in or a project in a region that you know well. This can providean opportunity to e-mail the project manager to ask a few questions based on yourlocal or professional experience. Again, don’t bother a busy project manager to

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Informational Discussion Etiquette Remember that your contacts are probably extremely busy and may travel regularly.Respect their time because a poorly managed informational interview can end yourcareer opportunities with their organization as easily as a well-managed informationaldiscussion can boost them. Some general etiquette tips include:

• Don’t arrange a discussion unless you are serious about the organization’s work andwill be able to use the information you get.

• Avoid e-mailing to ask questions about job openings unless the advertisementspecifically lists and email contact for questions.

• Don’t be pushy. If you don’t get a prompt response or you have trouble setting upa discussion, send a respectful note thanking your contact for trying to make timeand ask him to contact you when his schedule clears.

• Don’t focus on job possibilities. The person you are speaking with willunderstand that you are interested in jobs in the field without you telling him orher. You will make a much better impression by asking thoughtful, insightfulquestions than by pressing for information about upcoming job openings.

• Always thank your contacts through e-mail for their time after the discussion.

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recommend a great noodle place in the town, but if you have some insightfulthoughts about their project based on your experience it can lead to a good contact.

• Career fairs or industry events Some areas of international development host more of these events than others,and it will be a matter of your preparation to find them. Similarly, you can also lookfor professional organizations that exist for some areas. For example, the EmergingMarkets Private Equity Association is a great resource for job seekers interested infinancial markets development. You can also check online job websites forupcoming career fairs. Most organizations advertise on their websites anyupcoming events they are participating in so be sure to check these websitesfrequently.

• Friends of friends or colleagues If you don’t have a direct connection to anyone in the organization, perhaps yourfriends, teachers or colleagues do. Only utilize these connections if you are sureyour colleagues are comfortable with you making use of their network, and be extracareful to make a good impression on your contact.

• E-mail HR If you are unable to generate any contact through the methods listed above, youcan always e-mail their jobs email or HR department. Mention that you have beeninterested in their organization for a while and that you would like to ask a fewquestions about working there. Most organizations get too many requests torespond to these e-mails, but if you are sincere and have done your preparation,you may get to speak with someone. You can also ask if they attend any careerfairs or have any informational materials about working for the organization.

APPLYING With your shortlist and network in place, you should be ready to submit applications.The good news is that by doing your research and building your network you havealready taken more steps to stand out than most candidates. The bad news is thatyou are not done yet.

The goal of research and networking is to ensure that your application will make itthrough the screening process and be seriously considered by someone with theauthority to make a hiring decision. With hundreds of applicants for most jobs, thisis an essential step. Once you have made the second round of reviews, it is up toyour cover letter and resume to finish the job.

Applying to most jobs in international development is a simple matter of e-mailingyour resume and cover letter to the contact address provided in the job description.If you have done your networking, you should have another contact e-mail inside theorganization that you can also copy on your e-mail or even submit your resumethrough. Some organizations use an online application process that may ask you to

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create an application profile by entering information about your education andexperience. In these cases you will have an opportunity to upload your resume andcover letter before submitting your application.

If you are applying through e-mail, keep your cover letter and resume in a single filewith your name as the filename. This will help ensure that your materials are notseparated or misplaced.

Cover letters

The cover letter is one of most important pieces of your application. It is your chance,often your only chance, to make the case for why you are the best fit for the position.Always submit a cover letter even if it is optional or not specified. Your cover lettershould complement your resume, drawing attention to the key items and filling inadditional relevant details that don’t fit into the format of a resume. Keep the followingguidelines in mind when writing your cover letter:

• Keep it short and relevant. Your letter will probably be skimmed quickly so it isessential to highlight only key experiences that relate directly to the position.

• Match the job description. Try to use keywords in your cover letter that are mentionedin the job description or terms of reference.

• Don’t repeat your resume. You have very limited space in a cover letter to make yourcase for the position, so don’t waste it repeating items that appear on your resume.When you refer to your work experience or education, be sure to make a pointrelevant to the position. For example, your resume may show your graduate degreein city planning but your cover letter can include a sentence or two about your thesispaper on sanitation planning and how it qualifies you to be a consultant for aneighborhood health program.

• Demonstrate passion for the work. You will likely be competing for jobs with aboveaverage difficulty and responsibility along with below average compensation. Youneed to show that you have the dedication to stick with the work.

You should spend a lot of time to create a very strong cover letter. Have friends reviewyour letter for grammatical mistakes and get someone in the international developmentindustry to read it for content. If you have access to career services through youruniversity, use them! Once you have a good cover letter, you can use it as a basis foreach job you apply to but you will have to change the specific examples you use tomatch the unique job requirements.

The Vault Guide to Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviews is a good resource forlearning the stylistic and formatting guidelines for effective application materials. Twosample cover letters are provided at the end of the chapter, including one that could beused by applicants with little experience.

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Cover Letter Sample—Experienced

1111 1st Street #1ANew York, NY [email protected]

June 15, 2008

International Relief Attn: Kathleen Romero115 Arbor DriveArlington, VA 22201

Dear Ms. Romero,

I enjoyed speaking with you during the International Careers Fair at the University ofVirginia last month. I have been following opportunities with International Relief sinceour conversation and I would like to apply for the startup specialist position. I willcomplete my MPA at the University of Virginia in May and I am looking for anopportunity to expand my experience in the operations of a development organizationwhile utilizing my management education. I believe that I have the qualifications to besuccessful in the startup specialist position.

I have several years of work experience with international organizations, including oneyear prior to graduate school as a project manager for the Red Cross. During this time,I have participated in field office startup trips, planned budgets and conducted regularproject evaluations. I have also worked with the financial and reporting standards ofmajor donors, including USAID and DFID. This experience has taught me theimportance of diligent monitoring, and helped me become a more effectivecommunicator.

As a student, I have continued to gain practical experience. In my first year, I servedas vice-president of our school’s International Development Club and helped organize aspeaker series on post-conflict relief operations. My course work has been focused ongeneral management for public institutions but I have taken several courses on finance,accounting and project management. Finally, as my background indicates, I am fullydevoted to the field of international development. I look forward to discussing myqualifications in more detail in the coming weeks.

Kind regards,

Applicant

University of Virginia | MPA 2008

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Cover Letter Sample—Entry-Level

1111 1st Street #1ANew York, NY [email protected]

June 15, 2008

Development Associates Attn: Business Development Group115 Arbor DriveArlington, VA 22201

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express my interest in the business development coordinator position withDevelopment Associates. I completed my bachelor’s degree in political science in Mayand, since then, I have spent the summer in Kazakhstan, volunteering with a localcommunity development NGO. I am interested in working in international developmentand I think the Business Development position is a good place to learn more about theindustry while improving my professional skills.

My background in political science has allowed me to develop strong writing skills and agood understanding of international development issues. In my senior year, I took agraduate-level course in international aid and wrote a term paper about USAID. I think thisfamiliarity will be an asset because USAID funding accounts for over 50 percent ofDevelopment Associates’ budget.

During my volunteer experience this summer, I have helped write several proposals anddeveloped a fund raising strategy for a local NGO. The first proposal I worked on hasalready received funding from the International Rotary Club. Being part of this organizationhas inspired me to look for more opportunities in international development and I think Ican make a valuable contribution to your business development team. I look forward todiscussing my qualifications in more detail at your convenience.

Kind regards,

Applicant

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Resumes and CVs

Your resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV) is other component of your application. Thereis a lot of confusion about the merits of a CV versus a resume, and when isappropriate to use each. A resume is simply briefer than a CV, and focused almostexclusively on your education and experience. A CV includes more detail of yourexperience and additional information, such as publications, industry affiliations,awards, etc. Many industries have strict standards about which format to use butboth are common in international development.

The decision on whether to submit a resume or CV is based both on your personalpreferences and the expectations of employers. For most positions, you will beapplying based on the merits of your education and experience, so a resume issufficient. Senior positions, research positions or highly technical positions mayrequire a resume, particularly if the job description requests a publication history.Most U.S.-based organizations will expect to see a resume, but will accept your CV.While a CV allows more space to document your experience and achievements, thereis a real danger in providing too much information. For either format, it is alwaysmore professional and reflects better writing ability to provide a succinct summary ofyour experience in one or two pages rather than trying to include everything you haveever worked on in three or more pages.

As a rule of thumb, use a resume early in your career before you have a long workhistory, professional associations and publications. Also, go with a resume for jobswith U.S.-based organizations. You might switch to a CV once you begin to look atmid-career positions and, in rare cases, an entry-level position with an internationallybased organization may request a CV rather than a resume. A sample resume andCV are included at the end of the chapter.

Resume and CV guidelines

• If you have less than five years of work experience, keep your resume to a singlepage. Every word and every bullet point on your resume should be there for areason that helps you get the current position to which you are applying.

• Create several versions of your resume or CV to highlight different skill sets thatrelate to the positions you are pursuing. For example, if you are looking at businessdevelopment positions and project assistant positions, have two versions of yourresume or CV that focus on the respective skills needed for each job.

• Use keywords from the job advertisement in your resume. This is particularlyimportant to clearing the screening stage if you do not have a contact inside theorganization.

• Describe what you were specifically responsible for and what you achieved usingactive verbs and quantifiable measurements whenever possible. “Implemented anew grant management system that reduced administrative costs by 3 percent,”sounds much better than “Worked on grant management software project.”

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Addressing your weaknessesMany jobs in international development will have some desired qualifications thatmost job seekers will not have. The following items are common shortcomings thatyou may face and suggestions on how to overcome them.

• Experience in development – It is often not an absolute requirement to haveexperience in international development, but it is certainly something that will standout and that you should try to address. If you haven’t worked in internationaldevelopment, the best option is to get some short-term volunteer experience. Eventaking a spring break trip to build houses or teach basic health care will show thatyou have the passion to take initiative and engage in development. If you don’t havetime to volunteer, then you can talk about any travel experience you have indeveloping countries. Vacationing on a beach in Thailand is no substitute forexperience, but if you can use it as an opportunity to show how you have becomeengaged in development, that is better than nothing. You might include in a coverletter something close to this: “I became interested in international developmentwhile I was traveling in SE Asia and, since returning, I have followed economicdevelopment issues closely, particularly the microfinance projects in Cambodia thatyour organization is currently engaged in.” If you have no work or travel experiencein developing countries, mention why you are interested in development and howyou have tried to learn more about it.

• USAID experience – It is common for administrative positions to list specific donorexperience in job advertisements. Many organizations are funded almost entirelyby a single donor agency, particularly USAID. Because their funding comes from asingle source, they want new employees who are already familiar with the reportingrequirements and protocols of that funder. If you don’t have any experience withdonors, you can consider attending one of the seminars that most large donorsprovide to explain their regulations. If that is not feasible, you can simply do theresearch on your own to learn about their regulations. It will not be the mostinteresting part of your week, but then you can tell employers that you don’t haveany direct work experience with the donor, however, you are familiar with theirreporting regulations.

• Regional experience – If your experience is mostly in South and Central America butyou find a great opportunity in Asia, you should explain why your experience is stillvaluable. There are many aspects of development experience that “travel-well” soyou can talk about best practices that are transferable to a new geography.

• Backstopping experience – If you haven’t done any administrative support work ininternational development, you can substitute similar experience in the privatesector or even administrative components of your prior work experience. Focusparticularly on detail-oriented and project management tasks as well as anyexperience you have implementing administrative systems.

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Resume Sample—Entry- to Midlevel

Joseph Applicant1111 1st Street #1A | New York, NY 10007

[email protected]+1-555-555-5555

EDUCATION2006 – 2008 ELLIOTT SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Washington DC

MPA - May 2008; Concentration in international non-profit management

• Served as co-organizer of International Non-Profit ManagementWorkshop

• Recipient of Non-Profit Fellow Award • Part-time teaching assistant for graduate management course

2000 – 2004 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY New York, NYBA Political Science

• Thesis on US Economic Policy toward South America• Graduated with Dean’s List honors

EXPERIENCESummer 2006 US-BRAZIL ECONOMIC COOPERATION ASSOCIATION Washington D.C

Summer Associate

• Led in-country research team to study the legal environment for FDI inthe tech sector in Brazil

• Developed research into detailed presentation for US businesses • Received recognition from Brazil’s FDI promotion board for quality of

presentation

2005 – 2006 INTER-AMERICAN POLICY CENTER Boston, MA Project Coordinator

• Provided administrative support including HR and finance for two fieldprojects with 12 staff

• Led final project evaluation team and documented best practices

2004 – 2005 RURAL FINANCE ASSOCIATION Santiago, ChileSmall Business Development Volunteer

• Wrote three training modules for rural entrepreneurs on getting loans,bookkeeping and financial math

• Delivered modules in 10 training sessions to over 200 entrepreneurs inrural villages

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE• Designed informational brochures on legal and financial rights for Puerto Rican

community house in Brooklyn, NY• Languages: Spanish – Fluent, French – Intermediate• Hobbies: Nature photography, Spanish cooking, ecotourism

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Curriculum Vitae (CV) Sample - Midlevel *This sample has been abbreviated to show only the content and style.

