Comments

Hi Christina, Thanks a lot for your encouragement. As I mentioned in the post I have written this aimed at what I know, a developed country audience. It is comforting to know that at least some of the points I raise can be useful for you (and hopefully others in a similar situation). Best of luck and thanks again for your encouragement! Regards, Jonathan

Hi John, You raise some important questions and provide very valid points, some of which I have tried to respond to through my reply to Robert below. The next step of this endeavor will be to interview others in the sector and provide a broader narrative on the development sector, so thanks for the encouragement there! Regards, Jonathan

Chris Blattman's <a href="http://chrisblattman.com/2009/04/20/getting-a-job-in-international-development/ " rel="nofollow">thoughts</a> are some of the more original pieces of advice about getting a job in development. I would particularly highlight: 8. Consider a private firm. The most exciting and educational jobs in development could be Celtel (growing gangbusters across Africa) or Ecobank (started in Togo–yes, that Togo–and now in 26 countries). Not too many students are e-mailing them looking for an internship. 9. It’s a numbers game. Sit down every day and aim to write just 5 people. After three weeks, that’s 50 e-mails. Forty-five will go unanswered, three will say “thanks, but no vacancy”, two will say “let’s talk”, and one will turn into a job.

I am conducting a research on Tax Credit Scheme in PNG. Can someone please guide me to resources on PNG tax credit scheme/ or projects funded by TCS? Thank you

I appreciate the paper, but if I were you I'd lose the 2nd hand Churchill quote. Besides, isn't it likely that the older development workers who you have access to are more likely those who chose to come back to Australia later in their careers? (i.e. selection bias is at play) en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill Misattributed If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain. According to research by Mark T. Shirey, citing Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations by Ralph Keyes, 1992, this quote was first uttered by mid-nineteenth century French historian and statesman François Guizot when he observed, Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head. (N'être pas républicain à vingt ans est preuve d'un manque de cœur ; l'être après trente ans est preuve d'un manque de tête.) This quote has been attributed variously to George Bernard Shaw, Benjamin Disraeli, Otto von Bismarck, and others.

Hi Jonathan I came here through Linked In and I'd like to share my own perspective. I am also a young professional, early in my career and I live in a developing country. The greatest challenge for me has been attaining my Master's Degree as none is not offered locally and it is quite expensive to acquire overseas. It is widespread knowledge here though that a master's will set you apart, mostly because we still have expats being hired for most of our jobs (as is expected because of the lack of experience and qualifications of locals). I find the advice provided by you and those commented to be really useful and relevant to my situation, however, even though I am in a developing country and I look forward to reading more. Chris

Both Jo and Patrick’s blogs are useful contributions to the long and ongoing debates about NGOs: ones that we probably need to have more of. For me, one of Jo’s observations is particularly important: that what has “gained” in NGOs’ struggles to balance the demands of multiple stakeholders and audiences is the “drive for organisational sustainability and growth”. I’d like to see much more discussion of this issue, in particular in relation to the very large INGOs that often dominate civil society engagement in development. In 2010 the five largest INGOs had revenue of $6.7 billion, and around 90,000 staff worldwide. Collectively, the big INGOs –despite all the heartache about declining funding sources – are actually financial powerhouses. Their very major presence in developing countries often crowds out smaller, Southern organisations, both in terms of “on the ground” program delivery, as well as in policy discussions. Yet INGOs are constantly looking for new opportunities to increase their revenue, strengthen their “brand”, and ensure an even stronger local and global presence. Of course,many INGOs do great work - but they need to think more about the implications of their size and scope. In many cases, INGOs might do better by doing less – so that Southern organisations can have a greater presence, and take a greater role in development, both in terms of programs and advocacy.

"Michael Edwards and others argued that NGOs were Too Close for Comfort (to government that is), and they have lived off that assertion ever since." What on earth does that mean Patrick? Please elaborate. "Their argument is based on a romantic view of NGOs as being about broad social change through social movements when most NGO aims are more prosaic and focus on community development and local level empowerment." No, it was based on the self-declared objectives of NGOs such as empowerment and structural change, areas in which their performance continues to disappoint, partly because they are tied so deeply into the foreign aid system. So the argument still stands, I think. What's disappointing is that most NGOs have done so little to face up to it in the intervening years.

Thank you for your interesting article. As to questions of impact and effectivness of NGO work and value for money optic, I recommend the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2012/oct/04/charity-measuring-impact?INTCMP=SRCH" rel="nofollow">following article</a>. There are suggestions on not trying to change the set system of measuring results and impact, however trying to best comply with this system. The two interesting things were coming up: how to "design our organisations to have the most impact"? and to the way of reporting- that the crucial thing is to be able to know how to communicate stories of people whose lives were transformed. The former draws upon a model of British NGO Christian Aid (scale, depth and inclusion factors), which was mentioned in your article. The latter is in particular interesting because it suggests that it is about both the art of communicating the message as well as having people narrate how they their lives have been changed, which seems to ignore the quantity factor to prefer the quality one. However, the problem with participatory development is not dealt with here, which speaks about only those approaches of how to accommodate in the best way to the given system.

Thanks for a thorough paper and stimulating Blog Jonathan I agree with the direction Bob is encouraging you to think. Having worked in development all my career - thanks to a lucky start in 1980 - I continue to believe there is a career in cross-cultural change. Plenty to do in Australia as well as other countries. But Bob's questions have to be answered honestly to set the right path. For instance, a technical career path in development is increasingly unlikely for an Australian professional unless it is as a researcher or as a mature, highly experienced professional bringing additional skills such as cross-sectoral management. However, there continues to be demand for administrators of official development assistance (contract administration skills, program management skills) and for management of multi-disciplinary teams.- both in the private sector, the civil society sector and the public sector. More recent experience suggest a successful technical career in Australia, leading to management positions builds a set of skills and experiences that enables a mid-career shift to development work - because by that time a person has something of value to offer that is additional to what is available from professionals in developing countries. That is usualy the multi-disciplinary management and cross-sectoral analysis that supports more holistic decision-making and so better development. Keep up the good work - you might like to explore career paths of some current development practitioners: from Australia, and developing countries to understand the different supply-side options available to the development market.

Thank you Debbie!

Terence, I'm strictly an aid amateur, having done a few very short-term assignments though Australian Business Volunteers, and getting more and more uncertain about what it is we business consultants supposedly deliver. I find this DevPolicy blog really interesting and your contributions in particular accessible and often very much to the point of much of what I wonder about as an interested amateur. Thanks for that.