"Day in the life"?

[Emily]

Hello!

I'm a student who is curious about what various careers in aid/development are actually like.  I know "various careers" is really broad, but I'm definitely interested in hearing from people from all points on the spectrum.

My questions are:

1. What is your job? (Title, etc.)

2. What is a typical day for you?

3. What was your educational background like?/How did you get to be where you were?

Thanks everyone :)

Emily

[Alanna Shaikh]

I pretty much spend my days bugging people to collect data, looking at data which has been collected, writing reports, answering emails, and going to meetings. Very much a desk job.

[Tanya Cothran]

Hi Emily,

I'm happy to share with you! It is a broad category, but I also think each individual aid/development career can be varied as well. 

1. Executive Administrator; I am the only paid employee for a very small aid NGO. I do all my work from home. I mostly guide my own work, with input from the Board of Directors. 

2. Typical tasks: email with our partners in Africa, write thank you notes to donors, plan for fundraising events, write blog posts, design newsletters and solicitation letters, read other development blogs, communicate with board members

3. My schooling is only marginally related to my work (BA in Geography and Masters in Library and Information Science); more important than education was my self-motivation, organizational skills, and my connection with the previous administrator and several board members. Like other lines of work, who you know helps you!

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions!

Tanya

[Jduce]

1. I'm the Administrator (/Director) of a national youth health NGO in the Marshall Islands. I'm the only ex-pat staff among about 25 full, part, and 'volunteer' (stipend) staff and peer educators. 

2. Much like Alanna, it's a desk job. Managing my staff, prodding them towards new/strengthened programs, begging for money, reporting on money spent, and asking for more money. There are also a lot of meetings, advisory boards, and committees. On occasion, I get to travel and I try to regularly tag along on our outreach events to both get me out of the office and keep me in touch with what we're actually trying to achieve.

3. I have a BA in History, BS in Psychology, and an MLitt (UK equivalent to MA) in International Security. I did community organizing work and studied abroad several times in college, then joined the Peace Corps, then wrote grants for an arts organization in DC before grad school, and now I'm here. It was grant writing, Peace Corps (surviving Africa in particular), and the master's that got me this job over other candidates who had experience in the Pacific Islands. Also, I had a friend teaching here who gave me some inside information on the organization and recommended me to the board - being in the right place at the right time is infinitely valuable.

[Breanna R]

My title is "Communications & Advocacy Officer" for a consortium project of INGOs.

When I am at HQ (90% of the time), my days are: answer emails, go to meetings, maintain the website, read blogs & reports, share relevant blogs/reports/articles, develop advocacy messages, create leaflets/brochures/publications, write stories, design graphics, create powerpoint presentations... oh so many powerpoint presentations....

When I am lucky enough to go to our project sites (in "the field"), my job is to visit projects and document them with photographs/video and meet beneficiaries and record their stories. Then I write or blog about it, or create video/audio/slideshows.  In an actual emergency setting I do some of the same, but with a lot more media work (writing press releases, dealing with journos), and also focus on information management - between humanitarian actors but with a big emphasis on trying to get information to communities.  So it is a lot of compiling information and trying to figure out who needs to know what and how to get it to them.

I studied international development & economics, did a year in the field, and then did a Masters in Development Studies. Then I discovered communications completely by accident and realized that I could turn my hobbies (photography, graphic design, websites) into a career, and have never looked back!

[Danielle Darnell]

Hi Emily,

I am the International Program Director for a small non-profit based in the US, with a country office in Uganda.  A typical day for me involves communicating with our Ugandan staff about current projects, reviewing project reports (progress, budgets, evaluations, etc), and strategizing problem areas (and then evaluating the effectiveness of the solutions).  Inevitably, other admin tasks come across my desk as well (blog posts, donor cultivation, volunteer management, etc).  I have a Master's in International Development Administration and a Bachelor's in Sociology.  Hope that helps!