An actual CV would be two or more pages.

PERSONAL DETAILSName: Joseph A. ApplicantAddress: 1111 1st Street #1A, New York, NY 10027Contact: Tel: +1-555-555-5555/+1-555-555-5556Email: [email protected]/Work Authorization: USA, work authorization in USA and UK

PROFILEI have amassed over eight years of experience as a project leader for social andenvironmental impact assessments for large-scale infrastructure and energy projectsthroughout the Middle East and North Africa, with specific expertise in extractive industryoperations, waste treatment plants, power generation facilities (coal and nuclear), andSEZs. My experience covers private and public investments of up to $1.8 billion USD.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER Middle East and North Africa Regional DirectorBarrett, Fabir, and Abbas Associates, 2008 – Present

Responsibilities: As MENA regional director, I am responsible for managing a team of 25analysts and engineers working on three to five projects at a time. In this capacity, I overseethe design of new assessments, monitor data collection and ensure data quality, and writethe final assessment reports.

Key Achievements:• During my tenure, the region has cut its average completion time by 30 percent• 80 percent of the reports I have managed have received the highest possible evaluation

ranking by the Independent Evaluation Group

EDUCATIONUniversity of Colorado, Boulder, COPh.D. in Environmental Science (1996) Dissertation: "Standardization of Environmental Impact Assessments for InfrastructureInvestment in the Middle East"Advisor: Dr. Joseph Miles

PUBLICATIONSHandbook for Environmental Impact Assessments on Waste Treatment Projects. WashingtonD.C.: George Washington University Press, 2003."Social Impact and the Provision of Public Goods." Journal of Applied Economics, Summer,2004

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS• Member, American Academy of Environmental Engineers• Member and registered expert, Association of Consulting Engineers

ADDITIONAL• Fluent speaker of French, Arabic, English and Italian

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INTERVIEWINGBy following a job search strategy you have greatly improved your chances to makethe shortlist. When you do, you’ll need to prepare for the final stage of the hiringprocess, which consists of one or more interviews. You can expect, on average, tohave two or three interviews, often with more than one person interviewing you. Justas with your applications, the key to successfully interviewing is preparation. Makesure you are very familiar with the organization, including its mission, currentprojects, geographic focus, and major donors. If you have phone interviews, takeadvantage of the opportunity to make note cards ahead of time with answers tocommon questions.

Some tips for giving excellent interviews include:

• Make a list of likely questions. Practice your answers until you are comfortable andsound natural. Practice in front of the mirror or with friends. If at all possible,record yourself answering the questions and review the tape. Many universitycareer centers offer these services.

• Keep your answers brief and be sure you are answering the specific question thatwas asked. If your interviewers want more information, they will ask for it.

• It is good to use examples from your field experience because it can break the ice,show your worldly experience, and stand out in the minds of your interviewers.However, be aware that these stories have a tendency to become long-winded.Practice ahead of time to make sure you get to a meaningful point quickly withoutgiving unnecessary background information.

• It is common for interviews to begin with a very general, life-story question along thelines of, “So, tell me about your background,” or, “Walk me through your resume.”.Always have a strong, concise answer to this question ready. It should be no longerthan two or three minutes, hit the key points of your resume and end with astatement about why you are interested in the position for which you are beinginterviewed.

• Be formal and professional, but also remember that the interview is about morethan your experience. These are your future potential co-workers trying todetermine if they would want to work with you. This is sometimes called the“airplane test,” meaning your interviewer should be willing to sit next to you on asix- hour flight based on your interview. You can make a positive impression bydemonstrating good communications skills. Listen carefully, ask thoughtfulquestions and address your interviewers by name.

• Be ready with one or two insightful questions to ask your interviewers about theposition or their organization. These questions should be specific enough todemonstrate that you know the organization but not so specific that your interviewermight not know the answer. For example, the question, “How did you decide to uselocal taxis as information distribution sources for your HIV/AIDS project in

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Malaysia?” would be too specific because your interviewer may not have anyrelationship to that project. A better question would be, “Your organization hasstarted several new projects in public health in the last two years. Are you looking forsynergies in public health with your economic development projects, or is it anevolution based on funding availability?” Most people enjoy talking about theirworkplace, and your interviewer will appreciate your attempt to understand the growthof the organization.

Sample interview questions

Most interviews include two types of questions. “Fit” questions address yourcompatibility with the organization, your knowledge of the industry, and your passion forthe work. “Technical” questions seek to determine your ability to handle to work. Somekey questions you will likely be asked are listed below with guidelines for answering.

Walk me through your resume.

You should practice answering this question until you can give a two- to three-minuteresponse focusing on your key accomplishments and ending with a statement on whyyou are considering the current job

How did you learn about our organization?

This question is giving you an opportunity to show off your networking and industryknowledge. Impress your interviewer by giving some current facts about theorganization. For example, “I took a course last semester on emerging markets financeand, as part of my research paper, I studied the financial performance of microfinanceinstitutions. I found that the three leading MFIs in Ecuador are all clients of Women’sWorld Banking, and that led me to find out more about the organization.”

Why do you want to work in international development?

This is a good time to give a short anecdote of some experience you have had ininternational development that made you want to work in the industry. Prepare acouple of examples ahead of time and make sure they are easy to understand, shortand impactful.

How would you explain the mission of the organization?

If you have done your homework and prepared for the job hunting process, thisquestion will be no problem. If you haven’t taken the time to read the organization’smission statement, then use the question as a learning experience to be betterprepared in the future.

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What are some qualitative and quantitative methods you might use to evaluate theimpact of a development project?

Your research into the industry should give you some idea of evaluationmethodologies. Qualitative methods are used to understand, on an individual basis,a project outcome. For example, how did clinical workers in these two rural hospitalschange their patient interactions as a result of the training? These methods are usedmost often to determine the needs of a target population and evaluate theeffectiveness of a project on individual beneficiaries. Common qualitative methodsinclude focus groups, interview panels, and case studies. Quantitative methods aredata -driven and attempt to determine the overall impact of a project. For example,how much did personal expenditure on health care change in this town as a result ofthe school outreach program? Quantitative methods utilize statistical analysis on datathat either pre-exists or is created for the evaluation. Pre-existing data can includeanything from national tax records to World Bank data on pollution levels to customsdata on imports. New data is created through methods such as baseline studies,surveys and direct observation.

How would you deal with the following difficult situations? Being asked to pay a bribein order to get permission to start a development project; a co-worker that hasnegative views of your home country; not having electricity for two weeks?

These kinds of questions are testing your ability to solve problems in difficultsituations. You should demonstrate the ability to think of numerous ways toaccomplish your goals and to communicate effectively. For example, in the case ofthe bribery question you might suggest finding a higher-level counterpart to write aletter of support that you could give to the official, making your request in a formalletter that would require a written response, hiring a lawyer or simply inviting theofficial to your office where you could explain the project and gently indicate that youcan only authorize money to be spent for approved purposes.

How does spending on international assistance promote the interests of the nation?(This is most likely used for a government aid agency job.)

Spending on international assistance has many benefits to the home country. Betterrelationships with foreign governments are helpful politically. Economic developmentmeans more markets for home country exports. Better management of health caremeans better controls over disease outbreaks.

Why do you want to be a volunteer? (for volunteer positions)

Most volunteer agencies want to place people with a good idea of what they want toaccomplish from the experience both personally and professionally. When youexplain why you want to be a volunteer, describe your interest in the position and howit relates to your long-term career goals. Also be sure that you express a commitmentto the work. Many volunteer organizations are concerned with people quitting at thefirst signs of difficulty because they didn’t think through what they were getting into.

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Some other common questions that you may encounter include:

• Where do you see yourself professionally in five years?• What is your biggest professional accomplishment?• What is your biggest professional failure?• What unique skills will you bring to the position? • How did you select your graduate degree?• Do you work more comfortably alone or in teamwork situations?

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WHO GETS HIRED?As stated earlier, international development positions are almost always very competitive.The most attractive positions, including some prestigious fellowships and YoungProfessionals programs with intergovernmental organizations such as the IFC or UN,regularly receive more than a thousand applications for a dozen positions. Given thecompetition, it can be daunting to even apply to widely advertised positions, but getting ajob is really just about doing your homework, finding opportunities you are qualified for andstanding out from the crowd. Some common ways people get hired are listed below.

Applicants already inside the organization

The best way to get jobs in a particular organization is to already be working there. It iscommon in many organizations for jobs be offered to current employees or through aninformal network of candidates. Current employees have several advantages that can makethe difference between being the only applicant and being one of hundreds of applicants.First, current employees are often aware of upcoming openings and have plenty of time totalk with the project team about filling the position. Managers also like to promote fromwithin because they are familiar with the candidates and can shift training needs to moreentry-level positions. You do not need professional, paid experience in an organization.Volunteering can serve the same function by allowing you to build a strong network ofcontacts within an organization and show off your skills to potential co-workers. As a job-hunt strategy, this may not be feasible for everyone, but it is certainly a good approach toconsider.

Applicants connected to the organization

The next best thing to getting a job before it is advertised is submitting an applicationthrough someone inside the organization. This is particularly effective in internationaldevelopment due to the small and informal nature of most hiring decisions. Having

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The Hiring ProcessChapter 7

The importance of being professionalAfter four interviews and being one of the final three candidates for a position,Patrick didn’t get the job. He was disappointed but followed up with the HRdepartment of the organization a few days later, thanking them for the interviews,expressing how much he had learned throughout the application process andasking for his resume to be kept on file. Three weeks later he got an emailinviting him to apply for a position that had suddenly become available and, afterone interview, was offered the position.

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someone inside the organization mention your application or forward your resume tothe project manager usually means you’ll at least pass through the screening phase.Networking, which is covered in Chapter 6, is the key to getting this advantage.

Applicants with highly applicable experience and education

With careful preparation, you should reduce the number of jobs you apply to “cold” orwith nothing but your resume and cover letter. It is certainly possible to get offers fromthese cold submissions, but you will be relying entirely on your resume and cover letterso it is important to demonstrate that you are a clear fit for the specific needs of theposition. One difficult aspect of international development is that many jobs have anunusual requirement or two that might disqualify many applicants. For instance, theremay be a great children’s health position that you are qualified for except that it is inWest Africa and requires French fluency, a language you don’t speak. If yourbackground is a very strong fit to the job except for this one issue, it may be worth yourtime to go ahead and apply. However, given the competitive nature of the industry therewill likely be someone with a similar background that happened to study French in highschool rather than Spanish.

THE PROCESSUnlike many other industries, there are few standards in international developmentaround the hiring process. It varies a great deal by organization and differences alsodepend on the type of position.

For the most part, the hiring process in international development is slower than in theprivate sector. This is due to many factors, including the large number of applicantsand the project-based nature of many positions. In addition, a lot of developmentorganizations have either very small or nonexistent HR departments, so candidates arereviewed by the already overworked project staff. Another common aspect of the hiringprocess is the unfortunate lack of feedback. Be prepared to submit many carefullycrafted applications only to never hear anything back. There are simply too manyapplicants for most positions to allow for individual feedback.

Basically, the hiring process will consist of a screening phase, a review period andinterviews.

• The screening phase is where most job hunters are eliminated. It usually consists ofa project assistant or HR associate or administrative assistant looking at every resumesubmission and eliminating the applications that don’t meet the requirements of theposition. This phase is all about matching your skills and background to the needsof the position. If the job description says, “USAID experience required,” and yourresume doesn’t have the word USAID on it, you are probably not making it throughscreening, regardless of your other relevant experience. A significant portion of your

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job search strategy, which is discussed in Chapter 6, is dedicated to getting past thescreening process so your resume and cover letter are given serious consideration.

• The review period is a more careful review of the applicants who make it throughscreening, usually conducted by more senior staff. The best of these applicantsthen make the shortlist of candidates who will be interviewed. This phase stilldepends on your match to the needs of the position but allows you to make a casefor your candidacy through your cover letter, which can address some limitations orshortcomings you may have. Chapter 6 covers resumes and cover letters in detail.

• The interview phase involves one or more conversations with people responsible formaking the hiring decision. It can be a stressful time, but once you have made itthis far, you are at least a competitive applicant.

More information on the hiring process specific to various kinds of developmentorganizations is covered in later in this chapter.

NEGOTIATINGOne common question is the value of negotiation in the hiring process. Many peopleassume that salaries are firmly set by donor agreement or internal regulation but, infact, there is almost always a great deal of leeway in compensation.Intergovernmental organizations, for example, have salary ranges with a maximumand minimum for each grade level that can differ by more than $10,000. A salaryoffer can be anywhere in this range.

