The Asian Tsumani, which left over 100,000 people dead and millions more homeless and destitute, sent shockwaves across the world. It caused an unprecedented groundswell of support from the British public who not only donated £200 million to help victims, but inundated charities and NGOs with offers of help.

In the first three weeks of 2006, The British Red Cross received over 400 applications from people wanting to work out in Asia. The charity was approached by groups of graduates wanting to set up and manage projects in Tsunami hit areas. A career in development work, already an immensely popular career choice, is now even more in demand.

Opportunities in development

Photo: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah

Working in development, at first glance, appears an easy career path for those who want to do something tangible to solve some of the most visible global problems. Development agencies such as Oxfam, Save The Children and UNICEF work relentlessly on issues such as fair trade and better aid for poor countries, as well as running hundreds of projects across the world designed to create long-term solutions to poverty, deprivation and famine.

There are hundreds of aid agencies based in the UK. The public donated more than £775 million to international development and poverty relief charities in 2002. And all these organisations need staff.  There are thousands of people working for aid organisations based in the UK in a variety of administrative and project-based roles such as fundraising, media relations and financial planning.

Do your research

In many cases this is the best route into work at a development agency and if you’re good at your job, you can be incredibly effective in helping an organisation attract the political and public attention that it needs to achieve its wider objectives.  

“The biggest thing is to do your research, be realistic and be determined,” said Liz Postill, senior international personnel officer at the British Red Cross. “Start small and get as much experience as you can when you’re young and build skills that will be of real use to an agency managing complex projects overseas.”

However, even though competition for these domestic posts is fierce, the majority of people approaching development agencies for work are looking for international posts.  

International work

Many come armed with personal conviction and not much else. Unfortunately having an interest in development issues, however informed or passionate, does not automatically make you a development worker.

Photo: Teaching & Projects Abroad

“A lot of people still think that because a job in development has an element of doing good about it, then personal conviction and a social conscience is all you need to get the job done,” said Kevin Cusack, manager at the World Service Enquiry, an agency that places people in development work abroad.

“A lot of the recent graduates who call us up genuinely believe that they’ll have aid agencies leaping at the chance of sending them overseas,” he said.

Postgrads in international development

Nor will having an MA in international development or a related subject automatically qualify you for a job with an overseas aid agency.  Cusack warns that this is a mistake that many graduates make.

“The people who run these courses will tell graduates that doing this MA or this postgrad is the way to secure a job with an aid agency, but any reputable organisation will be looking for technical skills not a dissertation on international trade,” he said.

Some of the bigger agencies, such as Oxfam or Save the Children, run training programmes for development workers, but these tend to be focused towards experienced field workers not first timers.  The British Red Cross won’t even consider recruiting anyone for their overseas projects under the age of 25.

You need life experience

“It’s an experience issue,” said Postill.  “By the time someone is 25 they’ve gone and got some practical experience and know where they’re going, but have also got a bit of life experience.  Maybe 10 or 15 years ago aid agencies were sending younger people out into the field as willing and able bodies, but nowadays we understand that someone a bit older will be more equipped to deal with the issues these jobs throw at you.”

Over the past decade there has been a gradual shift in how development agencies in the West manage their recruitment.  The role of the Western aid worker parachuted in to bring relief to the poor is fast becoming obsolete. Agencies now prefer to recruit staff from the local community or from countries which share similar economic, cultural and social backgrounds to the people they’re working with.

Changing working methods of aid agencies

“We’ve realised that there’s no point sending teams of people to an earthquake site who have never seen an earthquake before,” said Geoffrey Dennis, chief executive of Care International UK.  “Any of the staff heading up our country operations have experience of working in another country in the same region. They are able to share their learning and promote a cross fertilisation of ideas. So we have a country director in Peru who comes from Costa Rica and a Tanzanian manager heading up our office in Mozambique."

Development agencies now work more like management consultancies in developing countries, developing and adding to the capacity of local NGOs.  So you have to add something that the agency can’t find locally.

”We had a lot of plumbers and electricians calling us after the Tsunami asking for jobs, but there are plumbers in Asia who could do the job just as well,” said Cussack.  

Professional skills

Photo: Teaching & Projects Abroad

“Getting training in a commercial discipline such as accountancy or financial planning and then crossing over to a development agency is often the best route in.

“Development agencies need people with professional skills to help do things like develop IT systems and help local agencies build proper accounting frameworks,” said Dennis. “And bringing those skills to the table can transform development work at a local level and make a real difference.”

If you’re not good with numbers then there are other skills that development agencies often can’t find at local level. Specialist nutritionists and speech therapists were two suggestions from Care International.

In this global climate, where the role of development agencies are growing more demanding year on year, those looking to work in the field may have to acknowledge that good will is essential, but simply not enough for a career in overseas development.


Top tips for breaking into development

• DO research what kind of jobs are out there and be realistic about what skills you can offer.  Don’t waste your time going for jobs that need experience you don’t have.
• DO consider getting commercial skills that can be transferred to a development environment.  
• DON’T presume that an MA or postgraduate course is a ticket to a job with an overseas agency.
• DON’T delude yourself.  Working in development means giving up modern luxuries.

World Service Enquiry
www.wse.org.uk