Danielle

[Rishita Nandagiri]

Hello! :) 

1. I have an extremely vague catch all title of 'Programme Officer'. I work for an INGO in sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, and the head office is based in Manila, Philippines. At the moment I focus on young people's rights- empowerment & participation in decision making processes & etc, handling our engagement in UN processes, working around the women's health & rights issues leading up to the new development agenda; and all the other nonsense that comes with this: budgets, admin, facilitating, training &etc. 

2. It depends on where I am, but the constants are e-mail, Skype calls, budgets, and logistical hell. 

3. I have a BA in Development Communication, and an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies. I've always been involved/interested in women's rights (and particularly young women & girls), and a lot of my personal standpoints and politics worked extremely well with the organisation's viewpoints and it seemed like a good fit :)

[Sarah Davitt]

1. What is your job? (Title, etc.)

Technically Country Director, but its very very small (program -- not country) and so I am in charge of just about everything here as part of a international volunteer/intern program.

2. What is a typical day for you?

Get up, write a ton of emails, go to meetings with our NGO partners, deliver discussions and orientation around culture, sustainable internal practices, wait around for paperwork, meetings, update various online systems, strategic planning, updating documentation, soothing the sad/sick/uncomfortable participant, running interference between partners, participants, other programs in order to stabilize relationships. Source interesting cultural events, media and opportunities for our participants to discuss culture and work here, facilitating those discussions.  Skype meetings in the evening, and sometimes I force myself to take some time off.

3. What was your educational background like?/How did you get to be where you were?

My undergraduate degree was in Painting (srsly.)  But I'm allergic to oil paint and fell in love with intercultural training work. I had about 12 years of experience in various Non-Profits, and ad-hoc organizations designed for activism, project management, and community building.  I decided to follow the path to professionalization and am working towards a graduate degree in Intercultural Service Leadership and Management.  And I don't regret it. 

[J.]

1) "Operations Director - Emergencies" Lead/manage a US-based team of aid workers who support (in some specific ways) disaster responses in-progress on the field.

2) The usual emails, phone calls, reports (write/review), about 1/3 travel... all to one of three usual ends: a) Make sure that fundraisers have the information from the field that they need in order to raise funds. Involves a lot of education for marketers, too. b) Make sure that those in the field have the right information about how much is coming in and what strings might be attached so that they can make strategic and programmatic decisions accordingly. c) on-site technical support. Everyone on my team, including me, deploys to the field as part of a first-in disaster response team at least twice per year. Keeps our skills sharp, helps to diminish the notion that "all we do is sit in cubicles at HQ", and... we're actually good at it.

3) Bachelor's Degree in photography, Master's Degree in cultural anthropology, honorary doctorate from the school of 'repeatedly thrown into the deep end with zero support.' I started by being a volunteer English teacher in Bangkok for a year. During that year, got recruited to stay on as a junior comms officer for an INGO who had an office in Bangkok. Made the jump to disaster management programs soon after (in 1991). Haven't looked back since.

[Michael Keizer]

1. I actually have two jobs, both of which take about 50% of my time:

- I do regular gigs for MSF, usually as something with "logistics" in the title -- although I have been known to be forced into assignments as a project coordinator, country director, and other assorted goodies as well.

- I am a consultant in logistics for some of the big names in the sector.

The consultancies put bread on the table, MSF is for kicks.

2. During my latest gig for MSF (as country logistics coordinator), most of my time seemed to be taken up by convincing everyone and their uncle that some drastic action re the supply line was inevitable, and could we please stop using band aids when full-on surgery was necessary. During my latest consultancy, I spend most of my time on digging through procurement files and the related laws, rules and regulations, and on  listening very closely to the people involved. In what actually is my fifth language, so I was totally fagged at the end of each day.

3. The equivalent of an MSc in Information Management, an MPH, and many of thousands of hours of reading journal articles, books, and of listening to people who know much more than I ever will. Plus some furious paddling when thrown in at the deep end.

[Michael Keizer]

That should read: 'each of which', instead of 'both of which', of course. I could only wish.