Finding a Career with Impact: Perspectives from an NGO and an International Organization.
Interviews, writing, and editing by Elisabetta Barale, and Andrei Cucu.
Project management and editing by Cassandra Kamberi.
Introduction
When asked about their career aspirations, many students may not have a specific role in mind but are simply fuelled by the desire to contribute to “making the world a better place”. So many of us dream about having a career with a positive social impact. Yet, despite the many opportunities available, the path to stepping foot into international organizations and NGOs' doors can seem incredibly complicated and overwhelming. And most crucially, what does the daily reality of someone working towards solving such complex global challenges look like, and what challenges and opportunities do they face whilst attempting to do so? In this article, we interviewed two spokespersons working at an NGO and international organizations to get a glimpse of their experiences, insights, and advice on pursuing a fulfilling career dedicated to global betterment.
The interviewees
Our first interviewee, whom we will refer to by the fictitious name of Sasha, works at the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), an NGO that promotes peaceful, inclusive, and just politics worldwide. She plays an important role in coordinating democracy schools, best described as institutions that foster dialogue in developing countries among individuals from different minority and religious backgrounds, political party representatives from all sides of the ideological spectrum, civil society, youth, women, and underrepresented communities. When asked about her typical day at work, she describes it as very similar to many other jobs, with the unique aspect that her activities revolve around creating democracy schools. Her day includes many calls and meetings with country offices and colleagues from different thematic groups, replying to emails, and updating guidelines for democracy schools. In fact, NIMD's mission focuses on four thematic areas:
dialogue to bridge the gap across people from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum,
democracy education to promote inclusive democracy across the world,
women’s and youth's political participation to empower them to take action in the political discourse, and
strengthening democratic infrastructure to reinforce all the pillars of society and government that implement and improve the checks and balances of democracies.
Our second interviewee, whom we will refer to by the fictitious name of Louisa, has a background in Economics and Philosophy and is currently working as a diplomat for the Netherlands operating in Northern Europe. Louisa also did a BlueBook traineeship at the European Commission. Among other work experiences, she was part of an EU delegation to an African country for a year and a half, where she worked on development cooperation. She (jokingly) describes her current job as getting paid to have an informed opinion on what is important, why, and how to act on it. This implies being aware of every new regulation, reform, and political shift that occurs in her country of posting, and the ability to explain what this means and why it is relevant. To achieve this level of political awareness, she explains, networking plays a pivotal role which goes hand in hand with good communication skills, or more generally being a pleasant person to talk to. Another task that Louisa often performs is to ease negotiations and ensure smooth communication between the Netherlands and her country of posting. All in all, she spends half of her time in the office drafting reports and writing emails and the other half talking to people in meetings, at seminars, and on duty trips.
Both Sasha and Louisa explained that their path to success was not immune to rejections and changes of heart. Nonetheless, they both stressed the importance of staying true to their passions and striving to turn these passions into their actual jobs. They kept their flame alive despite receiving several “No’s” before the much-awaited “Yes”. Perseverance is an attitude that extends beyond the individual struggles of finding a fulfilling career as it is also a necessary component when working on such complex global challenges.
The Decision-Making Process
The role of research
Change is not a byproduct of complacency. An improvement in the lives of those around us can only come once we make a concerted effort to achieve it, and like any large undertaking, societal change requires a plan. The difficulty of making plans that lead to real change stems not from coming up with ways to help, but from narrowing down your options until you find the one that is feasible while making the best use of your resources. This is why the decision-making process of large organizations is crucial to achieving long-term change. One of the primary steps in this decision-making process is research.
NIMD for instance employs its own researchers and uses different analysis frameworks such as political economy analysis (PEA) to help tailor their activities and programming, or theory of change (ToC) to contextualize their plans and identify challenges on actual, systemic, and cultural levels. In societal work of this nature, there is no one right source of data, instead, their reports are a result of consultation with those involved with, affected by, or knowledgeable about the cause, including academics, politicians, youth groups and movements, embassies, and international organizations such as the EU. Research is a continuous process that, in the case of NIMD’s larger projects, will take place before, during, and after the project to help highlight the strengths and shortcomings of different plans. Not identifying areas that require improvement in post-project evaluations is not a good sign, and according to Sasha, reflects a reluctance to take risks and learn through a process of trial and error.
