For development leaders, the field still calls

This article is part of The Future of Global Development, a series for Devex Executive Members that explores what development leaders think of the industry’s top issues. Despite having risen to the top of their organizations, the majority of development executives told Devex they prefer working in the field to working in an office. This is according to the results of the 2014 Development Influencers Survey, which found that 80 percent of senior executives said they would rather work in the field. It’s not surprising that many executives still harbor a passion for fieldwork, given the historic importance of field experience for development professionals looking to improve their understanding of development issues and build relationships with local stakeholders. Executives Devex spoke to noted the importance of fieldwork in grounding their perspectives and weighed in on how they think it will change in the future. READ: Out of the office: Why fieldwork is crucial for recruiters Jan Auman, president of the international development services division at Tetra Tech — a firm that provides consulting, engineering and construction services — said he looks for field experience when hiring. “My field experience informs every aspect of my management approach at Tetra Tech, from developing practical approaches to proposals to how we implement programs on the ground,” Auman said. His fieldwork spans two decades in nine different countries. Executives who most heavily favored working in the field tended to be employed by host governments, bilateral donor agencies and development consulting firms, according to the Devex survey. More than 85 percent of these three groups said they prefer the field. Who would rather work in an office? Development executives at corporations and foundations were most likely to prefer the office — more than 30 percent of both groups responded accordingly. Executives who work in Europe, the Middle East and North America were also more likely than their peers in other regions to favor an office environment. There are also executives for whom the divide between field and office is less relevant. Tony Meloto, founder of the Philippine-based anti-poverty organization Gawad Kalinga, noted that the majority of his group’s work happens on the ground, where volunteers are mobilized to assist rural communities in places like the Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia. “My office is wherever there’s a new community to be built,” Meloto said. Patrick Fine, CEO of the nonprofit human development organization FHI 360, lived and worked overseas for 21 years. He said his experience gave him valuable insights on carrying out development projects in places like Swaziland, where he served in the Peace Corps. “Whenever I travel out to communities, I always get this sense of the immediacy of the work, and you see the results in very stark terms,” he said. Development leaders Devex reached for comment noted that over the next decade, fieldwork will likely become more precisely targeted to particular local settings and measured with greater rigor. Natalie Topa, who spent nine years working for development organizations in East Africa, suggested that the future of fieldwork would likely trend toward efforts to combat climate change and more holistic approaches that take into account the resources of local groups. Auman said he thought there would be a greater focus on mobilizing local talent in the developing world, meaning international nongovernmental organizations might shift more of their work to coordinating the implementation of development projects by local stakeholders. For Yvette Gonzalez, who has more than a decade of field experience in Latin America and Africa, thinking about how fieldwork will evolve raises questions about whether international NGOs and other development organizations are actually making a difference in the communities where they operate. This line of questioning is more likely to happen in the field than in an office, she said, and thinking about the effectiveness of the development status quo is part of what led her to strike out on her own as an independent consultant. “Why is it we’ve gotten money every year to still do the same thing?” Gonzalez asked of large development organizations like the ones she has worked for. “That challenge is what keeps me up at night.” Do you prefer to work in the field or in an office? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below or tweet us at #futuredev. What do nearly 1,000 senior-level executives from NGOs, donor agencies, corporations and the public sector think about the future of global development? View our complete series — featuring exclusive insights and interviews with top executives — to find out.