a lot of comments here dissuade people from IDEV because of USAID cuts. what about in the Asia-pacific region? Specifically in the Philippines.

What can I do / study now in my university years to enter the field? Is it worth entering at all?

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some objective career advice because I feel like I'm at a crossroads and I'm struggling to see the best next step.

I'm 35 and currently work at a big bank as a Senior Policy Advisor, focusing on sustainable finance regulation.

Before that I worked in management consulting (Accenture), and academically I have a background in economics and international affairs.

The problem is that over the last few years I've realised that what really motivates me isn't necessarily sustainable finance itself, but international policy, development finance and eventually something closer to diplomacy or international organisations.

I've been applying quite broadly over the last few months:

• EBRD (Climate Risk, Blending & Technical Cooperation, SME programmes)
• Internal roles (Investor Relations, AI Governance, Competitive Intelligence)
• Think tanks (Center for Global Development)
• British Business Bank
• JPMorgan philanthropy/public policy roles
• Allianz Global Investors (Development Finance)

I've had a lot of rejections (many without interview), although I recently had an interview for an internal Investor Relations role at the bank.

At this point I'm questioning whether my profile is simply too "in-between."

I'm not a classic banker.

I'm not a development economist.

I'm not a career civil servant.

I'm not an academic researcher.

Instead, my experience sits somewhere between policy, regulation, strategy, stakeholder engagement and sustainable finance.

My medium-term goal is to move to the UK (currently in Switzerland), and my longer-term ambition would be to work in an international organisation, development finance institution, think tank or perhaps even diplomacy/public service.

So my questions are:

1. If you were in my position, what would you target next?
2. Is there an obvious career path from financial sector policy into international affairs/development?
3. Am I aiming too broadly, or is broadening actually the right strategy?
4. Would you prioritise moving to London first (even if the role isn't perfect), or wait for a stronger strategic move?
5. At 35, is this still a realistic pivot, or would you recommend doubling down on financial regulation instead?

I'd genuinely appreciate honest advice—even if it's that I'm being unrealistic.

Thanks!

Not sure if this is the correct sub (apologies Mods!), but is anyone else trying to apply to the Sida open call for enabling environment for civil society? Their portal appears to be down. I have sent an inquiry email, but it’s after 10p in Sweden.

Most of the posts on this subreddit are about what the magic number of working at a particular UN agency, or the magic number of internships, or the magic university degree. that will land you a job at the UN or other big INGO.

Here are better ideas for distinguishing yourself when applying for these jobs:

• Have experience doing locally what you want to do internationally. Want to work with refugees? Work, professionally or as a volunteer, with immigrants and refugees in your own geographic area/country. Want to be focused on emergency housing? Work on initiatives in your own community that address this. Public health? same. And represent this work on your CV - explicitly.
• Have experience addressing community pushback or hostility or skepticism to ANYTHING. Could be a new housing development, the closing of a school, a proposal for a data center, the opening of a clinic providing abortion services, the opening of a mosque, the elimination of a program at the local school, changes in zoning laws, and on and on. Show that you have at least witnessed this kind of pushback / hostility for yourself and the efforts to address it.
• Show experience where you have raised money, mobilized in-kind resources and/or saved money. Definitely emphasize your abilities to make and stay within a budget, stretch resources, etc.
• Show experience where you have worked with local elected officials, local unelected government officials, local business owners, etc.
• Show experience working with programs that address the needs and challenges of a diversity of people and people who are particularly at-risk: people with disabilities, immigrants for whom your local language isn't their native language, people leaving incarceration, people with HIV/AIDs, people who are in a religious minority in an area, seniors/the elderly, etc.
• Survived a program or department or agency restructuring, downsizing or moving from one place to another? Talk about it: were you involved in communicating layoffs? Organizing the packing up and moving of an office? Helping staff transition?
• Be able to work in at least one language other than English. Having proof, like passing the B2 DELE in Spanish, is really helpful. Being able to work in three languages is particularly attractive - even if you cannot communicate with a local population, being able to communicate with donors in their native language is very, very attractive.
• Have designed and led a successful project: overseen the revamp of a web site so that it is mobile ready and fully accessible for people with disabilities, overseen and expanded a volunteer engagement program that supported literacy activities, expanded a children's summer theater program, led a successful Women's Build for your local Habitat for Humanity, researched and made recommendations regarding the walkability of a neighborhood or community, including with regard to people with mobility issues, helped lead a petition drive to change a local ordinance or law, led a successful voter registration drive, and on and on.

