As a consultant with an extensive period of work spanning 25 years in the development space, communications specialist Deborah Walter is used to looking for the next contract while working on the current one. But in the past few years, she has noticed one big trend related to the job search.
“There seems to be a lack of understanding and under-valuing of consultants’ time, energy, and creative intellectual property,” South Africa-based Walter, who co-runs social change agency Community Media for Development Productions on the side, told Devex.
In the past, she’s been asked to develop a hypothetical communications strategy framework along with press releases, social media posts, and talking points for interviews plus proposed campaign brand ideas and initial mock-ups and videos for potential work with several organizations, which, as a busy wife and mother, Walter brands “unreasonable.”
About the author
Amy Fallon@amyfallon
Amy Fallon is an Australian freelance journalist currently based in Uganda. She has also reported from Australia, the U.K. and Asia, writing for a wide range of outlets on a variety of issues including breaking news, and international development, and human rights topics. Amy has also worked for News Deeply, NPR, The Guardian, AFP news agency, IPS, Citiscope, and others.
