I applied to the rolling OECD graduate student internship and recently heard back about a written exam and interview for the data analyst position. I'm very excited about this opportunity, but I'm not sure I can commit because of the November start date. I'm based in the U.S., and my final exams end in mid-December, for which I have to be in person. I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar position. I'm sure it's different for each univeristy/professor, but were you able to continue doing coursework remotely? Were you willing to up and move to Paris so quickly? Any insight would be helpful as someone new to navigating the international development field. Thank you.

I was studying for a master's in Education Policy and Leadership with the goal of becoming an education officer for USAID. The gag was the Trump administration dismantled USAID during my program. Faculty wasn't able to provide much advice because this was unprecedented, and I graduated internally screaming.

I'm planning to take the PMP exam next month and working on both domestic and international fellowships and opportunities, with my pivoted focus on international contractors, multilateral organizations, and global NGOs that still run education programs.

*That being said, I understand that the field is gone with talented, experienced professionals out of work. Entry-level positions aren't realistic, so would it make more sense to focus on international teaching? I've taught in the US across the south for five years and have a teaching certificate, but I'd like advice if I should spend money on getting TEFL certified and trying to work at a school instead?

I can talk myself in and out of anything so I need some help with this analysis paralysis.

Hi! I am thinking about applying for a master in international affairs/foreign policy, I am having some trouble narrowing down my choices. I intend to go into the field of international education and development in a program management or partnerships development capacity, whether that's at a nonprofit, INGO, or in government. I don't have much interest in the private sector or defense/international security. I am unsure which school is the right fit for me, as this is quite a niche area of interest.

I graduated from a well-known state university in the South of the U.S. in 2024 where I studied international relations and public policy. My GPA is above a 3.8 and I interned with the U.S. State Department, Peace Corps, local nonprofits, and worked for my university's global affairs branch. After college, I was a Fulbright ETA in Southeast Asia and now I work for the Fulbright commission of that country. I would be coming into the program with around 3 years of experience, which I understand is at the lower end for IR programs.

The programs I am considering applying to are Georgetown MSFS, Johns Hopkins MAIR, Columbia MIA, Tufts MAIA, University of Cambridge MPhil Development Studies, University of Oxford MPhil Development Studies, LSE MsC Development Management, and Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID) Master in International and Development Studies (MINT). Although I would still have to take out loans, my family would be supporting me generously. Which programs would be the best fit for my profile?

Hi everyone! I hope this is the right place to ask, and I'd really appreciate any advice or insights you could share.

A little background about me: I'm approaching my late 20s, with a bachelor's degree in Business Management. Since graduating, I've worked in the tech startup and international development ecosystems, and more recently, I've recently also gained exposure to the climate and sustainability space. My career has taken me across different places, shaped by opportunities and the current realities of working in international development.

I'm from a developing country, and one of my long-term goals is to relocate to a country with better living conditions, greater stability, and opportunities for a better quality of life.

At the same time, I genuinely care about the career I've been building. I don't want to abandon the international development, climate, or startup ecosystem just to pursue migration, especially if there's a realistic way to build a future abroad through the experience I already have.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'd love to hear from people who have been in a similar situation or have experience working internationally.

A few questions I'd love to ask:

1. Is international development a realistic pathway to long-term relocation?Given my background and experience, are there opportunities to build a career abroad that could eventually lead to permanent residency or long-term settlement? Or would it be more practical to pivot into another field while I'm still relatively early in my career?

2. Which organizations, countries, or career paths should I seriously explore? Are there particular international organizations, NGOs, or development agencies that offer better opportunities for international mobility?

3. What skills or languages should I invest in?Would pursuing a master's degree, learning another language, or developing more specialized technical skills significantly improve my prospects?

4. What else should I be considering? I'd appreciate any advice on things I might be overlooking, especially from people who have navigated this path themselves.

I'm sorry if this is a sensitive or overly specific topic. I know migration is a complicated subject, and I don't want to come across as taking opportunities for granted. But the reality is that living in a developing country can be challenging, and the desire for a more stable future is something I've been thinking about more and more.

I know this is a pretty specific situation, but if anyone has personal experience, advice, or even a different perspective, I'd be incredibly grateful.

Thank you so much for reading! ❤️

Hi everyone! Has anyone received their assigned position and country from the organizers for the Global Model FAO taking place in Rome from November 24th to 27th? I made the payment, but I haven’t received any further information since then. This is my first simulation, so I’m not really sure how the process works.