Benefits are often more difficult to negotiate because they are usually set by contracttype, but there is still room for negotiation. The most flexibility is usually in relocation,although some organizations offer adjusted levels of housing or cost of living stipends.

Some negotiation tips to keep in mind include:

• Timing The best time to negotiate either salary or benefits is after you have an offer. At thatpoint the organization has invested in the interview process, selected you as theirbest candidate, and is more likely to negotiate. If you are asked about salaryexpectation or benefits during the interview process, you can be up front about yourexpectations without limiting your ability to negotiate. For example, if you needrelocation and housing benefits, then you might respond to a question about salaryexpectation by saying, “I am looking at positions that provide competitiveinternational packages.” This will clearly signal that you expect a high-endcompensation package without being dishonest or limiting your options to negotiateif you get an offer. Another common answer to the question is to say that you arelooking at comparable positions with other industry leaders for internationalcontracts.

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• Be confident Many people feel very uncomfortable negotiating their job offer. You may fear thatyour employer will withdraw their offer when you don’t immediately accept, or that itmakes you appear arrogant, or that you don’t want to start a new relationship with afuture boss by driving a hard bargain. Rest assured, all of these outcomes areextremely uncommon, and you wouldn’t want to work for an organization that reactedin this way. In fact, appropriate negotiation is expected and will demonstrate yourprofessionalism. Just remember that the hiring process is as long for employers asjob hunters, and once you have an offer the employer is very likely to try and find away to make you say yes.

• Be preparedAnticipate questions about compensation and be prepared with your answers.Practice them ahead of time with a friend or in front of a mirror. Know some industryinformation, such as general pay scales available online or even general statistics fornon-profit industry wages (but be careful—international development is not alwayscompatible with job data for the nonprofit sector. It should only be used when thereis no better information available). Other data you should have includes salary rangesfor people with your educational background (many universities have this forstudents), cost of living information and your salary history.

• Be creativeIf HR tells you that new hires with your contract type can’t receive relocationcompensation, then negotiate for a signing bonus, a temporary salary increase oranything else that will get you the benefits you need.

• Be firm but know your point of compromise Most negotiations will take a few rounds to be resolved and you should maintain aconsistent stance during this time. Justify why you need the item under negotiationand be clear that it is a priority. This will shift the negotiation from a question ofwhether or not to provide the benefit to a question of how much of a benefit toprovide. While you should be firm, you should also have a carefully calculatednumber that you will accept as a compromise. This number should be relative to youropportunity cost, or the value of the next best alternative to the job you arenegotiating. If you have another offer that you are interested in, you can negotiatemore strongly than if your alternative is sticking with your restaurant job.

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ORGANIZATION-SPECIFIC INFORMATIONThe following sections identify unique aspects of the hiring process for different typesof international development organizations.

Government Agencies and Donors

Almost all industrial nations have government-run international assistance programsthat distribute Official Development Assistance (ODA) and many have government-sponsored volunteer programs. For example, the U.S. government has USAID andthe Peace Corps. These programs are some of largest employers of internationaldevelopment professionals and offer good salaries plus excellent benefits. They arealmost always easier to get started in than the multilaterals and offer similar benefitsplus the opportunity to work abroad.

Hiring process

Like multilateral organizations, government agencies have strict administrativepolicies covering the hiring process. Start by consulting the government’s jobwebsite, which should allow you to search for positions within a specific agency. Thewebsite will list the application requirements in detail. Government positions oftenhave more detailed applications that may require you to prepare narrative responsesto questions. The hiring timeline can be slow, with average times from posting a jobto making an offer ranging from several weeks to several months.

What you need to be competitive

Most educational backgrounds will be suitable for these positions. Some priorinternational development experience will be very helpful. The ranks of manynational development agencies are filled with former volunteers from that country’svolunteer program.

Tips and traps

• Most of these jobs, both professional and volunteer positions, require citizenship inthe country. They may offer consultant positions that can go to non-citizens butthese will be highly competitive and require extensive technical experience.

• Many governments offer preferential hiring to candidates who currently work for thefederal government. Sometimes this even applies to volunteers. For example,Peace Corps volunteers get one year of preferential hiring for federal governmentjobs after completing their service.

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Where to find opportunities

Jobs with government agencies will be posted online through the government’s job site.Think outside the box and consider government agencies besides the designatedinternational development agency. In the United States, there are dozens ofgovernment agencies that participate in international development and many of themmay offer unique opportunities that other job seekers don’t think to pursue. You canalso look for agencies that match your functional interest. For example, if you areinterested in environmental conservation you can be sure that there are severalgovernment agencies involved with this work that have some budget devoted tointernational issues. Often these are capacity-building or training projects.

Best ways to get in the door

Many of these agencies offer entry-level positions that have regular advancementopportunities. Volunteer service is also useful because returned volunteers regularlyenter these government agencies and you will have a ready network to help identifyopportunities.

NGOs and Implementing Agencies

International development work is carried out by implementing organizations, the mostcommon of which are known as NGOs. Other types of implementing organizationsinclude nonprofits, private voluntary organizations, civil sector organizations,development consultancies, think tanks, and private sector companies. There aredifferences between each of these that are covered in Part I, but, for the purposes ofthe hiring process, they operate in largely the same manner.

Hiring process

The hiring process for these organizations follows the basic outline already covered.There will be a screening phase, review period and interviews. The average time fromposting a job to making an offer can range from several weeks to several months.Larger organizations will have detailed job pages on their websites that will allow you toapply directly online. Smaller organizations still post their openings online but maymake more use of informal networks and internal hiring to fill vacancies.

What you need to be competitive

Qualifications vary widely depending on the size and focus of the organization, but youshould have some international development experience and appropriate educationalqualifications.

Where to find opportunities

Jobs with these organizations may be posted on their website, internet job sites,university job sites, industry publications, or not posted at all. Many of theseorganizations also keep databases of resumes. You should be able to post your resume

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in their databases through their websites. The best way to find opportunities is to useyour network to find a contact within the organization.

Best ways to get in the door

Many of these organizations will have entry-level positions suitable for recentgraduates. In addition, larger organizations will provide structured volunteeropportunities that will often lead to full-time work. Even smaller organizations withoutformal internship programs may be receptive to your offer to volunteer.

Intergovernmental Organizations

Hiring process

Multilateral organizations are known for their bureaucratic administrative proceduresand, unfortunately, hiring policies are no exception. The strict procedures are well-intended efforts to ensure transparency and prevent corruption, but they make theapplication process very slow. The average time from posting a job to making an offercan range from one to six months and up to a year for special programs, such asYoung Professionals. Applications are submitted online through the organization’swebsite and the hiring process usually involves several rounds of interviewing. It isnot uncommon for a successful applicant to go through five or more interviews beforebeing offered a position. The United Nations has several hiring processes, includinga competitive exam.

What you need to be competitive

Due to the highly competitive nature of these jobs, you will need top-notcheducational and work experience qualifications. These should include postgraduateeducation from an excellent university and high-level work experience with respectedpublic or private sector organizations. For regionally focused organizations, such asthe Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) or the Asian Development Bank(ADB), you should have extensive regional experience and relevant language fluency.Due to the high level of requirements, the average starting age for these organizationsis usually in the early to mid-30s.

Tips and traps

• Most IGOs have several grades of employees, with certain grades consideredprofessional and lower grades non-professional. The distinction is importantbecause only professional employees qualify for most benefits.

• IGOs are “owned” by the countries that provide their operating budgets. If you arenot a citizen of a member country, you are probably not eligible to work for theorganization.

• Some IGOs, particularly the United Nations, have a mandate to hire employees frommember countries in proportion to their funding. Therefore, citizens from certaincountries are given high priority for some jobs.

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Where to find opportunities for regular employment

All IGOs have career pages on their websites where they post open jobs. Be aware thatany position you see here will receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications, butalso don’t let that discourage you if you have a very strong fit for the position.

Young Professional programs

Most IGOs offer management training or rotational programs targeted at recentgraduates called Young Professionals programs. These programs are goodopportunities to get in the door with a multilateral agency but they are extremelycompetitive. Thousands of people apply every year for 10 to 20 positions. At aminimum you will need a master’s degree and some international developmentexperience. Having a master’s degree from a prestigious university or strong workexperience with a well-known company can improve your chances. Applications forthese programs are generally accepted in the fall with final decisions made the followingspring. Refer to each organization’s website for more information on these programs.

Internships

Many IGOs offer internship programs that are extremely competitive. Often theseinternships are targeted at experienced development workers who are earning master’sor PhD degrees. However check with their websites to see if you meet the requirementsfor a volunteer position. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) runs theUnited Nations Volunteer program, which is covered in more detail below.

Best ways to get in the door

There are really no easy ways to get in the door with an IGO. Any position listed on thewebsite, including unpaid internships, will attract too many applicants to be a goodpossibility. One strategy that can be effective is to build strong professional skills in afield environment and then try to get a short-term contract with an IGO’s field office. Forinstance, you might work with local NGOs in Bolivia on designing community surveysto assess the quality of social services. If you get really experienced at this you mightbe able to get a short-term contract from the local IADB office to conduct a similarsurvey for one of their projects. This requires a very strong network within themultilateral agency and an excellent reputation for the quality of your work.

Volunteer Positions

Volunteer positions come in all shapes and sizes, from multiyear programs with benefitsand living stipends to short-term positions that don’t cover any expenses. Volunteeringis also the most common way to get started in international development and should beseriously considered, even for more experienced job seekers.

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Hiring process

The hiring process varies greatly by organization. More formal programs, such asVSO and the Peace Corps, have very lengthy selection processes that can last up toa year and involve medical and background screening. Less formal programs andthose that aren’t run by governments or large international agencies are usually fasterbut offer fewer benefits. Volunteer positions aren’t as competitive as professionalpositions, but you should still expect some rigorous interviewing and be prepared toexplain your interest in the position.

Evaluating volunteer programs

With so many volunteer programs out there, it can be hard to determine which willprovide the best experience. For any program you consider, always speak tosomeone who has gone through it, preferably several people. Ask how well structuredthe program was, how much support they had in the field and what kind of benefitswere provided to the volunteers. Good programs will offer benefits even if they arenot paid. Some common benefits to look for include:

• Travel stipend If you will have to travel for the position, be sure to determine if the costs arecovered. Larger volunteer organizations will almost always cover these costs butless formal and smaller programs may not.

• Insurance You should always have insurance when working abroad. This will often be coveredby your volunteer organization, but, if not, many insurance companies offer lowcost, short-term travel insurance.

• Living stipendFind out how your living expenses will be paid. These vary widely depending onwhere the position is located and can add up to a large amount in some cases.Many volunteer organizations will provide a per-diem stipend to cover room andboard.

• Alumni network Formal volunteer programs should offer strong alumni networks that you can use tohelp with networking.

• Loan deferment Many volunteer programs are targeted at recent graduates so better programs willoffer some kind of loan deferral for the period of your service. These deferrals haveto be individually negotiated so the volunteer program may not offer deferrals foryour specific loan. Be sure to ask.

There are some reputable organizations that will charge a fee to place volunteersand many more that are not reputable. Always be extra cautious of volunteeropportunities that require payment, and thoroughly investigate the position beforepursuing it.

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Where to find opportunities

Refer to the appendix for a list of major volunteer organizations and their entrancerequirements.

Creating your own volunteer opportunity

If you plan ahead, you might consider doing three months of volunteer service beforeyou begin your job search. This will allow you to get direct experience targeted at thekind of jobs for which you want to apply. Creating your own volunteer opportunityrequires extensive preparation. Be prepared to write your own job description, then sellit to prospective host organizations. It is much easier to create these opportunities infield offices or with local NGOs than with international organizations.

Getting the most from a volunteer experience

Having a successful volunteer experience is as much your responsibility as thevolunteer agency’s. Remember, one of most important personal characteristics tosucceed in development is initiative. This applies even more in volunteer positions.You should have a very clear idea, before you even begin, of what you want toaccomplish personally and professionally from your volunteer work. Make sure you aregetting this when you start working, and if you are not, find a way to make the situationbetter.

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Making your own volunteer opportunityLinda was in her first year of a two-year master’s degree in environmental science.She wanted to get a job after graduating in environmental conservation in SoutheastAsia but didn’t have any international development experience. It was nearly the startof the summer vacation and she hadn’t found a summer job in environmentalconservation, so she decided to create her own position to get work experience andbuild her network. She started by developing a short proposal of projects she couldcomplete as a volunteer that would be useful professional skills for her full-time jobsearch. Then she contacted local NGOs in several Southeast Asian countries throughtheir websites, offering to work with them free of charge on any of the projects shehad developed. Several of the organizations were interested in getting free assistanceand she ended up spending the summer with a local NGO in Cambodia, trainingnational park staff in conservation and wildlife surveying. Her school funded half ofher travel costs and the local NGO arranged for her to stay in a spare bedroom withone the national park staff. She had to borrow money from her parents to fund thesummer, but she got highly applicable work experience and met several employeesof the World Wildlife Fund while she was in Cambodia that she can use as contactsfor her full-time job search.

