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Government Agencies assign overall responsibility for specific projects to an agency employee who may be posted in headquarters the United States but travel frequently and sometimes for extended periods to oversee the project. International agencies follow a similar practice. These officials will not normally have direct project management responsibility but may supervise several projects at once, often in more than one country. Since financial accountability for government funds is a serious issue, staff in these positions need to be familiar with general accounting principles and be able to establish and monitor accountability practices in the field. Staff in these positions would normally be expected to have some project management experience, and some familiarity with the language and culture of the region in which their projects are located.
Jobs which include this function may be at different levels of responsibility. Jobs at a junior level in various UN agencies are assigned on a regional basis ( i.e., efforts are made to ensure that all regions are represented) but are widely available to US nationals. Staff in these positions generally need high levels of formal education, preferably a master’s degree in some subject related to the posting, because the competition for a limited number of jobs is high. Language skills related to the posting would normally be required, in addition to the possession of one or more of the working languages of the UN. These jobs are generally regarded as entry level jobs, and most people who do them would be expected to move on to other work within a few years, although that work may be within the same or a related agency.
At a slightly more senior position in most development agencies are development economists and analysts. People who carry out this function are permanent employees of development agencies, and have specific technical skills. To carry out this function, aside from language skills, an advanced degree in economics is usually required, with strong analytical and statistical skills. People in these positions are usually responsible for briefing senior officials on economic development issues in general, as opposed to specific projects, and should have a firm understanding of economic development issues, both in theory and practice. They should also have strong developed presentation skills. Although people in these positions may travel, they normally live and work at head office in cities such as Washington, New York, Ottawa, Paris, rather than in the developing countries.
Technical or Specialist Jobs
A large variety of specialized technical jobs exist in development. These may include jobs related to agriculture such as agronomists, veterinarians, land use experts; small business experts in a variety of fields such as printing, machinery repair, software use, small structure construction and other trades such as carpentry and masonry, to work on the creation of local business; medical personnel; irrigation specialists; fish farming specialists. These technical jobs are usually regarded as being in a different stream than the administrative jobs, and postings are usually arranged for a specific project and for a specific period of time. These jobs often appeal to older people who are either retired or who may wish to interrupt their career for a period of time. Because of the technical knowledge required these are not entry level jobs. Aside from the specific technical qualifications, these jobs usually require the willingness to work in rural surroundings, in a World culture, and some familiarity with the language. However, most development agencies and NGOs have highly developed orientation programs for technical specialists, so prior familiarity is often less important than technical qualifications and willingness to relocate to a developing country.
^ TopEnvironmental Research and Regulation
The degree of concern about environmental issues, including sustainable development and issues relating to air and water pollution and waste treatment, has increased tremendously in the past few years. One result of this development has been a series of international agreements to which the United States has been a signatory. American administrators, negotiators and technical experts have contributed to most of these agreements, and Americans have been involved in administering the treaties and other agreements and in monitoring compliance.
Furthermore, the amount of environmental research being carried out by universities, governments and non governmental organizations has increased, with the result that there are a significant number of jobs in these areas in the international field.
The jobs summarized below are a small sample of a large number of similar jobs with a variety of organizations, and have been chosen because they are broadly representative in terms of activities and qualifications required.
OECD Jobs
In the OECD area, there has been an increased emphasis on environmental issues and especially on increasing the efficiency of resource use. As a result the OECD is one of a number of international organizations that regularly hire environmental personnel. To work in these positions with the OECD, which are generally not entry level positions, generally requires an advanced university degree in economics, science, or public policy, together with at least seven years of professional experience doing economic and technical analysis related to environmental issues. It would normally be expected that this experience would be gained in a national administration or institute and/or an international organisation before applying to the OECD. In addition, since the OECD is a policy oriented institution rather than a hands on agency, people who carry out these functions would be expected to have a good knowledge and understanding of environment and technology policy issues, in particular relating to innovation processes, and of quantitative methods for analysis of economic, engineering and scientific processes and systems. Job ads for these functions particularly stress the demonstrated ability to identify and explain the policy relevance of economic and technical analysis.
United Nations Jobs
The following are representative functions in the UN agencies which deal with environmental issues. Although this is only a small sample of UN environmental jobs, the educational and other requirements for these jobs are broadly representative of the requirements in most UN agencies.
Among the most active UN agencies in the environmental field is UNIDO, the United Nations International Development Organization. UNIDO regularly hires program and technical staff, including some contract staff and consultants to carry out specific projects. UNIDO does research on cleaner methods of production, with an emphasis on helping developing countries to achieve lower levels of pollution while increasing industrial production. Professional jobs in UNIDO would normally require an advanced university degree in engineering or environmental sciences, at least 15 years progressive experience in a technically oriented professional job related to the environment and a number of years previous experience with international conventions and agreements. In other words, UNIDO jobs are not generally entry level jobs.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is also active in monitoring environmental issues and designing solutions to environmental problems in developing countries. UNEP is the Implementing Agency for the, Global International Waters Assessment project, designed to conduct a global assessment of water related environmental problems in transboundary waters, their societal root causes and develop scenarios of future problems and issues. Senior staff at UNEP would be expected to have an advanced degree, preferably a Ph.D. in a water-related field; inter-disciplinary experience in international, multi-country project management; a proven record of success in assessing and resolving complex scientific and technical issues; and several years experience encompassing work in developing countries, scientific institutions, and government service.
