So, about last week…
So, last week The Guardian online ran an article in the Global Development Professionals Network section, in which the authors sort of rambled on about the importance of discussing the sex lives of humanitarians. Yes, you read that right. A research fellow and an adviser at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) want to have a little chat about aid worker sex lives–that is, our sex lives. On the outside chance that you missed their arousing discussion, check it out. Yeah, yeah. Aid worker notoriety vis-a-vis all things sexual is legendary. I don’t think there’s any other aspect of the aid worker experience that is more commonly or gleefully portrayed in pop culture remakes of our allegedly exciting lives than our sexuality. From the apocryphal Emergency Sex, to the far-fetched tale of a UK housewive-turned-UNICEF warrior for the poor, to any one of several flaccid attempts to capture the aid worker experience as prime-time television drama,…
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FollowSkimming off the top (part 3)
Skimming off the top (part 3) In Part 1 and Part 2 of this current series of posts I presented some data and insights on the first two-thirds of the survey questions. This final part brings the ‘skimming’ to a close and my next posts will drill deeper into the factors of gender and race/ethnicity and also into the changes in levels of idealism reported by aid and development workers. ************* Q51 and Q52 asked about the relationship between the “field” and “home office” with Q53 allowing for narrative responses to the questions. Q51 asked in general about the degree to which the field and home office are in sync regarding important matters like priorities and processes, and Q52 made it more specific asking about this relationship in the organization with with they were working. The numbers were striking similar in both with the mode (by far, about 62%) being…
Read MoreSkimming off the top (part 2)
Skimming off the top (part 2) In my last post I began ‘skimming off the top’ of the data, highlighting what are the common/modal responses to most questions. As promised here’s part 2 covering more of the questions. ********** Questions 33-38 all focused on a what I believe is a constant -though evolving- issue for most aid workers, namely how to communicate what they do to those most important to them: their significant others, children, family and friends. We all have a basic need to be understood by those around us, and the closer that person is to us, the more important that need. All aid and development workers tend to compartmentalize to a greater or lesser extent just to get by, but the coping mechanism of separating the ‘job me’ and the ‘relationship me’ is inherently disingenuous and potentially a red flag in any relationship. Being in a primary group with someone…
Read MoreSkimming off the top (Part 1)
Skimming off the top (or, alternately, modal muddle, Part 1) What so far has come from our survey that may be of interest to those who recruit and employ development and aid workers around the world? The above is a relevant question, and I will need to get into drill more into the data to arrive at a truly useful answer to that question. In the meantime here is a sense of what the most common/modal answers were to many of the questions. So, ‘skimming off’ the modal numbers to this point, our typical respondent is a masters-level educated 30+ year old white female expat aid worker working in the field for a non-faith based “big box” organization from the US or UK that is in a relationship (though no children) and has done work related travel more than 20 times outside of her home country and been deployed at…
Read MoreMore castles in the sand and The Idealist @JeffDSachs @ninamunk
“I don’t think the goal of the development industry should be to eradicate poverty, disease, or save lives – it should be to reduce the barriers that keep people from making informed choices about how to live their lives, be they economic, political, social/cultural, or whatever. Our industry suffers from a persistent messiah complex that, despite its earnest efforts, it can’t seem to shake. It is dehumanizing, destructive, and patronizing. Idealism drives burn out, of the “compassion fatigue” variety. Pragmatism makes it easier to let things go when they don’t work.” (emphasis added) –30something female expat aid worker respondent w/ 10+ years experience “There’s a reason all this professional jargon exists. It obfuscates the fact that at the end of the day most aid work doesn’t do much of anything.” –mid 30’s male expat aid worker with 5+ years experience…
Read MoreJust a bit more on male-female responses
Just a bit more on male-female responses Why so many females? Interestingly 70% of all respondents thus far have clicked female ( total n = 813). I have no data (does anyone?) on the total number of aid workers that read English and certainly no clear idea who might have been aware of this survey. But even if only a representative percentage of females responded (i.e., if the English reading humanitarian aid worker world is 70% female), this is perhaps noteworthy. I conducted two international surveys (very much like this one) of self-described non-believers -atheists- in 2008 and 2012 and generated over 8,000 responses for each. Having done the research I am fairly confident in supporting the statement that atheists are more or less equally represented in the population, though in both international surveys the respondents were disproportionately male -68%. When I referenced the literature on Internet based surveys and response…
Read MoreMale-female variation: select results from the survey
Male-female variation: select results from the survey Note: This is a followup to my last post. Arabic and French translations of the survey are still being vetted and, once fully launched, we hope will allow a clearer picture of the views of local aid workers. Until those data are available, what we have is a snapshot of what mostly expat aid workers think and feel about their lives. As a sociologist I have been trained to always think in terms of major demographic factors such as race/ethnicity, class/SES, age and, of course, sex/gender. We are all perceive ourselves and are perceived by others viv-a-vis relative to our location along these continuums. Below I offer a deeper look into the male-famale variation throughout our survey. In sum, there are differences but none that I feel will be any huge surprise to anyone familiar with the field of humanitarian aid and, well, the fact that we…
Read MoreAn overview of the survey results to this point
An overview of the survey results to this point As of Sunday, 11 may 2014, we have reached 800 survey respondents. According to the Cluster Map data on this blog site there have been 1628 visits from 104 countries -the most frequent of which from the UK- and 551 total visits from 34 US states. It appears that the Cluster Map data indeed reflects that many of those completing the survey are actively serving aid workers deployed around the world. As you can see to the left, the most recent visitors include me -I am currently in Costa Rica- but also souls from quite an array of locations. As the weeks have passed I have been quite amazed that the map above has red dots from so many locations, and I can’t help but wonder to myself these questions and more: Who are these people and what are their lives…
Read MoreThe Role of Humanitarian Aid & Development?
Question 60: “Please elaborate on your views about the future of humanitarian aid work.” The majority of respondents who have answered this question thus far seem to have focused their comments on things ultimately to do with technical delivery, implementation and efficiency. But a few have chosen take on what I consider to be probably the most important question facing the humanitarian aid and development industry today. “I think the aid industry is still figuring out what its role should be and how it should have an impact – and the people who can support that (taxpayers, donors, etc) still aren’t sure about its value. I am hopeful but somewhat skeptical that the aid industry will continue to grow and always have a positive impact, as a result.” This response hits it on the head. What is our role, as aid workers and aid organizations, vis-à-vis the bigger picture? Maybe…
Read MoreYes, a snapshot can be useful…
…but there is so much more being offered by many respondents. As I read though the many responses to the various open ended questions on the survey many patterns emerge. One pattern is that many people will qualify their statements and add critical context. Here are just three examples that came in response to the question about corruption [“Please use the space below to elaborate on the questions above related to corruption.”]: In the organisation, it is bloated with money and many people simply gorge at the trough of development aid. I am thankfully removed from this in my field, I have little reason to interact with others in my organisation. I do see the old boys network everywhere, the British upper middle classes in particular seem to have taken over other organisations, such as parts of the UN for example. Corruption is endemic to the human condition however. Regarding…
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