"Happy 30th Birthday!"
My 30th birthday back in March didn't feel very happy. Single for 3 years, due to this nomadic lifestyle of going to and fro (or at least that's what I like to tell myself). Working with children and loving it, but wondering whether my choice of new career would undermine any future attempt to have my own family. Hearing story after story of couples in this sector who have tried to make relationships work and failed. Living in the Middle East and being tormented by the fact I can't approach women without risking being deported for inappropriate behaviour.
So I resolved that my next job would be UK based. I told myself I could deal with the grey skies, rain and lemming-like commute into London so long as I could have a more normal social life again.
Like New Year's resolutions though, this seems to have but put off for another year. Come October I'll be handing the Iraq programme over to someone new and moving into a new job in Northern Uganda.
Anyone interested?
Recruiting people is always insightful. Flooding in come little windows into the lives of people from every far flung corner of the world. Windows into career paths, personalities and motivations... It's particularly interesting you're recruiting your replacement. Whenever you interview for a job, you never really learn what calibre or type of people you're competing against.
It's also entertaining. From the 17 page CVs, the CVs submitted in a foreign language, and the covering letters addressed to the wrong organisation, to the hopelessly optimistic applications from people who have overlooked every person specific requirement.
And the random emails that come in response to your email being put out into the public domain. Like the daughters of Africa's unseated dictators who want your help to free up $15m.
"You're young. You should go spend 3 months in Sudan, 3 months in Afghanistan..."
This was a friend's recommendation. 3 months? Now, in this work often you can be exposed to, learn, and do a lot in 3 months but equally, it's hard to see how 3 months is enough to learn about a new context and actually achieve something significant. It's over in a blink. This is indicative of the turnover in this sector though - it's horrendous and seems to be accepted.
You wonder how this can be in the best interests of the beneficiaries. It undermines the need for continuity, for people to see things through from start to finish, to build and retain learning, for people to be around long enough to see the impact and be held accountable, to develop effective relationships, to avoid wasting time and energy inducting new person after new person... Clearly most right minded people don't want to live in miserable conflict zones for long, but the sector really needs to find an effective way of mitigating the impact of this turnover or reducing the turnover altogether.
I tell myself I've done okay. I've stayed here for over a year and I'm continuing to work for the same organisation.
"I've had enough of Kuwait"
I feel awful trying to explain some of my motivations for leaving to my Iraqi colleagues. It seems so disrespectful to say "I've had enough of Kuwait". Enough of the constant electricity, clean water, sanitation, nice car, nicer accommodation, security and safety, shops full of everything I need, no floods, landscape sea fronts and beaches... This only frustrates me further and leaves me question why I can't tolerate it for longer, enjoy it for what it is, get some perspective?
And the answer seems simple. I don't have to. I am another of the nomadic INGO workers, born in the West and blessed with opportunity, mobility and choice.
Sorry, we're leaving now, something else has come up
This parallels the relationship between international NGOs and local NGOs. Volumes of manuals, reports and journals discuss capacity building of LNGOs, building their legitimacy, expertise etc. This we're told is the key to their sustainability.
I wonder though whether this overlooks some key distinguishing characteristics between INGOs and LNGOs. INGOs have had a reputation for being fairly incompetent so it can't be about expertise. And they're outsiders - they have limited local knowledge and grassroots legitimacy. It's more likely INGOs survive because:
My 30th birthday back in March didn't feel very happy. Single for 3 years, due to this nomadic lifestyle of going to and fro (or at least that's what I like to tell myself). Working with children and loving it, but wondering whether my choice of new career would undermine any future attempt to have my own family. Hearing story after story of couples in this sector who have tried to make relationships work and failed. Living in the Middle East and being tormented by the fact I can't approach women without risking being deported for inappropriate behaviour.
So I resolved that my next job would be UK based. I told myself I could deal with the grey skies, rain and lemming-like commute into London so long as I could have a more normal social life again.
Like New Year's resolutions though, this seems to have but put off for another year. Come October I'll be handing the Iraq programme over to someone new and moving into a new job in Northern Uganda.
Anyone interested?
Recruiting people is always insightful. Flooding in come little windows into the lives of people from every far flung corner of the world. Windows into career paths, personalities and motivations... It's particularly interesting you're recruiting your replacement. Whenever you interview for a job, you never really learn what calibre or type of people you're competing against.
It's also entertaining. From the 17 page CVs, the CVs submitted in a foreign language, and the covering letters addressed to the wrong organisation, to the hopelessly optimistic applications from people who have overlooked every person specific requirement.
And the random emails that come in response to your email being put out into the public domain. Like the daughters of Africa's unseated dictators who want your help to free up $15m.
"You're young. You should go spend 3 months in Sudan, 3 months in Afghanistan..."
This was a friend's recommendation. 3 months? Now, in this work often you can be exposed to, learn, and do a lot in 3 months but equally, it's hard to see how 3 months is enough to learn about a new context and actually achieve something significant. It's over in a blink. This is indicative of the turnover in this sector though - it's horrendous and seems to be accepted.
You wonder how this can be in the best interests of the beneficiaries. It undermines the need for continuity, for people to see things through from start to finish, to build and retain learning, for people to be around long enough to see the impact and be held accountable, to develop effective relationships, to avoid wasting time and energy inducting new person after new person... Clearly most right minded people don't want to live in miserable conflict zones for long, but the sector really needs to find an effective way of mitigating the impact of this turnover or reducing the turnover altogether.
I tell myself I've done okay. I've stayed here for over a year and I'm continuing to work for the same organisation.
"I've had enough of Kuwait"
I feel awful trying to explain some of my motivations for leaving to my Iraqi colleagues. It seems so disrespectful to say "I've had enough of Kuwait". Enough of the constant electricity, clean water, sanitation, nice car, nicer accommodation, security and safety, shops full of everything I need, no floods, landscape sea fronts and beaches... This only frustrates me further and leaves me question why I can't tolerate it for longer, enjoy it for what it is, get some perspective?
And the answer seems simple. I don't have to. I am another of the nomadic INGO workers, born in the West and blessed with opportunity, mobility and choice.
Sorry, we're leaving now, something else has come up
This parallels the relationship between international NGOs and local NGOs. Volumes of manuals, reports and journals discuss capacity building of LNGOs, building their legitimacy, expertise etc. This we're told is the key to their sustainability.
I wonder though whether this overlooks some key distinguishing characteristics between INGOs and LNGOs. INGOs have had a reputation for being fairly incompetent so it can't be about expertise. And they're outsiders - they have limited local knowledge and grassroots legitimacy. It's more likely INGOs survive because:
- They're international and mobile - they can follow the money and crises;
- The political and donor institutions trust them because they're both western; and
- They're based in the west and can tap into the affluence of the local community
Of course some will survive. The ones that are dynamic and effective and build relationships with western political and donor institutions, maintain relationships with INGOs and tap into diaspora communities. Independent sustainability seems a long way off though in Iraq. For now our relationships with them need to both build their capacity and sustain them financially. The funding situation is dire and political and donor institutions are very cautious, concerned that they can't monitor and evaluate activities in a conventional way, put off by the billions that have been filtered off by corrupt individuals and organisations, and wary of the huge number of LNGOs that were set up after 2003 as fronts for contractors, religious organisations and self interested individuals looking for personal enrichment.
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