I’ve
been working in the United Nations NGO (non-governmental organization) universe
for more than ten years. Over that time I have run into many, many eager young
people wanting to find a way to break into the NGO business. Many of them have
come to me after fruitless searches for any available openings in their chosen
field, wanting some nibble of advice on where to look.
Here’s a quick summary of what I
tell them:
1. Be
willing to start at the bottom: And
when I say bottom, I mean answering the phone and filing. Lots
of NGOs don’t have the finances to support a receptionist or a clerk. So they
rely on volunteers and interns and program assistants to do these tasks. Doing
the “scut work” helps accomplish a number of things for you. Answering the
phone and the general email can help you learn about the NGO’s network and stay
abreast of what’s the latest news. You learn how to answer basic questions
about the organization and how to represent them to various constituencies. Filing
is important work. No seriously. Filing helps you to learn about the work of
the organization, what their main program areas are. As you are filing, you can
read up on subjects that are interesting to you. Ask to borrow reports and
books and read up on them at home. I guarantee that no one else in the
organization has the time to read up on all the material they receive on a
daily basis. You can make yourself fairly quickly the most informed person in
the organization on a particular subject just by doing the background reading,
researching online, and attending a few meetings. This leads me to my next
point...
2. Attend
a lot of meetings: Much of what happens at the UN involves a
seemingly constant stream of meetings. Offer to attend meetings for your NGO,
perhaps indicating your preferences. But don’t be surprised if they send you to
meetings that seem like the last thing you’d be interested in. Go anyway. You
might think you know what your interests are, but you might find out that
rainforest preservation or indigenous people’s rights are really fascinating
areas of public policy. Most of the time you will just be sitting there taking notes
at the meeting, whether it’s a UN briefing, an NGO strategy session or a major
world conference. Most meetings follow a standard panel discussion followed by
open Q&A format. If you can think of an intelligent, cogent question, by
all means ask it. In the end, for your own selfish reasons, the main reason to
go to these meetings is to, well, meet people. To network.
3. Network: The United Nations and NGO worlds are not that
big. If you specialize in biotechnology or child soldiers as they relate to the
UN, there are maybe 20-30 key players who are worth knowing. The same goes for
any program/project. Your goal is not to become the best friend of any of those
people. Your goal is to become the best friend of those people’s assistants and
interns. The dirty little secret at the UN (and at the NGOs that work there) is
that much of its grant work is accomplished through the unpaid labor of its
sizable intern population. This constantly shifting group of volunteers,
fellows, “junior program officers” and interns do everything from make the
photocopies to write up the daily reports that get faxed back to capitals
around the world. The network is a great way to stay informed of any
opportunities that might come down the pike.
4. Diversify
your skill set: If you are at the beginning of what you hope
will be a long career working in the NGO world, you need to think about what
skills you might need in the long run to get the ideal job that you want in the
future. Learn how to write a press release. Teach yourself HTML and CSS. Become
a database master. Practice public speaking. Become proficient in at least one
other UN language (ideally French, or Chinese since these are in high
demand, but any of them will do.) Most of all, you need to write good. Most of
what you will be doing will involve conveying complex issues to a variety of
audiences. That means that you need to be able to write a newsletter article or
a briefing paper with no spelling errors, perfect grammar, and the proper tone
for the kind of piece you are drafting.
5. Learn
how to fundraise: All but the most well-established NGOs live
from year-to-year under the constant pressure of raising funds to support the
work that they are doing. Even the largest, wealthiest NGOs might have very
little support for their UN office. Amnesty International USA has 174 paid
staff. The UN office of Amnesty International is staffed by three people. So if
you can write a grant proposal, coordinate a direct mail fundraising appeal,
organize a benefit dinner or put together an e-donate site, you will never lack
for want of work in the NGO world. And if you ever hope to start your own NGO,
one of the first things you will have to figure out is how to raise the
financial support to begin operations.
Hopefully these bits of advice have
been encouraging. I don’t want to fool you though;
this is not an easy field to work in. The jobs in the UN NGO world are few and
far between. The salaries some NGOs offer might make some industry seem
lucrative by comparison.
But at the end of the day, if you play your cards right and are willing to work your little butt off; you might find yourself gainfully employed at an NGO. There certainly is a lot more work to be done than there are qualified and skilled people to do it.
But at the end of the day, if you play your cards right and are willing to work your little butt off; you might find yourself gainfully employed at an NGO. There certainly is a lot more work to be done than there are qualified and skilled people to do it.
This
article is written by Joram