A related agency is the World Meteorological Organization, which is engaged in carrying out the World Climate Data and Monitoring Program. Work at the WMO generally requires a degree in environmental or computer science, with some education in meteorology, climatology and computer sciences; and substantial experience at the national or international level in development and use of relational database management systems to manage climate and related data.
Non Governmental Organizations
The number and kind of non governmental organizations active internationally has increased significantly in recent years. While it is difficult to summarize their activity, it is fair to say that the professional standards required of staff in environmental NGOs has increased in the past few years.
Among the most active international NGOs is the World Wildlife Fund, which operates in a number of countries, and its hiring practices are probably typical of a broad range of NGOs. The WWF does not always require advanced degrees in environmentally related subjects of its project staff, but generally hires outside technical staff on contract. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been an increased emphasis on dealing with environmental issues in the former East Bloc. Typical of these efforts is the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI), a public service project of the American Bar Association. CEELI appoints lawyers to serve as Environmental Law Liaisons to promote environmental law reform in the New Independent States through consultations to citizens and NGOs and pro bono representation. CEELI requires a law degree, bar membership and 5 years or more of legal practice, with a preference for NGO experience and World language proficiency. As with most positions of this type, the postings are short term and pay is low.
The Harvard Institute for International Development environment group provides technical assistance on environmental policy and conducts policy research in over 20 countries in Central America and Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent States, Central America, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. People hired to work on these projects, according to job ads by the organization, would be expected to have a Master’s degree in finance, business, economics, environmental science, public policy or a related field; 3 years experience in environmental policy or environmental management; understanding of the basic issues of financial management and environmental economics; flexibility and strong management and interpersonal skills; ability to set priorities and follow through on decisions; outstanding organizational abilities; ability to work both independently and as part of a team; familiarity with IBM personal computers; ability to draft and edit technical material; and willingness to travel 30 to 60 days per year and work long hours.
Private Sector Environmental Organizations
Because of the rapid growth in environmental concerns in recent years and the proliferation of national and international agencies dealing with environmental issues, there has developed in recent years a healthy private sector market for environmental consultants. One of the most active of these is Associates in Rural Development, a U.S. firm which hires around the world and has active projects under contract through the developing world. Recent ads sought environmental specialists including coastal zone and marine management specialists to develop environmental plans; land use planning specialists in Africa; community development specialists in Africa to teach sustainable development techniques through local community groups. As with other private sector environmental consultants, these projects are under contract to national governments or UN agencies. For this reason, hiring is almost always on contract rather than full time employment, and is generally for the life of a project. ARD hires highly qualified specialists, generally requires graduate degrees in environmentally related areas, and expects applicants to already be fluent in the language of the project location before beginning the project.
^ TopInternational Education programs are closely allied to economic and social development programs, and many NGOs and international agencies involved in development work also carry on educational programs as well.
Since there is such a variety of organizations involved in international education, the list that follows is just a representative sampling.
United Nations Agencies
Most UN agencies do some educational work as part of their general development mandate. However, the two UN agencies most involved in education are the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The World Health Organization (WHO) also does more specialized health education, mostly in developing countries.
UNICEF’s main mandate is to improve children’s lives through basic care, advocacy and basic education. UNICEF currently works in 140 countries of the developing world, and hires teachers at all levels. UNICEF runs an internship program which posts young people to its various field offices around the world. UNICEF prefers to hire educational staff locally, but does hire specialists. Postings are for a specific period, likely 1-3 years, and require, in general, extensive educational experience rather than advanced degrees.
UNESCO’s mandate is to promote international understanding through communications, cultural exchanges, and education. The eradication of illiteracy is a priority issue for UNESCO, and it funds and designs innovative literacy programs in several developing countries. UNESCO runs some internship programs, for which educational requirements depend on the specific project. UNESCO hires educational specialists at various levels, for specific projects, and postings are for limited periods, usually 1-3 years. Professional postings require at least a university degree, with some educational experience in the case of overseas teaching posts.
The World Health Organization’s mandate is to promote better health. Since its activity is mainly in developing countries, its educational focus is generally on raising public awareness of health issues and on providing straightforward information that is likely to raise the general level of awareness rather than leading edge research. WHO hires health educators, who would be expected to have some teaching experience and to understand the general principles of public health. WHO also helps developing countries to hire health professionals for their
health education and professional medical programs. As part of this mandate, WHO hires experienced medical and teaching professionals, who are posted to positions in developing countries, for specific periods of 1-5 years.
Democracy and Governance Assistance
An integral part of development assistance is technical and other assistance around government administrative reform, transparency in government and governance assistance. While most of the emphasis in this field has traditionally been in developing countries (The South), since the end of the Cold War an increasing emphasis has been placed on government and administrative reform in the former Soviet Union and other countries of Eastern Europe.
As with other economic and social development activities, there are a large number of organizations providing assistance, on different scales of activity. Most governments in the developed countries devote some resources to these issues, and government agencies have active programs to assist in government reform and administrative reform in developing countries.
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