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Career PathsCulture, Compensation and Benefits

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CAREER ROLES IN DEVELOPMENTThere are three broad categories of positions within every development organization. Theseinclude administrative, technical, and support positions. Although some organizationscombine these roles, you should be aware of the differences because they can have majorimplications on your daily work and career opportunities. Some organizations also use theterms ‘project position’ and ’non-project position’ instead of ‘technical’ and ‘administrative’but the distinction is the same.

Administrative roles are responsible for ensuring the organization has the resources andsupport, including leadership, to fulfill its mission. These are the program managers, grantwriters, coordinators, and many others who handle everything besides projectimplementation. The technical staff is responsible for carrying out the actual projects thatthe organization runs, and positions include project managers, technical consultants andadvisors. Very few positions will be entirely focused in only one of these areas, so if youwant to develop technical skills, you should not overlook administrative positions and if youland a technical job you should still expect to do regular administrative tasks. Supportpositions are distinct in that they involve very specific duties similar to correspondingpositions in the private sector. These jobs include accountants, IT specialists, HR officers,and other professional support positions needed to keep an organization running.

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A note about terminologyThe distinction between administrative and technical roles varies by organization. Forexample, in a small NGO devoted to rural health care, the managers are likely to havea strong technical background in addition to managerial experience. Organizationswith many local offices around the world are more likely to have specializedmanagement roles.

A current trend in larger organizations is to place administrative positions within atechnical functional area. For instance, one leading development consultancy is splitinto three practice areas covering economic development, water and sanitation, andgovernance. Administrative positions, such as project coordinators, are hired into oneof these practice areas where they get technical skills in addition to administrativeskills.

You should also be aware that terminology, qualifications and duties vary greatly byorganization, even for roles with similar or identical titles. One organization mightrequire three to five years of experience for an “associate” position while anotherorganization’s “associates” may need five to seven years of experience.

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ADMINISTRATIVE ROLES

Description

Administrators are the nuts and bolts of a development organization. They keep thingsrunning smoothly and ensure there are enough resources to fulfill the organization’smission. In addition to management and leadership, they are responsible for fundraising, designing projects, reporting results, and overseeing the operations of theorganization’s field offices. The successful administrator is a self-starter with goodcommunication skills, attention to detail and a strong ability to multitask.

Career path

Career paths vary greatly by organization, but administrative roles generally lead tomanagement positions, such as departmental heads in the home office or countrydirector positions in the field. For example, a common entry-level position in theadministrative track is business development associate. After one or two years in thatposition, you would advance to business development manager and then to seniorbusiness development manager. Depending on the size of the organization, there maybe another level as vice president or director of business development.

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A common development career pathSusan’s example is one common to international development. She started as aPeace Corps volunteer working on a teacher-training project in West Africa.Following her two-year contract, she remained in the country to work with a localNGO on capacity-building in the education sector. This position paid a localsalary of less than $200 per month, requiring Susan to use her savings onstudent loan repayment. When a large, multinational NGO started a similarproject in the country, she used her language skills and cultural knowledge to geta position as an assistant project manager with an international salary andbenefits. After the project ended, she was offered a position with the NGO in itsheadquarters office in Washington, D.C., where she now lives.

“It was a hard choice to stay in the country after I finished my work with thePeace Corps, especially because of my student loans, but I knew I wanted towork in international development and the experience would be valuable. I’mreally glad I stuck with it.

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General qualifications for entry-level

The entry-level requirements for administrative positions are often less demandingthan those for technical positions. Although these vary significantly by organization,you will need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and some exposure to internationalissues. As the industry becomes more competitive, a master’s degree and somevolunteer or work experience in international development will probably becomenecessary for entry-level administrative positions. These qualifications are covered inmore detail in Chapter 5.

Home or field

Administrative positions are usually based at a home office with some travel to thefield. A program coordinator, for example, may travel once or twice per year todifferent field offices to help write a grant proposal, evaluate a project or get a newfield office started. These trips may last anywhere from a few days to several weeks,depending on the needs of the organization. Some organizations may requiresignificantly more travel, so you should have a good idea of how much time you arecomfortable spending in the field. Most field offices will also have one senioradministrator, such as a country director or country representative, which is generallythe highest field-based administrative position.

Skills needed

Smaller organizations will really be looking for a jack-of-all-trades background foradministrative positions. They want someone who can proofread a grant application,summarize a recent article on new trends in economic development, file a spendingapproval and check the status of a new field office all in the same day. And thenremember to get up at 1:30 a.m. to call the country director of the Uzbekistan office.Any experience in project management will be very helpful, as will writing skills,computer software knowledge and fund-raising experience. Even for administrativeroles, you should demonstrate some understanding of the technical work theorganization focuses on.

Larger organizations will have more specialized administrative roles, often with severallevels in each role. These kinds of roles are covered below. You should be sure toask, when pursuing an administrative job, what kind of mobility it provides to otheradministrative or technical areas.

Common positions

• Business developmentThis position is responsible for finding funding and maintaining good relationshipswith donors. These jobs involve a great deal of writing and careful attention todetail. In addition, you will become an expert in the reporting and grant submissionguidelines of major donors.

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• Project coordinator/assistant These positions involve helping with tracking and managing projects, often referred toas backstopping. Daily tasks involve writing project reports, monitoring budgets,coordinating with donors and assisting with grant writing.

• Project managerProject coordinators or assistants may take on more responsibility and becomeproject managers, who handle similar duties but for multiple projects. Projectmanagers also assist with the organization’s strategic planning and businessdevelopment.

• Communications staffLarger organizations have many specialized administrative roles, many of which fallinto the support category, but some involve more project-related work.Communications staff, for example, may focus on a single type of project, such asagricultural work and travel to field sites to write about projects and documentsuccess stories.

TECHNICAL ROLES

Description

Technical specialists are responsible for delivering the results that an organizationpromises in its funding proposals. These are the economists, engineers, policy experts,doctors, bankers and lawyers who utilize their professional talents in the realm ofdevelopment. The full spectrum of technical positions in international development isvirtually unlimited since almost any specialty can be applied to the needs of adeveloping country. Successful technical specialists are excellent communicators,highly adaptable and highly knowledgeable in their professional area.

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Moving from an administrative to a technical positionSankar worked as a manager in a department store before returning to school toearn his MBA. He wanted to work in microfinance but had a hard time findinga position due to his lack of experience. Sankar eventually accepted a positionin business development with an international NGO working in economicdevelopment. After several months of good performance, he requestedpermission to find funding for a small microfinance project and took on theresponsibility of writing the project proposal. When he found a donor to fund theproject’s feasibility study, he was assigned to manage the study and eventuallybecame the full-time project manager for a major microfinance project.

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Many technical roles are hired through short-term contracts and go to highly qualifiedand very specialized consultants. Though more development organizations arestarting to keep technical specialists on staff as regular employees, and some evenoffer entry-level or mid-career positions in technical areas.

Career path

For technical positions, the traditional career path is more a matter of jumping fromone contract to another, with one or more organizations while building regionalexperience or expertise in a particular type of project. However, some organizationsare beginning to hire technical specialists and are offering a regular career path.Although these organizations are in the minority, there is a growing trend to buildstrong technical skills even among administrative staff. Thus, it would be possible,for example, to get a position as a program assistant for health projects and thenadvance to program manager, and finally be offered a field assignment as deputychief of party for a health policy project based on the strength of your technicalknowledge. As technical experts take on more are more responsibility, they assumegreater management duties. The highest position for technical experts in the field isthe chief of party or project director position, which comes with a great deal ofadministrative duties.

General qualifications

The qualifications needed for technical positions vary greatly by organization and thelevel of responsibility associated with the role. At a minimum, you can expect to needpostgraduate education in the relevant field, a few years of experience and someexposure to international development. Many organizations also prefer technical staffthat have worked within the organization or that have some experience with theadministrative side of international development. Many technical positions are filledinternally by administrative staff with the required education and experience.

Due to the heavy competition for these jobs, most people specialize in a single aspectof their industry. For example, if you are interested in economic development, youmight pursue an MBA with a concentration in finance or an MPA with a concentrationin economic policy. Beyond that you might even focus more specifically onmicrofinance or rural economic development.

Home or field

There are opportunities for technical jobs at headquarters and field offices.Headquarters-based positions help design projects, write proposals, carry outresearch and assist field projects. Field-based positions are responsible for one ormore projects being implemented. Just as with the administrative positions, it isusually easier to get a field posting after you are already inside an organization.

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Skills needed

The skills required for technical positions depend heavily on the nature of the position,but a solid educational and technical background will be a necessity for any position.Beyond that, experience working in a developing country, managing diverse teams andcompleting complex tasks under tight deadlines will be helpful. Writing andcommunication skills are also critical for higher-level technical positions.

Common positions

• Technical advisorMany organizations employ permanent technical specialists to assist with projectdesign, grant writing and troubleshooting. These are permanent staff, meaning theywork from the main office and are not assigned to a single project. These are verytechnical positions and usually require five to 10 years of professional experience.

• Monitoring and evaluation specialistMonitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a career function that splits administrative andtechnical functions. There are many technical skills required for the work, but theseprofessionals are usually based out of a home or regional office and spend a lot oftime on administrative issues. Many graduate programs offer course work or evenconcentrations in monitoring and evaluation.

SUPPORT POSITIONS

Description

Support positions cover the operational needs of the organization from HR to IT toaccounting. These jobs tend to closely match their private sector counterparts with afew additional duties, such as contract and grant management. Most organizationsemploy minimal support staff due to the limited nature of their funding, and thepositions are generally less competitive because they typically don’t offer career mobilityinto either administrative or technical positions. Successful support staff are self-directed, detail-oriented and able to work on several project simultaneously.

Career path

Support staff advance within their functional department. For example, an entry-levelHR assistant role might lead eventually to regional HR manager and then to director ofHR. Larger organizations will have more defined career paths and more opportunitiesfor employment. It is uncommon, but not unheard of, for support staff to cross over tofill an administrative or technical role, so check with a potential employer if you arelooking for that kind of career progression.

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General qualifications for entry-level

Qualifications generally include a university degree, some private-sector workexperience and a commitment to the organization’s mission. Smaller organizationshave higher qualifications for work experience and education. Some exposure to theunique aspects of non-profit or international organizations will also be an asset forthese positions.

Home or field

Most support positions are in main offices, but larger organizations often have supportpersonnel in the field, especially when opening or closing a field office. It is becomingmore common for organizations to staff their field office support positions with localhires in-country rather than international staff.

Skills needed

Support staff will be expected to have a working knowledge of their functional role,evidenced by prior experience. In addition, international experience or past work withdiverse teams will be helpful.

Common positions

• IT advisor Most international development organizations rely heavily on IT and informationmanagement systems. These organizations always need skilled IT technicians tokeep their networks running.

• Accountant/internet audit Financial management is also critical to the operations of international developmentagencies. These positions offer an excellent way to use your accounting skills in arewarding and challenging field.

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TECHNIQUES FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENTCareer advancement in international development is less routine than other industries.With the possible exception of intergovernmental and government agencies, you willrarely advance up a well-defined career ladder, being promoted every few years.

• Entry levelThere are generally a lot of opportunities in international development for people atthe very beginning of their careers. As we have discussed, these are often eithervolunteer positions or low-paid, entry-level jobs. For those at the start of their career,these are great opportunities to get some practical work experience and explore thefield.

• Mid-levelThe number of positions in the industry greatly constricts for mid-level positions. Ingeneral, these are positions requiring more than three years of experience. Onereason is that many organizations prefer to recruit from within and mid-level positionsusually go to current employees. In addition, there are simply fewer real mid-levelpositions in the industry. The funding constraints that nearly every developmentorganization faces results in a streamlined organizational structure with few non-project mid-level positions.

• Senior levelWhile there are a limited number of senior level positions in internationaldevelopment, they are often more numerous than mid-level positions. The mainreason is that these positions often have some requirements that are hard to fill. Forexample, it is often difficult to find someone with 20 years of experience to live in aremote developing country because professionals with this many years of experiencewill usually have families and less flexibility on lifestyle considerations. In addition,the natural attrition of the industry means that few people stay in development longenough to make it to senior levels, thus there are often vacant positions.

