About Foreign Aid Workers
Foreign aid is a surprisingly large employment sector. It includes employers as varied as the U.S. government, the United Nations and just maybe a large local church. The jobs encompass everything from volunteering, to driving a truck full of relief supplies, to doing a tour with Doctors Without Borders, to working on a solar water distillation project in a remote area, to teaching English with the Peace Corps. It is a field that offers a lot to those interested in a career that combines idealism and international interests.
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What Is Foreign Aid?
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Foreign aid is the assistance provided to a developing country. This is often done for humanitarian reasons, such as to alleviate the suffering after a natural disaster or caused by civil strife or war. Another purpose for foreign aid is to promote socioeconomic development. One form of foreign aid can involve the direct transfer of wealth in the form of food, equipment, or loans or grants of money. Another is the application of expertise, either in the form of expert consultants, teachers or trainers, or the temporary loan of technical personnel such as doctors or engineers.
IGOs
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Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) are a major source of foreign aid work. The biggest example is the United Nations, which engages in foreign aid through a variety of subsidiary organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization. However, other IGOs are also in the foreign aid sector. Arguably the second largest IGO employer in foreign aid work outside the United Nations is the European Union, and several other IGOs either are or were engaged in foreign aid work. Working for an IGO is in many respects very similar to working for a major national government: The pay, career prospects and benefits are usually good, albeit sometimes not as good as work in the private sector, while job security is usually superior.
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Governments
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All governments in wealthy, industrialized countries have foreign aid programs, along with the departments and staff to administer them. The single largest and most direct example of this in the U.S. government is the Agency for International Development (AID), but it is hardly the only one. The Peace Corps, for example, combines U.S. public relations with aid work, and several other federal agencies have foreign programs that count as foreign aid. Examples include the overseas programs of the Department of Agriculture or the Environmental Protection Agency. Working for the government, however, does not mean being a federal employee. An increasing number of government jobs are being privatized and parceled out to subcontractors.
NGOs
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Another major employer in the foreign aid field are nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). These range from the very large, well-funded and well-established organizations such as the Red Cross to the modest, such as the vast number of secular and religious groups engaged in reproductive health and family planning programs in developing countries. The experience of working for an NGO can vary widely and depends heavily on an NGO. Many small groups cannot pay well and rely more on idealism than lucrative compensation to attract talent. Large and mature NGOs, on the other hand, offer competitive compensation.
Volunteer Work
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Another category that can usually be found with NGOs but only sometimes with governments and IGOs is the volunteer posting. Volunteers working overseas usually receive room and board but are not otherwise paid. They sometimes have to foot the bill for getting to their posting themselves. Church-based NGOs often send missions comprised mostly of volunteers, and major disaster relief efforts usually put out calls for volunteers. It is also possible to volunteer for foreign aid-related work without leaving the country, as some organizations need volunteers to help at the home office.
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