A larger organization such as the European Commission may also perform research and develop policies according to very strict guidelines. Seemingly simple policies, such as monthly cash-in-hand payments can be surprisingly effective, helping individuals break out of the poverty trap, and their effects will have been thoroughly considered prior to their implementation. A pertinent example of institutional decision-making with far-reaching consequences is the allocation of EU development funds to different third countries, for example as part of the Cotonou agreement. It requires the European Commission to define priorities according to which these funds are allocated. Some of the priorities of the EU include poverty alleviation, improving infrastructure, social protection, and civility in different third countries.
The crossroads of influences
At this point, it can be said that priorities in the development sector diverge into two camps: striving to ‘do the right thing’ by aiming to improve well-being and foster economic development of LDCs, and on the other hand balancing underlying geopolitical interests. This is not to take away from the potential of the mainstream agenda to create an impact on communities, but it can mean that positive social impact has to take a step back to make room for other objectives. For instance, investments made in LDCs may intend to politically align the recipient nation with the contributing government, or even create the expectation of returning the favor down the line. Thus, development funds might not be allocated solely based on which communities need it the most, but also on the geopolitical ambitions of donors. This can, for instance, be influenced by political landscapes, migration patterns, or the presence of natural resources.
Barriers and Challenges
Political Instability and Corruption
As already hinted at when discussing the crossroads of influences in the development sector, the downside of working towards making the world a better place is that it presents challenges that one person alone certainly cannot fix. Firstly, political instability significantly affects the outcome of projects. Sasha touched upon it when discussing the efficiency of democracy schools.
“You have to come to terms with the uncertainty that today one person is leading the country and tomorrow there may be a new one, or that one day a country is politically stable and the next day a civil war breaks out”, she explains.
Dealing with uncertainty suddenly becomes part of the essential skill set required for managing projects in such volatile environments, necessitating flexibility, adaptability, and a robust risk management strategy to navigate the unpredictable political landscape effectively.
Uncertainty also has consequences in the bureaucratic system related to development cooperation, as explained by Louisa. In fact, during her stay in Africa as part of the EU delegation, she told us about the challenges of organizing effective development projects in an environment where the risk of corruption is high and the strength and stability of public institutions is low. Moreover, slow and inefficient bureaucratic processes may skim off a significant part of the funds, meaning there is less left for the beneficiaries. This is challenging and frustrating, but it is necessary to accept that to a certain extent, these inefficiencies are a by-product of development cooperation projects.
“During my stay in Africa, I worked on a multimillion development project targeting individuals living in extreme poverty, which is peanuts for these types of projects, and half of the funds went to the people while the other half was spent on overhead, namely transportation, bureaucracy and so onwards”, Louisa explains.
An alternative path would be to allocate funds to NGOs, however, this can also pose several challenges such as high overhead costs, inexperience, or high time investment for bureaucratic processes compared to relatively small grants. In general terms, the colonial history between some European and African, Asian, or Latin American countries sometimes further complicates development cooperation, as the risk of being labeled as paternalistic or neo-colonial always looms - which holds back the potential for a more equal, forward-looking relationship. To summarize, the mechanisms described fall in line with the arguments made by Acemoglu & Robison in “Why Nations Fail?”. In fact, the authors argue that the key difference between countries that thrive and those that do not, lies in their political and economic institutions, with inclusive institutions fostering prosperity and extractive institutions leading to persistent inefficiencies and corruption, ultimately stifling economic development and perpetuating poverty.
Funding influences
A natural consequence of working on such grand challenges is coming to terms with the inevitable inner conflict between high ideals and harsh realities. Sasha and Louisa touched upon this aspect during the interview under different circumstances. Sasha told us about the sponsors’ influence on projects.
“As much as we try not to be influenced by the sponsor’s agenda, it is undeniable that we do to the extent that it determines whether we upscale or downscale a given project”, she explains. “We can observe such influence in trends within the field of democracy education; now the focus is on youth participation while a few years ago it was more on women's representation in politics. This does not mean that women are suddenly ignored but there is simply less emphasis on their participation. Unfortunately, binding agendas according to donor preferences represent a sad reality many organizations face”, she continues.
This represents the trade-off between working at NGOs and working for the government, as Louisa also explained earlier. Joining governmental bodies may create disillusionment and misalignment with the ideals of the institution, as you become one of the many tassels within the bureaucratic puzzle. At the same time, being closer to the executive side makes you feel it is easier to enact little changes along the way. On the other hand, working at NGOs might keep you more idealistic throughout the journey, but allow for less power and a higher likelihood of being at donors' mercy, as Sasha explained.
The Clash of Values
Nevertheless, working for large institutions makes you face the harsh reality very quickly, as Louisa made clear when talking about her experience in Africa, as part of the EU delegation.