Some techniques that are common in the industry to advance a career include:

• Going regional• Shopping around• Going back to school• Gaining unique skills

CAREER TRANSITIONSIt is much less common in international development for professionals to spend theirentire careers with the same organization and consequently, career transitions are animportant component of overall career management in the industry. Multilateral andgovernment agencies are the general exception as they can provide the stability, andthe compensation and benefits to keep long-term employees. As a result, most people

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transition from one NGO to another, taking advantage of hiring for new projects.Despite the rapid growth in development agencies, it is still a relatively close-knitindustry, and informal networking is usually enough to keep abreast of opportunitieswith peer organizations. In addition, the professional competencies gained with anyparticular NGO are highly transferable to other NGOs, particularly within the samefocus area. For example, once you acquire backstopping experience with one of themany NGOs that gets most of its funding from USAID, you will have the professionalskills necessary to work for many other similar organizations. For many reasons, youmay choose, at some point, to switch to one of these other organizations. Perhapsyour company is experiencing a slowdown in business, or you want to work closer tohome, or you hear another NGO is paying more money for project assistants.

Transitions within international development

• Home office to field office back to home officeOne common career path is for young professionals to start their careers out ofuniversity at a large headquarters office of a development agency in a city such asWashington, D.C., or London. After a few years with the organization, it is oftenpossible to transfer to a field office to work on project implementation. This is anexciting and challenging period. After several years abroad, however, manyconsiderations make it desirable to move back to the headquarters office. Thesefactors might include an upcoming childbirth, wanting to be closer to family,missing a home culture, or seeking a more traditional lifestyle. With priorheadquarters experience and an understanding of field operations, it is usually easyto transition back to a home office.

• NGOs to intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)It can be very challenging to make a career transition from NGOs to multilateralagencies. Usually this shift will require the intervention of graduate study or theacquisition of highly specific experience. For example, someone working with anNGO on community-based tourism in Brazil might acquire enough expertise to becompetitive for a position with the Inter-American Development Bank on a similarproject in Brazil. However this is more the exception than the norm and in generalit is hard to move from NGOs to multilateral agencies. It is easier to move from anNGO to a government agency. USAID, for example, hires many U.S. citizens thathave worked for NGOs.

• Multilateral/government agencies to NGOsIt is easier to move from intergovernmental or government agencies to NGOsbecause the professional skills and knowledge that comes with jobs at theseorganizations. This is also a less common transition because most people areunwilling to take a cut in their salary and benefits.

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Transitions out of international development

While this guide is focused on people who want to enter the field of internationaldevelopment, it would be incomplete without noting that many people who enter thefield eventually opt to leave it for a different career. Even if you are sure this is the jobfor you, it is important to consider these issues of transitioning out of the industry.

• From development to the nonprofit industryInternational development is closely related to the domestic nonprofit industry. Insome cases, NGO and nonprofits may perform the same activities with the onlydifference being their geographic focus. Additionally, the two industries share manycharacteristics, such as fund raising, project evaluations and staffing challenges. Forthese reasons, international development experience is generally transferable to thenonprofit sector, as long as the specific focus is related.

• From development to academiaIn general, international development is a good foundation to transition to academia,provided your specific experience in development and educational background arerelated to your goals in academia. This transition is most commonly facilitated byreturning to school to earn a PhD, then joining the faculty of a university. Partlybecause the industry addresses such a wide range of topics from anthropology toeconomics to engineering, many graduate programs look favorably on developmentexperience.

• From development to the private sector One of the most common concerns for young professionals in development is theirability to get a job in the private sector if they want to leave the industry. In general,international development experience is not as directly transferable to the privatesector as it is to the public or nonprofit sectors. Making a successful transitiondepends on your ability to highlight the skills you have gained through internationaldevelopment that are relevant to the needs of the private sector field you are targeting.

• From development to entrepreneurship Although less common, many people in international development find a passion forentrepreneurship, starting for-profit companies, nonprofits or NGOs. Theresourcefulness and communications skills that are crucial to internationaldevelopment are useful to these entrepreneurs, as are fund-raising experience andinternational exposure.

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DAYS IN THE LIFE

Project monitoring specialist, Washington, D.C.

Abby works for a medium-sized NGO implementing public health projects in SouthAsia and Central America.

5:00 a.m.: You set the alarm early because you have to be to the office by 7 toparticipate on a teleconference with your project team in New Delhi, where it will be5:30 p.m. The call will focus on logistics for your upcoming trip to India to carry outthe project’s annual evaluation. You usually manage to schedule these conferencesfor the end of the day in D.C., but on this occasion you have to suck it up and catchthe early train to work.

8:30 a.m.: Following your phone call, you spend the rest of the morning editing thefinal draft of an evaluation report on your organization’s work in Asia. The report hasto be finalized by Friday and, as usual, you are just receiving the rough draft onTuesday. Fortunately you have been with the organization long enough that thesereports are becoming routine and you complete more than half the editing with thehelp of several cups of coffee. At noon you decide to take an early lunch since yougot up early, and head next door to a cafeteria popular with the employees of D.C.’smany NGOs.

1:00 p.m.: Back from lunch, you turn your attention to the new water sanitationproject your NGO is proposing in Bangladesh. As a monitoring specialist, you areresponsible for developing the indicators to be used to measure the progress of theproject. You’ve worked on a couple of similar projects, but developing the indicatorsstill requires a lot of learning. You spend the next few hours reviewing data on

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Moving to the private sectorEric earned a master’s degree in international development then worked for six yearswith a large, international NGO on economic development projects in the Middle Eastand North Africa. After spending the last four of those six years living abroad, Ericwas hoping to transition to a job in the private sector in London, where his elderlymother lived. He was interested in a job in finance but had a difficult time finding oneinitially, given his unorthodox background for the field. Eric thought about going backto school to earn another master’s degree in finance but he would have to get a loanto pay for school. Instead, he started focusing on positions where his backgroundwould be valuable. He applied to several small boutique firms that were investing inthe Middle East, highlighting his fluency in Arabic, professional network andfamiliarity with the region’s finance regulations. Although it took nearly six months, hewas able to get a position with one of these firms.

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Bangladesh from various UN and World Bank reports, then read through some bestpractices on water sanitation projects that you find through an industry website. It’sonly a small fraction of what you’ll need to learn, but it’s a start.

4:00 p.m.: After a couple of espressos to keep yourself awake, you head to theconference room for a staff meeting. Your boss, the director of monitoring andevaluation, has just returned from an evaluation mission in Central America.Unfortunately, your projects there are significantly behind schedule, and your team willspend the next few hours exploring the situation and brainstorming possible solutions.

6:30 p.m.: After a long session of brainstorming, you are ready to call it a day. Somefriends from work are going to a lecture on microfinance at George WashingtonUniversity but you are exhausted from your long day. You head home.

8:00 p.m.: Finally home. Due to the high cost of living in Washington, D.C., and yourmodest salary, you have over an hour commute each way. Before bed, you do someonline research about travel in India. Your monitoring trip will be your first visit to theregion, and you are planning to take a week of vacation to explore the country afterfinishing the mission.

Project manager, West Africa

Gérard works on an economic development project with a private consulting companyimplementing a USAID contract.

7:00 a.m.: You start the day early enough to review emails from headquarters that havecome in overnight. There is a lot of email traffic about your upcoming budget reviewprocess. You are dreading the process this year because your project is understaffedand overworked already. There is no way you will be able to devote enough attentionto the task. You forward the emails to your deputy director, along with an emailcongratulating her on being ready to assume the responsibility of managing the review.

9:00 a.m.: Time for the weekly staff meeting. You manage eight people, six of themlocal hires, and these meetings allow everyone to stay updated on the status of theproject. You have asked the outreach team to give a brief presentation on theirupcoming press conference to announce the drafting of a new law on small businesstaxation. It is a major accomplishment for the project, and you make a mental note topersonally invite the USAID country representative to the event.

11:00 a.m.: You have a meeting planned with the Deputy Minister of EconomicDevelopment and Trade to discuss an upcoming study tour. You have reviewed thebudget for this year and will not be able to fund the trip – news that will certainlydisappoint the deputy minister. Not only do you have to deliver the bad news, you alsoneed to ask the deputy to introduce the new tax bill to the Minister for his support.

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2:00 p.m.: The meeting was better than you expected but also longer. No time forlunch today. You grab a local dish of fried fish wrapped in sticky rice and eat in thecar on your way to meet with the local Chamber of Commerce. You are giving aspeech to their members on the best practices of countries in the region on reformingland registration.

3:30 p.m.: Back in the office, your project’s main lawyer is waiting to meet with you.He has finalized a shortlist of three candidates to interview for an assistant legalspecialist position. You have reviewed their resumes and don’t think any of them willmeet the requirements of the position. Still, you will interview the three finalists, butyou also ask your project assistant to re-advertise the opening in the local newspaper.

4:00 p.m.: You are already several days late on preparing a presentation of the projectresults for your main donor, so you lock your door, unplug the phone and spend thenext few hours updating the presentation you used last time with your newest results.

6:30 p.m.: You usually spend an hour at the end of the day sending out emails you’vebeen neglecting during the day. Today is no exception, but you have to cut it shortafter half an hour.

7:00 p.m.: You call your driver to pick up your wife and meet you at an expensiveFrench restaurant for dinner. Working on such a busy project, you are constantlychallenged to maintain a good work/life balance.

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Overall compensation in the field in international development is extremely wide-ranging,even when considering only professional positions and not volunteer employment. Part ofthe reason for this range is the nature of benefits and the number of field-based positions.A single development worker might spend a year in London making barely enough to payrent and food, then move to West Africa where the same salary, plus housing and taxbenefits and the lower cost of living, mean that his or her entire salary goes into the bank.The following chapter will examine the culture, compensation and benefits of variousorganizations in the industry, and try to provide a realistic impression of the daily life of adevelopment worker.

Compensation

While compensation for jobs in international development ranges widely, it generallyremains below the level of comparable positions in the private sector. There are manyreasons for the lower salary levels, from donor restrictions to high competition for mostpositions. In addition, most development organizations have a mission-oriented culturethat traditionally means employees sacrifice some financial compensation for meaningfulwork and a connection to the mission of the organization.

General salary ranges for the industry are much more competitive to other sectors at entrylevel. For example, a new program coordinator with a bachelor’s degree and a year ofvolunteer experience can earn roughly as much with a Washington, D.C.-based NGO aswith a typical entry-level job in the service or retail sector. Mid-career positions, in contrast,are often paid below comparable positions in the private sector and upper managementpositions are even further behind. This trend is beginning to change, as the industrybecomes more professional, and highly qualified development experts are more in demand.Donors are also beginning to realize the importance of attracting the most qualified peoplepossible and the need to encourage people with a few years of experience to remain in theindustry by providing progressively better wages.

Benefits

While salaries in international development tend to be low relative to other industries, thebenefits are often better. Health care, generous paid leave, educational and trainingbenefits and the opportunity for international travel are common to most employers andmany government or intergovernmental agencies offer benefits packages that can almostequal the base salary. When these benefits are calculated into salary, overall compensationbecomes much more attractive.

Benefits often depend on the assignment location. Field office employees receive anyhousing or cost of living adjustments the organization offers, while headquarters employeesgenerally do not. In addition, most countries do not collect national income tax on incomeearned out of the country, so field office assignments provide tax-free income. The rationale

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behind this system is to encourage qualified staff to work in the field and to ensureconsistency in the lifestyle of any employee of the organization. In many cases, alifestyle consistent with the headquarters office is much more expensive in field sites.For example, safe and comfortable housing and international quality schools are usuallyin short supply in developing countries, so the costs for these items represents a muchlarger share of income abroad than it does in Washington, D.C., or London. Withoutsome basic standards of living such as a safe residence, highly experienced projectmanagers, and particularly those with families, will not be able to effectively serve inchallenging field posts.

The following is a broad list of benefits that may be offered by international developmentorganizations. Keep in mind that many of these benefits are only offered by a very smallsegment of the industry. In addition, positions filled locally or filled as short-termconsultancies may offer very few benefits.

• Continuing education, training People working in international development never stop learning. There are constantneeds for new technical or regional knowledge, not to mention work in virtually everylanguage in the world. Employers are usually more than willing to help withprofessional development through educational courses, language training orworkshop participation. However, it is very rare to find an organization that will coverformal university education beyond a few courses or perhaps a certificate.

• Cost of living adjustment Also referred to as a COLA, this benefit helps normalize the salaries of employeesliving in different countries and cities around the world. It is usually paid toemployees working in field offices in developing countries that have higher costs ofliving than the organization’s headquarters. For negotiating purposes, you can findcost of living calculations online and determine how a field posting relates to the mainoffice.

• EducationLarger organizations may offer an education benefit for the children of theiremployees. This is intended to make it possible for employees to work in developingcountries without sacrificing the quality of their children’s education. In manycountries, internationally accredited primary and secondary education is extremelylimited and very expensive. International high schools in many countries are morethan $10,000 per year. The education benefit covers all, or part, of this cost fordependents.