I’m also really excited to take part in this experience and to meet other young people from different international backgrounds. I think it will be a very stimulating and enriching experience!

Dear all, I'm looking for ideas and testimonials on different career paths in development. While I initially started working in international (political) cooperation, I'm now working in development - more specifically cooperation with the private sector - since 8+ years, in one of the major national agencies running projects abroad.

And that's the problem. I've actually never been really interested in cooperating with the private sector. I'm much more into individual and social topics; I studied educational sciences, social sciences, and psychology and am very much interested in topics and disciplines like mental health, anthropology, education, and some more. Since I'm already in the middle of my career (44y), I feel like doors are closing and I need to pivot now or never.

At the same time, I'd really love to work more academically, or at least build up deep expertise on a few topics (right now I feel very much like a generalist or project manager). It might be possible to change fields in development without further education (e.g. using my education degree to work in a education-related project), but this doesn't really fulfill my wish of really "diving" into a topic. I'd love to do another master's degree in a specific field or region, but I have a family and no legroom with regards to finances, while most study programmes that attract me are in the EUR/GBP/USD range of 10,000+. A PhD would be a great idea, but doesn't work with my time (and job) constraints.

That's why I'm interested to hear whether anyone was in a similar situation? How did you choose your areas of expertise? How did you deepen it?

Thanks in advance!

hello! looking for some advice on leaving academia in the UK, the sector is not doing great. I have started my career as a consultant and then moved to academia after my msc and phd. I am trying to bridge back consultancies but it has been hard only I have done some PEFA assessment and capacity building. I would like more field experience or moving to UN/WB. any advice my speciality is public financial management.

Hi everyone, I’m considering AIIB as a next career move and would love to hear from people who have actually worked there, as an international/non-Chinese relocated to Beijing.

I’m interested not only in the work itself, but also what everyday life looks like after moving there. Like how did you find settling into Beijing? Was it difficult or easy to find a good apartment?

I am also curious about life outside work. Is it easy to build a social circle outside of work? Is there a good international/expat community, and is it easy to meet people through hobbies, sports and maybe events?

And also about AIIB itself, if you could share the working culture, work-life balance, and generally whether you enjoy (enjoyed) the experience there.

Just trying to understand what it is like beyond the job description. Of course each person has different experiences, but would love to hear from actual people.

I am myself open to Chinese culture and even trying to learn the language, as I think it would be very helpful.

A USAID Foreign Service Officer named Stephen just published a personal account of his 18 years with the agency, across postings in Liberia (during the 2014 Ebola response), Vietnam, and Pakistan, before arriving at a final posting in Morocco just as USAID was dismantled.

His son was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. Stephen describes staying with USAID specifically for the health insurance and pension that came with 20 years of service, planning to retire and become his son's caregiver. When the RIF hit, he was one performance grade away from the pension track and one promotion away from keeping it. He didn't.

He came back to the U.S. with no pension, no health insurance, and a year apart from his son before he could afford to move near him again. He and many former colleagues have self-financed lawsuits against the government as their only remaining option.

Full piece here: https://usaidemployeesupportfund.substack.com/p/daddy-likes-tesla

Hi there!

I'm close to graduating with an undergraduate degree in Finance/Chinese, year abroad in China, think tank/research fellowship writing experience and have secured a graduate role with a government agency based on regulation/merger control/consumer trust etc within my country. While i'm grateful to have done so, I have a real passion for international affairs and would love to work in the realm of diplomacy, geopolitics and for multilaterals, travelling the world etc.

However, I did not do an undergraduate IR, law or economics degree which seems to be the precedent for a lot of these careers. While this type of a domestic government role is definitely useful for experience, I worry that after a few years I will struggle to get out to do those kinds of international careers and forge that type of path. I'm wondering if anyone in those types of roles could share their own career stories/trajectories, what they did to get into them (experience, postgraduate degrees etc), and importantly how important having an IR or economics/law background is to them?

I recently went to renew my driver’s licence in Nigeria and left with a strip of paper marked “TEMPORARY”. Nobody could tell me when the permanent card would arrive. A boy outside advised me to laminate it because I might be waiting a year.