“You suddenly find yourself very comfortable, not nearly as comfortable as your superiors but still able to live a very comfortable life, at least compared to the local population. And you start wondering what the locals would think of those groups of rich Europeans that you are now part of, living in luxurious houses under the guise of doing good for the country. You suddenly are part of a system you disagree with, and it clashes with your ideals” she explains.
At the same time, it was hard to make friends with the local population because the discrepancy between the Europeans’ lives and the African ones was visible and it was difficult to find some form of equality, making the privilege of the international bubble even clearer.
“It made me think a lot about Foucault and his philosophy about internalization, the other, and what is ’normal’, as I was very aware of the difference between my lifestyle and that of the local population”, Louisa concluded.
Geopolitical interests
Another aspect that became very relevant in development projects is the geopolitical influences playing a part in such agreements. While the project’s official statement might claim that the goal is to alleviate poverty and create a more prosperous society, less explicit additional objectives in the geopolitical sphere might not be completely aligned with it due to conflicting interests. Thus, finding common ground and recreating a win-win scenario for both sides can be extremely challenging. To better contextualize, Louisa provides the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the five poorest nations in the world according to the World Bank, and yet one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources, especially in minerals essential for the production of electronic devices. This juxtaposing condition of the Democratic Republic of the Congo represents a telltale sign of the conflict of interest the Global North faces when trying to alleviate poverty while keeping the prices of essential resources low.
While geopolitical influences were almost always regarded as taboo in the past, nowadays more and more policymakers are acknowledging their existence, leaving room for dialogue on finding a compromise. In conclusion, while the quest to make the world a better place is fraught with political, bureaucratic, and geopolitical challenges and requires a pragmatic balance between idealism and reality, it also opens up opportunities for innovative solutions, meaningful collaborations, and incremental progress that can collectively drive substantial and positive change over time.
Career Advice
Lastly, we share some advice from our two interviewees, for all those hoping to pursue an impact-driven career. The common takeaway from both our discussions was to be courageous - where courage means being confident in your abilities and steady in your dedication to helping. According to Sasha, this includes taking up a job with a positive impact right from the start, instead of opting for safer picks such as banking or consulting and hoping to return to making an impact later in life. Similarly, it might be easier to begin at a smaller NGO, where your impact is more tangible and your work more easily recognized, before moving on to larger organizations.
Louisa stresses that your prior background and network do not play as much of a role in getting into the sector as one might think - there is no ‘one size fits all’ model, and organizations are always looking for a broad range of people, not just the one type of person you think they are looking for. Remaining open to learning and engaging in discussions with more experienced people are much more important. At the same time, it is important not to lose scope and realize that there can be a tradeoff between idealism and impact. Working within the government, the magnitude of your impact will initially be pretty limited, sometimes as subtle as changing the wording of reports. These actions will however add up over an entire career, and your potential influence will inevitably increase as you advance professionally. Government structures are generally highly inertial, meaning that while changing their course as an individual is unlikely, they possess as a whole, a large amount of power for doing good. On the other side of the coin, an NGO can afford to be much more idealistic in its approach, albeit with less power to act on a large scale.
It is also important not to lose track of why you chose a career with impact in the first place. Louisa says that while her degree in philosophy was not what usually got her the job, it was the degree in economics (which she barely uses during her actual job), the philosophical skills such as reasoning, understanding of conflicting perspectives, and linking of ideas were what allowed her to excel at and advance in her career. At the same time, these skills are what will allow you to understand why your job is worth doing and give you a sense of purpose that will keep the spark alive. A desire to learn was a recurring motif during her interview, as she constantly engages with books, global news, and people of different backgrounds. Whether you pursue a philosophy degree or not, we all owe it to ourselves to think critically about our future career choices and how they might shape the world around us.
Closing word from the authors
To conclude, we, the writers, who are also on our own personal journey toward finding our place in the world, would like to share some personal takeaways from these interviews.
Firstly, we learned that becoming part of the world of international institutions and NGOs is not as inaccessible as it may seem from the outside. In fact, it is extremely important to be aware of the means through which it is possible to access certain job positions, best done by talking with people already involved in these organizations who can tell you what recruiters look for in new candidates. Furthermore, even though working at NGOs and international organizations can help impact the lives of people around the world; we certainly do not think that these two options are the only ones with a positive impact. The ability to help others is a major factor in long-term job satisfaction, and we simply encourage you to reflect on how a career, spanning decades, might be the most powerful tool you have to make yourself and others happier.