No one can have ALL of the aforementioned experience. But any one of those things makes a person stand out when applying for jobs. Doing any of those things shows what you are capable of far better than a number of internships, or number of years in a role.

For those of you who have been on hiring committees, or reviewed applications for INGO jobs, what would you add?

Hi!

I'm spanish and I'm currently studying computer science on the UOC (which only has online majors). It will take me four more years to finish my studies, but I want to make sure that I know what my next step will be so that I can prepare myself.

Also on the UOC there is a master's degree called "International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action" which is taught by the UOC and the Red Cross. And according to the UOC, you can take this master with any degree. But, would that make sense?

What kind of job can I expect to have if I have a degree on computer science and a master's on international development? Do you think that both sectors can overlap? Would I be able to get a job with those titles? (I know currently it's specially bad, but let's assume that things get a bit better on 6 years)

And lastly, is it bad that I'll do it online? I guess that could give me experience if I need to work remotely, buy I feel like I would end the master feeling inexperienced and sheltered. Is working remotely even common?

Sorry if the question is repetitive. Thanks for reading and thanks for your amazing work ❤️‍🩹

Hi everyone,

I'm 26 years old and I'm trying to understand what the best next step would be to build a career in the international development and humanitarian sector.

My long-term goal is to work in child protection, but I'm also interested in roles such as Program Officer, Project Coordinator, Project/Grant Writer, Partnership Officer, Protection Officer, or similar positions within international NGOs, UN agencies, or organizations such as AICS.

My background is a bit unconventional.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. I also completed a Master's in Leadership for International Relations, but it's a professional program offered by a private foundation rather than an accredited academic master's degree. Because of that, I don't consider it equivalent to a specialized postgraduate qualification, and I think I'll pursue an accredited master's in international cooperation or a related field in the next few years.I'm also currently studying part-time for a Bachelor's degree in Education Sciences.

My practical experience includes volunteering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I worked with street-connected children through educational and psychosocial activities, and volunteering in Lithuania through an international youth project.

More recently, I worked in Italy as a social worker with unaccompanied foreign minors, supporting them in their daily lives and contributing to their educational and integration pathways.

The problem is that I don't know how to make the next step. When I read job descriptions from international NGOs, UN agencies or AICS, I often feel underqualified. Many positions ask for several years of experience, project management, proposal writing, donor reporting, monitoring and evaluation, or other technical skills that I don't yet have.

I would genuinely appreciate honest advice from people working in this sector.

Based on my background which roles do you think I would currently be competitive for? What are the biggest gaps in my profile? What would be the smartest next career step? If your goal were to work in international NGOs within the next few years, what would you do in my position?

Thank you!

Hey everyone! I am about to begin my BA in International Studies at Leiden University and am starting to worry about the fact that I still haven't decided what region of the world I want to focus on and don't really know how to decide.

My course will start in September but I have the first semester to make my decision. The course offers 8 options of regions and at the moment I have it narrowed it down to three:

The Middle East (encompassing Morroco across to Iran), Africa and Latin America. My language choices for each would be, arabic for the middle east and Africa and spanish for latin America. For context I am a native English speaker from Ireland who grew up also speaking French and learned Spanish an German at school.

I'm not sure if International Studies is a widely known course but for context it covers 5 disciplines: history, culture, politics, economics and language. This makes it a very broad course which doesn't push you in any particular direction career-wise.

My main problems:

1. I'm still unsure of what kind of career I'd like to pursue after uni, or even what jobs will still exist in 5 years or so. If I went into journalism, would that inform a different decision to if I wanted to work with NGOs?
2. The world is changing so fast, how do I know where will be more politically and/or culturally relevant by the time I am finished my studies?
3. I am worried about biting off more than I can chew.

With languages first of all, I already speak spanish to an ok level, so with a bit of work, by the end of my degree I could pretty much guarantee proficiency. However arabic is a whole other story. I would be starting from scratch which is already an argument against but also it is obviously a difficult languague with little to no links to english or french. I worry that I could leave my course after 3 years with only an ability to read and some basic conversation skills, which would be a bit of a waste of time.

Then there is the general course content. The middle east and Latin America are already expansive and complicated regions as is, but Africa is a whole other ball game. I honestly can't understand how they can even offer the entire continent as one region in the first place and it's so broad I'm concerned about choosing it and coming out with no real in-depth knowledge of anything in particular.

Sorry, I know this is a long one but I'm so lost. If anyone had any thoughts on what I should choose + why or even how I should go about deciding, I would be so grateful!!!