Devex Pro Weekender: INGOs in trouble and USAID salaries

There were two big bits of news last week: First that the International Rescue Committee would be cutting more than 10% of staff at its London office, and then that Save the Children International was also preparing for mass layoffs. As my colleague Dave was quick to point out, the two stories share remarkable similarities: Two rapidly growing megacharities with incomes well over $1 billion, which expanded quickly after a rise in humanitarian spending driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, and which found themselves struggling to reverse direction when spending reduced last year. In both cases, the problems seem to center not on the total amount of money available, but on the lack of unrestricted funding — money that isn’t earmarked for a particular project. Rapid growth is notorious for putting pressure on this scarce resource. In both cases, there has also been significant disquiet among staff over what they see as out-of-touch leadership — including anger over a perceived weakness on the issue of Gaza. But it’s also notable that it isn’t just these two organizations that are facing challenges after significant drops in international humanitarian spending last year. The Red Cross has made significant cuts, and other major NGOs are understood to be considering layoffs. If you have thoughts or insights on any of this, I’d love to hear from you — simply reply to this email. Coming up: Remember, we have an upcoming Pro event on how to partner with USAID. Also in today’s edition: How much you’d get paid at USAID, squatters in Brussels, and lots of big job moves. Jessica Abrahams Editor, Devex Pro Bits and pieces Never slow down. GiveDirectly has a new CEO in Nick Allardice, the longtime leader of Change.org. They’ve taken their time choosing — it comes nearly a year after Rory Stewart announced he was stepping down from the helm of the cash transfer charity. But evidently, GiveDirectly — which was described in 2020 as the world’s fastest-growing nonprofit — has no intentions of slowing down when it comes to growth. Having now delivered $825 million in cash, the press release announcing Allardice’s appointment says he will lead “the next phase of growth” and that they are “currently running our most ambitious projects ever, part of a larger scale up.” That includes partnerships with the governments of Malawi and Rwanda under which more than 125,000 people will receive lump sum, no-strings-attached payments of $550. “We have a huge ambition, and want to act with urgency,” Allardice wrote on X. “We’ll need donors big and small, partners, technologists, governments, team members, and more. If you’re interested in being involved, please reach out — I’m eager to connect.” Plan for the future. Plan International has posted a job ad for a new CEO, which seems a tad tardy given that the previous CEO Stephen Omollo stepped down in April. Debbie Simpson, a board member of Plan International USA and retired CFO of Boston Consulting Group, has been running the organization on an interim basis since then. If you’re interested, you better move quickly because applications close Aug. 28. They don’t list much in the way of requirements, though they do say they want “an experienced thought leader” who can implement “a sustainable, locally led, globally connected strategy and operating model that is fit for the future,” with a focus on “shifting power closer to the point of impact.” Accordingly, it seems they’re open to remote applicants, saying only that “The CEO should be located where they can best serve our team, including being able to overlap time zones with our hubs based in the UK and Kenya.” Salary hack. Recently, my colleague Kristiana analyzed 748 USAID job postings from the past year to see what she could parse about the salaries the agency pays. She found salaries ranging from $6,163 a year for a program management assistant in Zambia to $221,900 for a deputy assistant inspector general in the U.S. But perhaps surprisingly, the U.S. was not the location offering the highest average salary. In fact, if you really want to earn the big bucks, according to Kristiana’s analysis, you should be applying for senior USAID jobs in Austria, within the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation, and working on the private sector. Find out more in her full analysis. Home improvements. My colleague Vince Chadwick has been reporting for a long time now on the struggles of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, Pacific States, a group that shapes the EU’s development cooperation with 79 countries. As a sign of just how bad things have gotten, its Brussels HQ has now been taken over by squatters. OACPS had vacated the premises on Avenue George Henri in the well-heeled suburb of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert back in 2020 for renovations. But such are its management issues that it never even published a tender for the works. Instead, it is renting temporary offices and currently plans to buy a new building — but everything it proposes has been knocked back by the European Commission — its main funder — as too grandiose. Meanwhile, its empty headquarters are at least being put to use, with Belgian media outlet RTBF reporting that around 70 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers have taken up residence there. Last week, police visited the building at the request of OACPS with an expulsion notice. As of a few days ago, however, we heard the collective was still there. Fire without smoke. U.N. watchdog Blue Smoke has suspended publication as it has run out of funding. The project was set up in 2022 by the United Nations Association U.K. and Strategy for Humanity, publishing in partnership with PassBlue. The goal was to shine a light on the infamously opaque process of senior U.N. appointments and advocate for more transparency and meritocracy. The project had been funded thus far by the Open Society Foundations but that support has now ended so publication has been paused while it seeks new funders. In its final newsletter, it drew attention to the fact that a new emergency relief coordinator has still not been appointed, months after Martin Griffiths stepped down at the end of June. “We now hear it may not happen until late August or early September,” the authors reported. “One of the world’s most critical roles is vacant, with duties being performed on an acting basis by the previous Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya.” They pin the blame on the controversial British monopoly over the role, reporting that David Miliband — the well-remunerated boss of the International Rescue Committee — is being considered but is holding out for the U.K. ambassadorship to the U.S. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Raj Panjabi, former senior director for global health security at the White House, has a new gig. He’s joined Flagship Pioneering, which describes itself as a “bioplatform innovation company”, as a senior partner. According to a release, he’ll be leading the Preemptive Health and Medicine Initiative, “which is pioneering a new field to protect, maintain, or improve people’s health before they get sick.” Disha Banik is now head of partnerships, reports and communication for the World Food Programme, Republic of Congo. She was previously policy adviser for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Meanwhile, Kevin Lawson, previously senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, is now a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations’ D.C. office. Margaret Sancho has been sworn in as USAID mission director for Sudan. Fondation Botnar named Andrea Studer as its new CEO. She joins from the Swiss Foreign Ministry, where she worked on development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Amitabh Behar is the new executive director of Oxfam International, a role he had already been filling for more than a year on an interim basis. He was previously chief executive of Oxfam India. Andrew Herscowitz, former chief development officer of U.S. DFC, has left the ODI think tank after just a year of leading its new U.S. outpost. “Sometimes an exciting new door opens unexpectedly,” he explained, although he’s not yet been clear which organization that door will be leading do. ODI veteran Nilima Gulrajani is taking over in the interim. Mary-Ann Etiebet is leaving Merck after nearly eight years, most recently serving as associate vice president of health equity. The Center for Global Development has welcomed Dany Bahar as its new director for migration, displacement, and humanitarian policy. Giulia McPherson has joined the Global Campaign for Education-US as executive director. She was previously vice president of advocacy and operations at the Jesuit Refugee Service USA. Rupa Mukerji has stepped down as director of advisory services at development network Helvetas after 13 years. She has not yet announced her next move. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. In memoriam Aidan O’Leary, director of the World Health Organization’s Polio Eradication Programme, died suddenly Aug. 6. WHO chief Dr. Tedros said he was “devastated and heartbroken at the passing of a very dear friend and colleague.” Before WHO, O’Leary had served as head of office in Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq for UNOCHA, and as deputy director of operations for UNRWA. In a statement, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative described him as “a true leader, inspiring us all to strive to attain a better world. … He will be greatly missed.”