These are not easy times to work in global development. Perhaps more than ever, humanitarian, global health, and development professionals are grappling with heavy questions about the underlying foundations of their industry — while still facing the emotional and physical strains that have always accompanied aid work.
It adds up to a big question with the 2030 SDG deadline looming: Does global development have a talent retention problem?
Also in today’s edition: Inside Brazil’s plan to end global hunger, how AI is expanding refugee health care, and the U.K. government’s low-cost opportunity to solve the global debt crisis.
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Gimme one reason to stay here
Writing for Devex, Rebecca Root caught up with researchers in the water and sanitation, or WASH, sector who have taken a closer look at the reasons their peers have opted to leave their organizations and change careers — and much of what they learned likely applies beyond WASH.
New York City-based water NGO FLUSH found that there were specific reasons people seek greener pastures. Among them — a lack of professional development, limitations on pay, inadequate support for demanding roles, and issues with diversity and representation.
The good news: there’s plenty an organization can do to address attrition and retain talent, though many of them currently aren’t. As Rebecca notes, over 70% of nonprofits in the U.S. don’t have a retention strategy.
Part of the solution — according to social impact career coach and strategist Julia Firestone — is to move “beyond the typical self care way we talk about it on Instagram” and to actually implement policies that improve the workplace, such as generous time off, good work-from-home policies, and access to mental health support.
But Rebecca’s reporting also points to some existential angst circulating in the aid sector these days. She spoke to a longtime UN Refugee Agency employee who came to a “recognition that I was exactly what the sector did not need or want: an elderly white man.” And she heard from a veteran humanitarian who has tired of seeing local civil society “steamrolled” by international NGOs.
For some, those hard lessons have led to a new career goal: improving the aid system itself.
Read: Does global development have a staff retention problem? (Pro)
Maybe you are among those feeling ready for a change. If so, here are some key questions to consider about what your next step might look like, and where to start.
Read: Considering leaving development? How to navigate this tough decision (Career)
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Lula’s hunger mission
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has a big goal for his country’s presidency of the Group of 20 largest economies: to remove all countries from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s hunger map by 2030.
Devex contributor Jorge Valencia has the details of Lula’s plan to make that happen. It revolves around the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which Brazil is using its G20 presidency to build and promote.
Jorge writes: “The alliance isn’t designed to replace global financing for anti-hunger efforts but to instead mobilize the G20’s political capital to make it easier for the countries with the greatest need to access existing resources.”
Read: Inside Brazil’s plan to cut world hunger by 2030
Chatbot MD
“Specialist doctors cannot be based in refugee camps due to the high demand for their services. But with AI and telemedicine, we can reach them, hence making the workload for health workers easier.”
— Brigid Waliuba, health technical adviser at the International Rescue CommitteeThe rise of artificial intelligence, coinciding with increased internet connectivity in Africa, is opening up new treatment opportunities for people who often struggle to get face-to-face with a health care provider, David Njagi reports for Devex.
The Sudan Clinic chatbot is an AI-assisted telemedicine service that offers free virtual health care to Sudanese refugees who have fled their country. It was developed by the conversation cloud firm Gupshup in collaboration with Meta and serves refugees from 42 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
David notes that the digital divide among marginalized groups like refugees is still broad, with about 20% of refugees in rural regions living in areas without mobile and electricity connectivity, while those who do live in areas with connectivity spend a lot of their income to access it.
Read: AI-supported telemedicine brings health care to refugees
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Forgive our debtors
My colleague Rob Merrick has this dispatch from the U.K.:
Gloomy Labour members of Parliament know their election success will not reverse massive aid budget cuts or restore a separate aid department — but they have found a vital cause that “doesn’t require money,” as one puts it. That issue is the global debt crisis and the U.K.’s “unique” leverage over ruthless private lenders refusing to join debt relief deals backed by governments and multilateral creditors such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Some 90% of debts owed by lower-income countries to banks, hedge funds, and asset managers are overseen by U.K. law, say campaigners at Debt Justice — so why not change the law to rein in these “vulture funds,” as the IMF dubs them?
At a parliamentary event sponsored by Christian Aid and CAFOD, Labour MPs demanded rapid action to help 3.3 billion people living in countries where more is gobbled up by debt repayments than is spent on health and education. Sarah Champion, who is bidding to chair the international development committee again, said it “requires political will but it doesn’t require money.” New MP Sam Rushworth said: “If we have the tools to do something then we need to do it,” while fellow newbie Jessica Toale said: “I hope, by 2025, we can see some change.”
The defeated Conservative government ruled out legislation, claiming the idea was “complex and could have unintended consequences.” The new Labour development minister, Anneliese Dodds, has yet to set out her party’s position.
Related opinion: UK and New York laws have to be part of global debt crisis fix
In other news
The World Bank has approved a $68 million program to help Pacific island nations stay connected to the global financial system, which is vital for tourism, trade, and aid flows. [Reuters]
Cholera deaths surged by 71% in 2023, with over 4,000 fatalities and a 13% rise in reported cases compared to the year prior, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. [UN News]
China's President Xi Jinping pledged $51 billion in financial support to Africa over the next three years, which includes a $30 billion credit line, $11 billion in unspecified aid, and at least $10 billion in investments from Chinese companies. [Bloomberg]
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