• HealthMedical insurance comes in many forms, with differing levels of coverage, but shouldbe standard for any benefits package. Some important considerations are theavailability of international coverage, prescription drug benefits, and vaccinations.Health benefits are particularly important for field-based positions where health caremay be limited or almost entirely unavailable. In these cases, medical evacuation isa key issue to verify with the health care plan. Related to health benefits are life and

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accident insurance and dental care. These are mostly standardized, but someemployers offer the extra benefit of travel insurance.

• Home leaveSome organizations, particularly government agencies and intergovernmentalorganizations, offer home leave to employees and their dependents. Usually thisbenefit is provided every two or three years and covers the airfare (and possiblyother costs) of traveling back to the employee’s home city. For a family working ina field office, this can add up to a lot of money.

• Housing Many employers offer to field-based employees a housing stipend that subsidizesthe cost of their local housing. This can range from a small monthly cash stipendto full coverage of rental and utility costs. This is an important benefit for field -staffand one that can often be negotiated. Many of the most expensive cities in theworld are in developing countries and without a housing benefit you may find mostof your salary going to rental payments.

• Maternity leaveMaternity leave can be dictated by the rules of an organization or by the relevantlaw in the country of assignment. Industry averages for paid maternity leave aregenerally between three and nine months. Most employers offer additional flex-time or part-time packages to support employees with young children.

• Paid LeaveInternational development organizations are very generous in annual leave benefits.This is a reflection both of the stress of the work and the need for much of the staffto travel internationally for leave. Most organizations offer two to four weeks of paidleave per year. An additional benefit of paid sick leave is commonly provided forone week per year.

• Relocation Many new employees, particularly those hired internationally, receive relocationbenefits. These commonly include airfare for the employee and their dependents,and a stipend to cover the costs of shipping their household goods. The specificbenefit varies widely and many smaller organizations may not offer any relocation.In addition, employees recruited as local hires often do not receive relocationbenefits but may be able to negotiate for a stipend.

• RetirementGovernment and intergovernmental agencies offer various retirement packages foremployees, usually consisting of a mandatory employee payment and a matchingcontribution by the employer.

• Signing bonusIn rare cases, new employees may receive signing bonuses for entering into acontract. This applies mostly to senior-level positions or to cases when a signingbonus is used to make up for some other benefit, such as relocation. For example,

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an NGO that doesn’t provide relocation benefits may offer a signing bonus to aparticularly qualified employee in order to cover the cost of his or her move.

• Tax rebateMost countries do not impose income tax on citizens living abroad, so field-basedemployees have a tax-free salary. For staff working in their home country and for stafffrom the few countries that assess tax on their citizens while living abroad, someorganizations provide a rebate of this tax. This is a rare benefit that only a few largeemployers will provide. For example, U.S. citizens working abroad (and spending atleast 330 days of the year abroad) are exempt for income tax on their first $82,000of income. A U.S. citizen working in Mexico earning $60,000 in salary and another$40,000 in benefits would be required to pay income tax on about $18,000 ofincome. If this payment is $3,000 then some organizations might refund this money.These organizations would also refund the tax payment on the full salary if theemployee was based in Washington, D.C.

A note on culture

Many people working in development consider the culture of the industry to be anotherinformal benefit, and one of the best aspects of the field. The types of people who aredrawn to the industry tend to be well-traveled and diverse, with many similar interests.As a result, and also because of the strong mission-oriented nature of the work,workplaces tend to be collaborative, informal and close-knit. It is also a generallyhelpful field where it is not uncommon for senior executives to spend time withvolunteers to discuss career management, provide a recommendation, or review aproposal. A large number of highly experienced professionals in the field got their startas volunteers and that mindset remains firmly entrenched throughout the industry.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (IGOs)AND GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS (DONORS)There is no shortage of opinions on IGOs and government agencies. Most peopleconsider them the elite employers in international development and certainly their rankstend to be filled by former top-tier consultants and private sector professionals. Theyalso offer the best salaries and benefits in the industry, in addition to perks likediplomatic credentials, business class travel and worldwide exposure. On the otherhand, the heavy bureaucracy, distance from project implementation and a mixedhistory of results turn off many people, even their own employees.

Most industrial nations have official state development agencies to disburse andmanage official development assistance. The larger of these organizations, such asUSAID, JICA or DFID, have thousands of employees engaged in all aspects ofinternational development. These jobs come with great government benefits, jobsecurity and higher than average industry salaries.

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Culture

The organizational culture of IGOs and government agencies is very similar, forreasons both practical and principled. These organizations are owned by nationalgovernments, staffed in part by former civil servants, and in many cases performsimilar duties. They also share a mutual commitment to transparency and equalopportunity that informs many of the administrative structures. Finally, IGOs andgovernment agencies share a culture common to large, complex organizations, suchas national governments or even international firms.

The culture of IGOs and government agencies is very professional. Walk into aregional or field-based office of the UN or World Bank anywhere in the world and youwill see a very similar sight—a diverse group of professionally attired men and womenworking at computers in a modern office space. The average age of employees inthese organizations is higher than the development world as a whole and it is morecommon for employees to have families. Offices observe normal working hours,although it is very common for employees to put in much more than 40 hours a weekto complete their work.

Both IGOs and government agencies have a tendency common to large bureaucraticorganizations of being poor at information-sharing between departments andprojects. This has been changing rapidly due to increasing professionalism inorganizational structures, and today most of these organizations have adopted amatrix model that encourages information sharing both within and between individualteams. However, these initiatives still have a long way to go and relationships outsideof project teams are usually much less cooperative.

IGOs and government agencies are also regularly undergoing organizational reformsas they try to adopt more efficient operational models based on the private sector. Itis not uncommon to join an IGO or government agency in the midst of a majororganizational overhaul and leave several years later in the midst of another majororganizational overhaul. Because of the continuous process of change, an emphasisis placed on personal relationships. In many cases these personal relationships arecritical to learning how to navigate within an organization and even to careeradvancement. This can be challenging to new employees who don’t yet “know theropes” and to people naturally not inclined to network within their organization.

Pros

• Structured, professional environment IGOs and government agencies are among the most professional of developmentagencies, with well-defined internal structures and procedures (the flip side of thisis excessive bureaucracy which is covered below). In addition, they providespecialized back-office support, meaning offices for accounting, HR, legal, IT, etc.These structures allow employees to spend more time on their jobs and less timedealing with administrative problems.

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• Resources Another benefit of these organizations is simply their huge resource base. Anyonewho has worked for a small NGO will appreciate professional conference facilities,well-functioning telecommunications, drivers, translators, and funds for printing,training and travel. Many employees of IGOs or government agencies feel like theyare able to be more effective in their work because of the professional environmentthese resources provide.

• Career managementAlthough international development still lags behind the private sector in terms ofprofessional development, IGOs and government agencies are beginning to close thegap. Many of these organizations offer professional career training in topics fromwriting proposals to management to technical skills. In addition, they offer a range ofprograms, such as mentorships, short-term exchanges and externships, to ensurethat staffers build their professional careers.

• Job securityIGOs and government agencies are among the most stable employers in internationaldevelopment. This is particularly true of government aid agencies because they havemostly full-time, permanent employees, not ties to specific project timelines. Inseveral countries, the national development agency is an official part of the ForeignService, and employees are competitively selected from national exams, withguaranteed jobs for those who make it through the selection process. Evenintergovernmental agencies, which hire many employees for the life of specificprojects, have above-average job security and lots of opportunity for employees tomove between projects.

Cons

• Bureaucracy The highly structured nature of most IGOs and government agencies also producesthe unfortunate byproduct of excessive bureaucracy. Some routine issues canrequire inordinate amounts of paperwork and many simple processes end up takingmore time because of the layers of administration. More worrying, employees mayeven develop their own systems designed to bypass the bureaucratic nature of theorganization.

• Inertia Similar to bureaucracy, large organizations such as these are very slow to change orincorporate new ideas. If you come up with a great idea for a new project or betterway to implement an existing project, it can be an agonizing process to actually seeit through.

• DistanceMany people get into the field of international development so they can interact withproject beneficiaries in developing countries and see how their work impacts people’slives. IGOs and government agencies offer far less of this interaction than NGOs.

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Indeed, the professional offices of these organizations can seem completelyremoved from field-based development.

The issue of impact can be both a pro and a con. In many ways, IGOs andgovernment agencies have the greatest potential impact in international developmentbecause they work mainly with government counterparts. A single project to reformhealth policy might result in a new law or better implementation of an existing law thatreaches thousands or even millions of people. This level of impact would beextremely rare from any development agency other than an IGO or governmentagency. On the other hand, the true impact of these organizations is very hard todetermine, and the subject of much controversy. The World Bank, for example, mightmake a loan to a country to improve its foreign investment environment, attractingbillions of dollars in investment and generating thousands of new jobs. Yet that newinvestment also carries social costs in migration, pollution, corruption, and manyother issues (all of which have IGO and NGO projects devoted to fighting) and the loancreates a repayment burden for the government. Many people are turned off by theambiguity of the IGO or government agency impact, and prefer to work on small, buthighly focused projects through other development organizations.

The impact of government organizations and donors is twofold. The direct impact isthe provision of funding, without which nothing would be done. As a result, donorscan claim a significant impact to encompass all the results that implementingorganizations achieve with their funds. Donors have an additional impact, which isless direct but no less important. This impact is on implementing organizationsthemselves. Good donors maximize their impact on the field by steering funds toresponsible and effective implementing organizations and pushing theseorganizations to perform even better.

Salary

Salary ranges for IGOs and government agencies are generally the highest in theindustry. All IGOs and government agencies have internal salary tables that providea maximum and minimum salary at each grade, and many subdivide each grade intoseveral steps. Some of these are publicly available, such as the United States’General Schedule, which determines salaries for some USAID employees. Most ofthese tables are based on peer institutions, so there is not a lot of difference amongthese organizations. Also note that these figures are only for salary and do not includebenefits, which can add significantly to a total compensation package. The followingsalary figures are reflective of internationally hired professional positions.

Noblemaire Principle

The United Nations and many other intergovernmental organizations set their payscales in reference to the wages of civil servants in their developed member nations.The idea is that the most qualified civil servants in developed countries should be ableto apply their skills internationally without taking a pay cut. This is known as theNoblemaire Principle.

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Entry-level (inexperienced)

There are very few opportunities with IGOs or government agencies for candidateswithout prior experience. Some government aid agencies offer entry-level programs forrecent grads, and it may be possible for inexperienced candidates to get local positionsor volunteer jobs. In general, these kinds of entry-level programs pay anywhere from$16,000 to $30,000 USD per year. Many government agencies have entry-levelpositions requiring less experience but with less compensation. These positions rangefrom $48,000 to $75,000 USD per year.

Entry-level (experienced)

Keep in mind that entry-level positions with these organizations generally require threeto five years of experience, so these are not representative of salaries right out of schoolwithout prior experience. In addition, these are representative of positions that wouldrequire a master’s degree. Entry-level opportunities, such as Young Professionalsprograms, generally pay in the range of $60,000 to $75,000 USD per year. Manygovernment agencies have entry-level positions requiring less experience but with lesscompensation. These positions range from $48,000 to $75,000 USD per year.

Mid-career

Mid-career positions typically require five to eight years with an organization and one ortwo promotions above entry-level positions. Getting to the mid-career level is generallya routine matter of seniority and regular advancement, so these salaries are reasonableexpectations for employees with the requisite experience. Again, keep in mind five toeight years with an IGO or government agency plus three to five to get hired in the firstplace means eight to 13 years of total experience and a graduate degree. Salaries inthis range vary more widely between $80,000 to $100,000 USD per year.

Senior management

Reaching senior management level within an IGO or government agency generally takesa significant number of years in addition to the technical and social skills to navigatethe organizational career ladder. These are the positions below VP level and includetitles such as regional director, senior operations officer, product line director, etc. Mostpeople who reach this level have invested more than 10 or 15 years in the organization,and achieved significant results in that time. Salaries for senior management rangefrom $110,000 to $130,000+ USD per year.

Resources for salary tables

• The United Nations Department of Human Resources Management maintainssalary tables for professional positions. Entry-level professionals who pass thecompetitive exam start out as P-2 level. The salary table can be viewed onlineat www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries_allowances/salary.htm

• The U.S. Office of Personnel Management published the General Schedule paytables, which govern wages for many U.S. government employees. This is notthe same pay table as the U.S. Foreign Service and does not govern all positions

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within USAID. The salary table is available online at:www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/indexGS.asp

Benefits

IGOs and government agencies offer the best benefits packages in the industry butonly to internationally hired, full-time employees. Most offer the bulk of the benefitslisted at the beginning of this chapter, although their specific amounts and availabilityvary by organization. It is always a good idea to try to get a sense of the benefitsassociated with an organization in which you are interested, but this should be donethrough networking rather than asking about benefit details early in the interviewprocess. Most IGOs and government agencies provide some basic information ontheir benefits through their websites.

