Listen to "Fatema Sumar on The Development Diplomat" on Spreaker.
It’s easy to get caught up in the fantasy of development work: jetting from country to country, meeting fascinating people, enduring charming inconveniences, usually involving animals in unexpected places. (The lizard was IN the cup! The goat was ON the bus!)
While there’s truth to some of this — you will meet fascinating people, and the lizard will be in the cup — the reality is, well, a lot more real. This is the basis of Fatema Sumar’s “The Development Diplomat: Working Across Borders, Boardrooms, and Bureaucracies to End Poverty,” which takes a sober look at what it means to work in the aid world, especially as a woman.
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About the author
Lauren Evans@laurenfaceevans
Lauren Evans was formerly an Assistant Editor/Senior Associate in the Office of the President at Devex. As a journalist, she covers international development and humanitarian action with a focus on climate and gender. Her work has appeared in outlets like Foreign Policy, Wired UK, Smithsonian Magazine and others, and she’s reported internationally throughout East Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.