Advice No One Will Give You

by Michael Bear · 2009-08-22 14:37:00 UTC
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The following was sent in by a friend who has spent years in the field, and learned some bitter, hard truths.

The advice no one will give you:

1. If you observe or suspect fraud at your aid agency, don’t bother reporting it to your superiors. They will cover it up, claim there isn’t enough evidence for action, or blame you for pointing it out. Instead, report it to your donor. If you get US government funding, report it to the Office of the Inspector General. I know this sounds cynical, but I’ve been a supervisor. It changes your priorities. No one wants a scandal while they’re in charge.

2. A surprising number of NGO managers – especially in the field – are racist, sexist, condescending all around asshats. If you get one of these, find a new job and quit. Report them to human resources if you like, but HR is there to protect your organization, not you. Your best option is to get out as fast as you can. Exception: if you are female and sexually harassed and you’ve got witnesses and documentation, HR will be running scared.

3. It’s entirely likely that you organization’s emergency evacuation plan makes no sense. It’s nice to think of your all powerful security managers carefully crafting escape routes and contingency plans, but it’s more likely that it was drafted by someone in London ten years ago and no one has reality-checked it since. Before you take a field posting, talk to security and the country director and find out. If no one takes you seriously, or mocks you for being afraid, that’s information about your corporate culture you’ll be glad to have in advance.

[Image from karlfisch.wikispaces.com]

Michael Bear
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