IMPLEMENTING AGENCIESWhile there are many types of implementing agencies, from NGOs to think tanks tomultinational corporations, this section will focus on the culture and compensationmost representative of implementing agencies. However, this information is only aguide, and you should always find out these details during your job hunting process.

Nongovernmental organizations come in all shapes and sizes, and cover the entirerange of international development work. There is so much diversity among theseorganizations that it is hard to define a single culture. The common perception ofNGOs as small, mission-oriented organizations staffed by idealistic young people isgiving way to a more realistic view that encompasses the growing number of highlysophisticated NGOs modeled on the private sector and attracting students from topgraduate programs. Both these views are representative of at least some segment ofthe NGO world.

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Contract type and benefits

Unlike salary and culture, benefits vary widely by contract type within anorganization. In general, only international, full-time, permanent term employeesreceive a full benefits package. Local hires usually receive a reduced benefitspackage that includes health care but excludes housing and cost of livingadjustment benefits. Short-term consultants may not even receive healthbenefits. Because these benefits often contribute significantly to the overallremuneration of jobs in international development, it is important to clearlyunderstand the benefits of a specific position when evaluating an offer.

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Culture

For the majority of NGOs, mostly smaller organizations with one or two project areas,the culture is informal, cooperative and mission-oriented. Like other developmentorganizations, NGOs are chronically understaffed and, as a result, employees, evenjunior staff, are often given high-level responsibility. The organizations themselves tendto evolve organically as funding opportunities arise, and formal management systemsare often lacking. For self-starters who enjoy taking initiative and being active in theirown career development, this environment can be thrilling, but for those morecomfortable in a structured environment, NGO jobs are less likely to provide it.

Because budget limitations are a constant issue, many NGOs don’t offer the sameprofessional systems and supporting structure of government and intergovernmentalagencies. This means perks like structured mentoring programs, staff training, andcontinuing education opportunities are more the exception than the norm. Anotherfrequent characteristic of NGOs is high staff -turnover. This is a result of many factors,including the lower salaries and undeveloped career paths. One effect of this turnoveris that institutional knowledge is frequently lost, leading to some inefficiency inmanagement. In addition, most NGOs have a youthful organization both in the averageage of employees and the amount of time employees have been with the organization.Some important distinctions among NGOs include size, funding source, and focus.

Size

NGOs vary greatly by size, from thousands of NGOs with less than 10 people to someof the largest, like Save the Children, which employs more than 6,000 peopleworldwide. Like any industry, the size of the organization has a significant impact on itsculture. Larger organizations have more developed organizational structures, more jobsecurity, and more bureaucracy. Larger NGOs also offer, on average, bettercompensation. This is not to say that smaller NGOs uniformly lack these qualities, justthat there is less consistency among smaller organizations. Some small NGOs arehighly focused in a specific area and outperform larger NGOs in professionalism,impact, and compensation.

Funding source

A common joke in international development is that, over time, NGOs tend to becomemore and more like their funding organizations, just like old married couples. This maybe an exaggeration, but there is some truth in the observation that an organizationdependent for most of its budget on a single funder will tend to evolve an organizationalculture closely aligned to the expectations of that funder. This is an importantconsideration since most NGOs rely on one or two funders for more than half of theirfunding, and many NGOs are entirely dependent on a single donor. In addition, stafftend often move between donors and implementers so the cultures of the two mesheven more.

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Focus

You can also anticipate some of the culture of an organization by its focus. Forexample, a religious charity may have a conservative organizational culture closelytied to the tenets of the religion, while an NGO promoting democratic governance islikely to mirror a Washington think-tank environment.

Pros

• Learning opportunities Along with the smaller staff size of most NGOs, comes an excellent opportunity tolearn. Even new staff will be given opportunities to work in several areas, fromproject monitoring to business development. For employees that take the initiative,it is possible to experience many technical and administrative roles within a singleNGO.

• Project exposure One of the main advantages of working for an NGO is the opportunity to have directexposure to the projects and see the impact of the work. While headquarters-basedstaff have less of this exposure, there are almost always opportunities to travel to thefield and see firsthand what the organization is accomplishing. Many peopleworking for large multilateral organizations express the lack of this exposure as thebiggest disadvantage of their work.

• Focus Most NGOs are much more focused, both geographically and in their programming,than intergovernmental agencies. If you are really focused on rural health care orwater conservation, an NGO is more likely to offer you an environment dedicated tothat specific issue, with co-workers who share your focus. Similarly if you only wantto work in India, you may not find a government or intergovernmental agency thatcan guarantee you this flexibility, while there are thousands of NGOs workingexclusively in the country.

Cons

• Funding vulnerability The majority of NGOs are highly dependent upon their one or two biggest sourcesof funding. Often these sources of funding are government aid agencies,foundations, or wealthy donors, none of which are likely to remain regular fundersindefinitely. Government aid agencies often undergo major changes in what andhow much they fund with election cycles and foundations regularly broaden ornarrow their focus. As a result, NGOs face a constant need to fund raise anddiversify their funders. Organizations that can’t do that will not last, and as a result,there is less job security in the industry.

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• Transferability of skills One career issue with the international development industry in general is that thekinds of professional competencies that are built in the industry don’t always transferto the private sector. That means that after spending five years in development, it maybe more difficult to transition to the private sector. This problem is more acute forNGOs because they mostly lack the name recognition and professional structure thatmultilateral and government agencies have.

• Salary and benefits Although not always the case, many NGOs pay well below comparable positions in theprivate sector. Particularly by mid-career, this discrepancy can become verysignificant, especially for positions based in headquarters offices.

Salary

Salary ranges for NGOs vary widely. In general, salaries in the field are increasing toattract higher- quality workers, but, for the most part, compensation still lags behind theprivate sector. There is a very wide range in compensation among NGOs. The followingsalary tables include “low-range,” “average” and “high-range” NGOs to capture thisvariance. “Low-range” refers to NGOs paying less than the industry average. As arough estimate, this may include up to 30 percent of all NGOs. Similarly, high-rangeNGOs are those paying above average but, unfortunately, these are much more rare—perhaps 10 percent of all NGOs. You can determine which of these categories an NGOfalls into by networking with current or former employees, asking someone during aninformational interview, or researching online. If you don’t have a good networkingsource that can give you the information candidly, you can always ask during aninterview how the organization’s compensation compares to similar organizations. Mostpeople will honestly tell you that it is either similar to the industry average or slightlyhigher or lower. The following salary ranges refer to full-time, professional positions withinternational NGOs.

Entry-level (inexperienced)

Many NGOs, particularly larger ones have entry-level positions that don’t require much,if any, previous experience. Recent graduates with a bachelor’s degree fill thesepositions along with people who have a few months or more of volunteer experience.Salaries at entry level are most comparable to the non-profit industry. In general, thesekinds of entry-level programs pay anywhere from minimum wage (approximately$20,000) to $35,000.

Early career (two to five years of experience)

Most NGOs do not have well-defined career tracks or many mid-career positions. Thus,compensation during the first three to five years of professional work with NGOs is oftenbased on a low starting salary with annual adjustments. It is in this range that salariesfor most NGOs really start to diverge from the private sector and even from themultilateral organizations. The following salary ranges reflect a traditional early-careerprogression. The low end would be for applicants with only one or two years of

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experience and a bachelor’s degree, and the high end would be for candidates withfive or more years of experience and, commonly, a master’s degree.

Mid-career (five to eight years of experience)

Unlike multilateral organizations, most NGOs do not have clearly defined career pathsthat include mid-career positions. In reality, there are often few true mid-careerpositions that carry some management responsibility and a higher salary thatrecognizes the greater responsibility. There is also a trend for mid-career positions inthe field to go to local candidates, so most of these positions are now based inheadquarters offices. These can include both support and administrative roles, and,in larger organizations, headquarter-based technical specialists. The following salaryranges reflect the master’s degree that is required for nearly all mid-career positions.

Senior management

Although there are senior management positions with NGOs in both administrativeand technical roles, there are more opportunities at this level for administrativepositions. On the technical side, senior-level positions include chief of party or stafftechnical experts. Senior-level administrative positions are more diverse and includecountry directors, senior managers, and department directors. Reaching seniormanagement generally takes more than seniority because there are few suchpositions and many smaller NGOs are still run by the original founders. Except in rarecases, these positions will require a master’s degree or even PhD.

Local and global local positions

The previous salary ranges are for internationally hired positions. However, it isincreasingly common for NGOs to offer field-assignments as local or global-localcontracts (“global-local” is often colloquially referred to as “half-pat,” meaning halflocal and half expatriate). There is no real standard for compensation or benefits ateither of these levels, although salaries are almost always lower than comparable

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Low-range Average

$30,000 to$50,000

High-range

$36,000 to$60,000

$42,000 to$70,000

Low-range Average

$50,000 to$65,000

High-range

$60,000 to$80,000

$70,000 to$85,000

Low-range Average

$70,000 to$85,000

High-range

$80,000 to$95,000

$85,000 to$110,000

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international positions. A typical salary range for a local hire would likely be at the high-end of local salary levels for skilled professionals, but could be higher. In addition,because they are considered local, relocation and home-leave benefits are usually notoffered. There is often more discretion in creating local or global-local contracts sothere is plenty of room for negotiation on salary and benefits.

Benefits

NGOs typically offer fewer benefits than multilateral and government agencies but oftenare more flexible in negotiating benefits. Thus, employees may not receive formaleducation benefits but individual employees might be able to negotiate forreimbursement on continuing education if they could link it to the work of theorganization. Typical benefits common to most NGOs include health care, paid leaveand retirement. Field positions with NGOs often include a relocation stipend andpossibly housing or a cost of living adjustment.

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Calculating salary and benefitsLuiza was considering two positions - one in Washington, D.C., and another inLima. The Lima position came with $25,000 per year less salary but a housingbenefit of $1,500 per month. Although there was no tax benefit offered, Luizawould be abroad long enough to qualify for the United States’ Foreign EarnedIncome Credit and her income would not be taxed. She calculated her expectedtax liability as $15,000 so, combined with the housing benefit, she would actuallyearn more money with the smaller salary.

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APPENDIXVault Guide to International Development

Resources for Job SeekersEmployer ProfilesAbout The Author

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JOB LISTSFinding openings for jobs in international development is often more challenging than otherindustries because there are still relatively few, industry-wide sources for job information.Even the most popular sites listed below cannot be considered comprehensive reflectionsof the industry. In addition to these websites, your online job search should include:

• Organization websitesIf you are following the job search strategy outlined in Chapter 6, you should have ashortlist of organizations that match your skills and career goals. You should beregularly checking the jobs section of all these organizations, as many positions areposted earlier or exclusively on these sites.

• Newspaper websitesRelevant classified ads in regional newspapers can also be good sources of job listsand are easily accessible online. For international development, good newspapers tocheck include The Washington Post, the Economist (for more senior positions), andthe Times Online.

• Traditional jobs websitesBeyond the following specialized websites for jobs in international development, youmay also find opportunities on traditional jobs websites, such as Monster.com orsocial networking sites like LinkedIn.com. In many of these cases, you will have tosearch through the listings for nonprofit or government jobs to uncover positionsrelated to international development.

Finally, use caution when job hunting online just as you would with anything else over theinternet. Many websites sell their services or memberships, and you should always carefullyconsider the costs, even though they tend to be modest. Most paid services consist ofmemberships, resume distribution or job listings.

• Resume distributionAvoid services that offer to post your resume directly to recruiters or developmentorganizations. Unless you are a highly experienced professional or have some veryrare skills, you are not likely to receive any response to a cold resume submission.In addition, most organizations will allow you to upload your resume from theirwebsite for free.

• Jobs listings Many websites offer a service that delivers vacancies to your email daily. On thesurface this sounds like a convenient way to job hunt but given the vast range of jobsthat fit into the international development label, these services are rarely worth themoney. You will have a much more successful job hunt by targeting the

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organizations you want to work for rather than looking through hundreds ofrandom postings.

• Memberships Some sites have membership sections that provide similar services to thosedescribed above. In some cases, the membership provides additional benefits,such as a subscription to the organizations’ publication or invitations to events.If the organization closely matches your interests, you might consider becominga member.

The following sites are good places to start your online job search:

www.devex.com - Devex

www.devnetjobs.org DevNetJobs mostly offers paid services, including resume distribution and job listingsdelivered directly to your email daily. However, the website lists a smaller number ofpositions free of charge.

www.eldis.org/go/jobs Eldis’ website includes a jobs section that lists a wide range of mostly midlevel positions.The website includes specific listings for research positions and volunteer or internshippositions.

www.fpa.org The Foreign Policy Association lists several positions per day on their job board coveringmostly NGOs and development consultancies working worldwide.

www.internationaljobs.org Mainly a paid service delivering a weekly job announcement that includes bothinternational development positions and international positions in the private sector.Daily positions are available for free. You can also download a recent newsletter toreview the content and determine if you want to subscribe.