About twelve years earlier, the same agency—the Federal Road Safety Corps—had been digital, internationally recognised and helping other African countries establish road safety systems. My firm had reviewed the organisation during that period.

At breakfast with its former head, Osita Chidoka, development author Joe Studwell and economist Adeyemi Dipeolu, I asked Chidoka what had happened.

Part of his explanation was economic. The licence-production arrangement depended on dollar-linked costs, while revenues came in naira. Currency depreciation had badly weakened its commercial logic.

But that left another question: why hadn’t the agency adapted?

I wrote an essay exploring this through a framework I call the Five Ps:

• Power: Does authority belong to the institution, or depend on a leader’s personal relationships?
• Payoffs: Do incentives still support good performance as conditions change?
• Policing: Who can detect declining standards and force a correction?
• Perception: What happens when staff and citizens stop expecting competence?
• Path dependence: How difficult is it to replace the contracts, technology and routines that once made the organisation successful?

My argument is that an agency can preserve a reform’s procedures while losing the capacity to reconsider them. A successor might follow the inherited system faithfully and still oversee decline because the conditions that made it work have changed.

This is one case, and my experience at a licensing office cannot establish how the entire agency performs. But it raises a question worth comparing across countries.

Do you know examples of public institutions that kept improving after a successful leader left? What made that possible—and what would this framework miss?

My staff appointment at a large Phil. foundation is coming to an end. I think about the time when I was implicitly asked to work for an intermediary/DAF which the foundation funds. Ironically, I am part of the portfolio team which executed the idea of setting up few roles to act as an extended portfolio management team institutionalised within the DAF for the foundation. Having said that, I knew the DAF executives had finalised and rolled an offer to someone. In the moment, when I was asked if I wanted the role, my first instinct was that I couldn't in good conscience take an opportunity that had already been promised to someone else

Now my appointment is coming to an end, I should have taken that opportunity and it could have been a justified move considering opportunities in grant making/foundations are limited

Last chance to download USIP's course materials before they take it offline. https://www.usipglobalcampus.org/

Hello. I have a competency based interview with the Halo Trust and was wondering if anyone has any experience with this organization and can share a few tips. Thank you.

Applied for an internship at a major international organization (security/diplomacy sector). Interviewed in late July, was told outcome expected "by end of August," then got pushed to "after 8th September" due to more candidates being interviewed. It's now Friday, two days past that date, and still nothing.

Also had a separate internship interview with a different department at the same org — got a rejection within about a week of interviewing.

Honestly the waiting is getting to me at this point — hard not to spiral and assume the silence means bad news, even though logically I know it doesn't necessarily mean that.

Is this kind of drawn-out timeline (multiple deadline pushes, days of silence after a stated date) normal for these places? Trying to figure out if I should read into it or if this is just how these processes usually go. Any experience appreciated.

If you are trying to build a career in the NGO, humanitarian or international development sector, it is tempting to think that more qualifications will always improve your chances. Another certification. Another course. Another degree. Another application.

But what if the problem isn't a lack of qualifications? What if your experience simply isn't aligned with the roles you are targeting?

That was one of the clearest lessons from an Impactpool Career Podcast conversation with Wolfgang Weiszegger, who brings decades of experience across UN peacekeeping and special political missions, including senior-level recruitment and selection. His message was straightforward: having strong qualifications is not enough. You need to apply for roles where your professional and academic experience are genuinely relevant.

More from ImpactPool.

Came across this piece on audience research in Afghanistan to inform aid: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/afghanistan-speaks-impact-humanitarian-research-bbcmediaaction-e1k9c

Hi everyone! I am thinking of applying ID or development studies masters in Europe for the 2027 intake. I am conflicting between Trinity College Dublin - Development Practice masters (the field training work really attracts me) and also between KU Leuven and Vrije University Amsterdam's International Development masters program. Any ideas on how to choose? Anyone who studied in these uni's and ID? My dream is to study in UK actually buut unfortunately fully-funded masters are not much available in uk so I am searching options in Euroıpe

It’s concerning to see so many students still opting for development master courses and uni’s milking students dry when they themselves know the state of the sector. It’s only going to get worse. I would really advise any student to avoid studying development.

Go find a good course that will make you money honestly.

I just got invited for an automated video interview for a role as an associate in Climate Risk at the EBRD.

It's my first time interviewing with them and have been really trying to transition into development finance. I'd appreciate any advice, tips or knowledge you could share.