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.