Devex Pro Insider: Humanitarian burnout, UNGA — and a brand new look!

Hello there! I’m back from vacation and delighted to introduce our revamped Sunday newsletter — Pro Insider! We’ve spent months working to inject new life into the newsletter formerly known as the Weekender, listening to your feedback to make sure we’re giving you, our Pro members, what you want — and we’re now completing the revamp with a fresh name and design. We hope you find this new look easier to navigate and more pleasing to the eye! I’d love to know what you think — let me know by replying to this email. Coming up: Secure your spot at our next career event on Tuesday, where we’ll be exploring the art of salary negotiation and how to get paid what you’re worth as a development professional. The big event this week is, of course, UNGA. Read on for more on that, and join us for a series of events starting Sept. 23 where we’ll be tackling key themes such as health, innovation, climate change, and more with a plethora of high-level speakers. Also in today’s edition: The sector’s newest AI chief, the causes of humanitarian burnout, and one big question looms over the race for the next ADB president. Jessica Abrahams Editor, Devex Pro Bits and pieces Game on. Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa will be stepping down in February 2025. Japanese media reports that the government intends to nominate Masato Kanda, a government special adviser and its former top currency diplomat, as his replacement. ADB is headquartered in Manila but since its founding in 1966 it has always had a president from Japan, the bank’s largest shareholder alongside the United States. However, the last few elections have been dominated by the looming question of whether China — which overtook Japan’s economy many years ago — will enter a candidate to challenge the status quo. While the habit of multilateral institutions selecting their leaders by nationality is increasingly seen as unacceptable, the opening of this particular role is a cause of concern for many countries in the region that are supported by the bank but also have tense relations — and in some cases territorial disputes — with Beijing. As yet, however, there’s no indication of China’s plans. Burning out. Are humanitarian organizations burning out their staff with oppressive workloads and toxic cultures? That’s what my colleague Elissa Miolene found when she spoke to aid workers recently, digging into stories about high rates of burnout. Sources cited dysfunctional employers, insufficient resources, unsustainable workloads, and job insecurity among the factors driving it. Listen: A look at MCC, and burnout in global development “The statistics are undeniable — it’s a high-risk occupation,” psychologist and researcher Cheryl Yunn Shee Foo told her. “But it’s not just about the adversities inherent in the work, or the individual coping abilities, skills, or resilience that an aid worker can build or learn. It’s really more of these chronic workplace stressors that are contributing to burnout way more than what is inherent to aid work.” What do you think? I’m keen to hear about your experiences, whether you think burnout is a particular problem in the sector, and why. AI chiefs. PATH has become the latest organization, and one of the first INGOs, to create a new role of chief AI officer. Bilal Mateen is taking on the job, in which he will be responsible for “developing and implementing PATH’s AI strategy … using AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of PATH’s programs, as well as to develop new health solutions. He will also work to build partnerships with other organizations in the AI and health sectors.” Mateen previously led PATH’s Digital Square program, supporting governments across Africa and Asia to use technology to address global health inequities. The chief AI officer role is a growing trend in the private sector — I haven’t seen it so much among NGOs, although many have chief technology or information officers who include AI in their work. USAID has recently been hiring for the position and it’s likely something we’ll start to see more of in the international development space. New gigs galore. As Devex reported, Crown Agents — one of the U.K.’s most established development contractors — sadly closed its doors last month, putting hundreds of people out of work. But it’s been a joy to see that at least some of those who lost their jobs that day, or who left in the months leading up to it, have quickly landed back on their feet. I’ve noticed a flurry of appointments of former CA staff being announced in the past week or so, many of them with CA’s competitors. Among them are Kate Wilson Hargreaves, CA’s former climate director who has been snapped up by DAI’s U.K. office; Tomi Hollen-Dias, previously director of the commercial development office who has joined Abt Global Britain as commercial and pricing principal; Louise Bury, a monitoring and evaluation specialist who’s now with Oxford Policy Management; Yucca Aurovillian, director of the program management office who’s now leading the Programme Management Centre of Excellence at Chemonics U.K.; and communications director Anna Schuesterl who’s headed over to ODI. Congratulations to all and best of luck to those still searching. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Harrier Kuhr is retiring as an executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Virginia at the end of the year, which means they’re looking for a new one. Florent Sassatelli is moving within the French Development Agency to become its country manager for Chad and Burkina Faso. The Yidan Prize Foundation has named Lucy Lake as its new director of global engagement. Lake is the former CEO of CAMFED and the 2020 Yidan Prize laureate. Ruth Hill has joined the International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI, as director of its markets, trade, and institutions unit. She previously served as an economist at the World Bank for more than a decade. Martin Caudron has a new role within the International Monetary Fund. He’ll be moving to Paris to serve as special assistant to the director of the IMF Offices in Europe, with a focus on communications. Haley McLeod is the new chief of staff at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, or ACEGID. She has previously worked at the Carter Center and McKinsey. Jacob Kurtzer is rejoining the International Committee of the Red Cross as a communications coordinator and temporarily relocating to Israel. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Jobs of the week Looking for a job change? Remember that your Pro membership includes access to the world’s largest global development job board. Here are some of the latest high-level opportunities: • Executive Director, Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Equity in Development, or CREED. • Manager, External Affairs, TB Alliance. • Country Director, Nairobi, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. • Landscape Director, African Wildlife Foundation. Explore more executive-level openings. Up next UNGA. The 79th U.N. General Assembly has officially started, although the high-level sessions aren’t until next week. Key issues on the agenda include antimicrobial resistance and rising sea levels, which are both getting high-level meetings. But this year’s big addition is the Summit of the Future, which starts with a series of “action days” on Sept. 20. Many see it as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ swan song — an ambitious effort to remake the institution to meet the challenges of the 21st century before his term expires at the end of 2026. Find out more by catching up on our Pro event. Sept. 10-30. Plastic pollution. SEA of Solutions is hosted by the U.N. Environment Programme and partners, focused on solving the problem of plastic pollution at source. Now in its fifth year, it has particular relevance right now, with hopes that the international community might agree on a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by the end of the year, but this event is focused more on practical solutions and sharing of best practices. It’s taking place in Thailand. Sept. 18-20. The International Conference on Sustainable Development is taking place on the sidelines of UNGA. It’s a research-focused conference, with one day dedicated to presentations on issues such as AI and education, reducing food waste, climate change adaptation, and more. That’ll be followed by two high-level days focused on the Summit of the Future. Sept. 19-21.