In addition, the following site offers resources for volunteers and online listings ofvolunteer opportunities:

Idealist.org

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PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ANDINDUSTRY INFORMATIONThere are many ways to learn more about international development, and you shouldtake advantage of as many as possible before launching your job search. Thefollowing lists provide many resources that can serve as a starting point for youreducation.

Books

These books will provide a good foundation on international development, includingboth the positive and negative aspects.

Making Development Work: Development Learning in a World of Poverty and Wealth(World Bank Series on Evaluation & Development), Nagy Hanna, Robert Picciotto.Transaction Publishers, 2002.

The White Man's Burden, William Easterly. The Penguin Press, 2006.

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be DoneAbout It, Paul Collier. Oxford University Press, 2007.

The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, C.K.Prahalad. Wharton School of Publishing Paperbacks, 2004.

Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz. W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.

Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond. W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Rethinking Social Development: Theory, Research and Practice, David Booth.Longman Publishing Group, 1994.

Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (PrincetonStudies in Culture/Power/History), Arturo Escobar. Princeton University Press, 1995.

The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs. Penguin Press, 2005.

Development and Dependency in Latin America, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and F.Enzo. University of California Press, 1979.

Understanding Development: Theory and Practice in the Third World, Third Edition,John Rapley. Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2007.

Fifty Key Thinkers on Development, David Simon. Routledge, 2006.

The Great Transformation, ZSecond Edition, Karl Polanyi. Beacon Press, 2001

Understanding Poverty, by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Dilip Mookherjee. OxfordUniversity Press, 2006.

Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why, by World Bank Press, 1998.

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Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Journals

There are not very many journals that are entirely devoted to international developmentand cover the broad industry. Instead, there are a lot of professional journals thatpublish occasional research and writing on issues related to development. Forexample, there are hundreds of journals devoted to economics, and many of thesepublish a few articles every year related to economic development.

EconomicaJournal of Economic LiteratureAmerican Economic Review / European Economic ReviewDevelopment Policy ReviewJournal of Development StudiesJournal of Development EconomicsJournal of International DevelopmentForeign Affairs

Centers for International Development

One of the best resources to learn more about development is through internationalcenters for development. These organizations have many resources available online,publish research, host events and sometimes offer job listings or career advice. Thenumber of these centers is increasing every year. Most major universities have aninternational development center, and major cities for development, such asWashington, D.C., and London are home to scores of additional centers. The followinglist is just a sample of some of these organizations.

International Development Research Centerwww.idrc.ca/en/ev-66174-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Harvard Center for International Developmentwww.cid.harvard.edu

Center for Global Developmentwww.cgdev.org

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The following profiles are intended to provide a general snapshot of hiring practices withleading international development agencies. These opportunities change regularly,particularly the deadlines, so always verify the information.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

United Nations

General information

The United Nations is central to global efforts to solve problems that challenge humanity.Cooperating in this effort are more than 30 affiliated organizations, known together as theUN system.

Website: www.un.orgEmployees: More than 14,000Budget: $3.8 billion in 2006-2007Membership: 192 member countries

Jobs

Jobs website (UN only): jobs.un.orgJobs website (UN system):www.unsystem.org/jobs/job_opportunities.htm

General Eligibility: Varies by position. See individual agencies for more information.

Salary Tables: www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries_allowances/index.html

Volunteers: Yes. See description on volunteer programs.

Internships: Yes. There are separate internship programs for most UN agencies. Thelargest internship program is unfunded and for positions in NYC headquarters. Applicantsmust be pursuing graduate or higher degrees. For information on the NYC program referto www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/sds/internsh/index.htm. For information on other agencyinternship programs, refer to www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/internships.htm.

Young Professionals: Yes. National Competitive Recruitment Examination with age limit of32. Exam is only offered to select nationalities each year. For more information refer towww.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncrepage.htm.

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Deadlines

January Summer internshipsApril Fall internshipsAugust Spring internshipsOctober National Competitive Recruitment Examination

Asian Development Bank

General information

ADB is an international development finance institution whose mission is to help itsdeveloping member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of theirpeople.

Website: www.adb.orgEmployees: More than 2,400 Budget: $332.7 millionMembership: 67 member countries; 48 in the region, 19 elsewhere

Jobs

Jobs websitewww.adb.org/Employment General Eligibility: See jobs website.Remuneration/ Benefits: www.adb.org/Employment/benefits.asp

Volunteers: No. There is no formal program, but individual candidates may be able tovolunteer through field offices or on specific projects.

Internships: Yes. Internships are offered twice per year to students who are citizens ofan ADB member country pursuing postgraduate study at an approved academicinstitution. Stipends vary by position, with most interns receiving some support, butoften not travel costs. For more information, including eligibility requirements, refer towww.adb.org/Internship.

Young Professionals: Yes.

Deadlines

January Summer internships

October Spring Internships

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Government Aid Agency Jobs

USAID

General information

USAID accelerates human progress in developing countries by reducing poverty,advancing democracy, building market economies, promoting security, responding tocrises and improving quality of life.

Website: www.usaid.govEmployees: Over 2,000 civil service and foreign service officers plus more than 5,000foreign service nationalsBudget: $8.9 billion in 2008 expenditures

Jobs

USAID recruits primarily in two categories. Foreign Service Officers comprise theprimary core of development practitioners and spend most of their careers abroad.Civil Service positions are primarily support and administration. These are based inWashington, D.C. Jobs website: www.usaid.gov/careers

General Eligibility: Both Foreign Service Officers and Civil Service positions requireU.S. citizenship. FSOs generally hold advanced degrees and have somedevelopment experience.

Volunteers: No.

Internships: Yes. There is no formal internship program but many opportunities forinternships are available throughout the year. Interns must be U.S. citizens currentlyenrolled in a college or university with a GPA of 3.0 or better. For more information,and the l is t ing of current internship openings, refer towww.usaid.gov/careers/studentprograms.html.

Young Professionals: Yes, although not a traditional Young Professionals program.The Junior Officers (JO) program is an entry-level career track for new Foreign ServiceOfficers. Applicants are accepted from 18 to 59 years of age and generally need anadvanced degree. For more information, refer to www.usaid.gov/careers/guidelinesforjop.html.

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Priority Program Areas (division by budget spending in 2008)

Application Process: Applications are only accepted for specific vacancies which areadvertised online at www.usajobs.opm.gov.

VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS

United States Peace Corps

General information

Mission: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trainedmen and women. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part ofthe peoples served. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on thepart of Americans.

Website: www.peacecorps.govVolunteers: More than 7,800 current volunteers, 195,000 since being established in1961Budget: $330.8 million for 2009Destinations: 76 countries currently served, 139 throughout history

Volunteering

General Eligibility: The only requirements for Peace Corps service are U.S. citizenshipand being at least 18 years old. However, applicants with no secondary education,certain medical conditions or legal issues may have difficulty being placed.

Length of service: 27 months - shorter assignments are not available. Returnedvolunteers can apply for the Peace Corps Response program, which places formervolunteers back in the field for three to six months.

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Peace andSecurity

GoverningJustly and

Democratically

Investing inPeople

9.5% 15.8% 41.1%

EconomicGrowth

26.5%

HumanitarianAssistance

6.5%

Non-programSpending

0.6%

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Types of positions: The following table shows the breakdown by position for PeaceCorps Volunteers in 2008.

Application procedure: It generally takes between nine months and a year from thetime of application to starting service. Applications are accepted all year. After thelong initial application, applicants are interviewed and then nominated to bevolunteers based on their qualifications and interviews. After nomination, applicantsmust pass medical and legal clearances before receiving a placement offer.

Compensation and Benefits: Peace Corps provides a full range of benefits includinghealth care, volunteer stipend, loan deferment and resettlement allowance. Inaddition there are opportunities to earn credit for certain postgraduate degreesthrough Peace Corps service.

United Nations Volunteers

General information

Mission: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program serves the causes of peaceand development by enhancing opportunities for participation by all peoples. It isuniversal, inclusive and embraces volunteer action in all its diversity. It values freewill, commitment, engagement and solidarity, which are the foundations ofvolunteerism.

Website: www.unvolunteers.orgVolunteers: More than 7,500 current volunteersBudget: $192.5 million in 2007Destinations: Assignment in 139 countries

Volunteering

General Eligibility: Volunteers are expected to have several years of professionalworking experience and must be at least 25 years old. Previous experience indevelopment and foreign language fluency, while not required, is preferable.

National UNV - In 2007, 77 percent of UN volunteers were nationals of developingcountries. Nationals of developing countries that served in their home countrycomprised 33 percent of total volunteers in 2007. These volunteers are known asNational UNVs.

Length of service: Assignments are usually one or two years but some shorterassignments of six months are also possible.

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Education Health andHIV/AIDS

BusinessDevelopment

35% 21% 15%

Environment

15%

Youth

5%

Agriculture

5%

Other

4%

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Types of positions: The following table shows the breakdown by position for UnitedNations Volunteers in 2008.

Application procedure: Volunteers must first apply to join the roster of potential UNvolunteers. Most volunteer positions are filled from this roster on a competitive basis.For this reason, there is no guaranteed progression from being accepted on the rosterto being offered a position. In practice, placement offers can take anywhere from a fewmonths to more than a year following acceptance on the roster. Some hard-to-fillpositions are advertised on the website at this address: (Matt, where’s the URL?)

Compensation and Benefits: Volunteers receive a settling in allowance, monthly livingstipend, insurance and resettlement allowance. Travel and visa requirements are alsoprovided by UNV.

Voluntary Service Overseas

General information

Mission: Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is an international development charity thatworks through volunteers and is the world’s largest independent volunteer-placementorganization.

Website: www.vso.org.ukVolunteers: More than 1,500 current volunteersBudget: £ 43.1 million in 2008Destinations: Assignment in 42 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia

Volunteering

Volunteer Programs: VSO offers volunteer jobs, specialist assignments and youthprograms. Volunteer jobs are the most common, with placements for experiencedprofessionals of one to two years. Specialist assignments are short-term positions forhighly experienced professionals and the two youth programs offer six-month and one-year programs for volunteers aged 18-25.

General Eligibility: Eligibility varies by program. For volunteer jobs, you’ll need two tofive years of professional experience. In addition, applicants must be residents of acountry where VSO has a recruitment office (currently these include the EU region,U.S., Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines and India). Youth Programs require U.K.residency.

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CrisisPrevention and

Recovery

Health andHIV/AIDS

Energy andEnvironment

47% 5% 2%

DemocraticGovernance

14%

PovertyReduction and

MDGs

32%

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Length of service: Volunteer jobs are one to two years in length. Specialistassignments and youth programs are generally six months to one year in length.

Types of positions: VSO’s main focus areas include HIV and AIDS, education, healthand social well-being, disability, participation and governance, and secure livelihoods.Other skills in high demand range from business management to IT to naturalresources.

Application procedure: After completing an initial application, qualified applicants willbe invited to an in-person assessment consisting of group and individual activities.Candidates deemed qualified following this assessment are then matched to aspecific position. This stage also includes medical and legal clearance. Once amatch is identified, a formal placement offer is made.

Compensation and Benefits: VSO volunteers receive a living stipend to coveraccommodation and basic living expenses and insurance. Travel costs and visas arealso covered by VSO.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

General information

Mission: “Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developingcountries, we focus on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to liftthemselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, we seek toensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access tothe opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.”

Website: www.gatesfoundation.orgEmployees: More than 680Endowment: $35.1 billionGrant Payments in 2007: $2.007 billion

Jobs

Jobs website: www.gatesfoundation.org/jobs/Pages/overview.aspx

Volunteers: No. The foundation lists some resources for potential volunteers. Formore information, refer to www.gatesfoundation.org/jobs/Pages/volunteering.aspx.

Internships: No.

Young Professionals: No.

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Applying: Before applying to specific openings, you’ll need to create an applicant profileon the website. Once you have a profile, you can apply directly to jobs advertised onthe website. You can even search for jobs that you might fit by pasting the text of yourresume into the jobs search form.

Grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds organizations in three areas:

• The Global Development Program focuses on agricultural development, financialservices for the poor, and policy and advocacy.

• The Global Health Program supports efforts to target diseases and healthconditions that affect primarily developing nations.

• The United States Program works to promote secondary and postsecondaryeducation through funding for libraries, scholarships, housing andhomelessness, early learning and emergency relief.

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About the Author

Christopher Miller got his start in development as a Peace Corps volunteer inMongolia teaching English and working with local tourism companies. He has sinceworked throughout Asia with local and international NGOs, the Asian DevelopmentBank, and several social entrepreneurs. He currently works for the InternationalFinance Corporation. Christopher holds an MBA from Columbia Business School andundergraduate degrees in Computer Science and English.

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