Microfinance February 2, 2010
Posted by jefffromclapham in Microfinance, courses.add a comment
Back in December we posted a piece about this growing area of international development – http://thecareersgroupgid.wordpress.com/?s=microfinance&searchbutton=go%21
We are pleased that the Microfinance Association have accepted our invitation to run a workshop at our ‘Getting into International Development’ day on March 23rd (details at careers.lon.ac.uk/dev).
In the meantime you can read some reports about the association including a pdf about their introductory courses at http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page647.asp#J
Study India January 27, 2010
Posted by jefffromclapham in courses, international development, internships.add a comment
January 27th 2010. Just returned from a lunchtime talk about ‘Study India’. The talk came about because I met a couple of students visiting the careers centre who took part in the inaugral ‘Study India’ programme in 2009. Applications for this year’s programme will close on March 17th (applications aren’t considered before then so don’t break your neck getting one in too early). Top tips from Selma, Rebecca and the Study India coordinator, Eleanor Salt include
* Go. . . it’s a fantastic scheme. Once you have found your air fare (under £400) all other expenses are met.
* Make sure you meet the eligibility criteria – undergraduates only I’m afraid though it doesn’t matter if you are graduating this year. Get your references in on time and make sure you address all the criteria. Around two hundred places and over a 1000 applicants – actually not bad odds. Especially if you get your application checked by your Careers Service.
* Make sure you relate your application to things like your studies or your career aspirations. It will be a great experience but it’s not a holiday!
* its not designed for serial visitors to India. It needn’t be your first visit but the programme is partly about introducing people from Britain to India and reconnecting those old links.
* Be aware that programmes take place in either Delhi or Mumbai. You don’t need to specify a preference but a good application will understand the differences between the cultures and orientation of those two cities – eg Mumbai as a financial centre and Delhi as a political centre.
Jan Valtin / Richard Krebs January 21, 2010
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This post is a complete diversion but I couldn’t resist posting up this photo of Jan Valtin the alias of Richard Krebs. Valtin was an organiser for the Communist Party in Germany in the 1920 and 30s. Eventually he was captured by the nazis but after a dreadful experience of imprisonment and torture he talked his way out of jail by persuading them he would work for them as a double agent. Eventually both the Stalinists and the Gestapo were after him and he stowed away on a ship to the USA. There he wrote a best seller called ‘Out Of The Night’ which was published in 1940. It’s a compelling book which gives an insider view of the mortal combat between the communists and nazis and the life of the international communist cadres. I found another of Valtin’s books on e-bay and when it came it had this signed photo of the man. A treasured possession but I’m releasing it to cyberspace to assure it of immortality.
Applying for Political Risk January 4, 2010
Posted by jefffromclapham in Political risk.add a comment
One of the students in King’s College War Studies department sent me a political risk application letter to check. I’ve anonymised the details and posted the comments I made on a website. I have used it because it helped me make some points that may not be obvious. These include
* This sector doesn’t value non-related previous experience. You may have had a successful career in other sectors but you will need to demonstrate that you have developed the relevant skills, knowledge and experience in the most relevant way possible.
* The letter itself is a written communications exercise. So spelling and grammar are really important. So is being succint. Clients of political risk consultancies value succintness. The moment the recruiter spots ‘waffle’ is the moment the application is lost.
You can read more feedback on our website here – http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page655.asp
- it’s the ‘feedback’ entry amongst the ‘ risk analysis’ resources
PS – Incidentally, when I checked this post on the web there was a very interesting ‘Googol’ advert that amazingly wasn’t about wall panelling or sales at John Lewis but a highly relevant link to the Lloyd’s risk site with some interesting publications for download. Catch them at
http://www.lloyds.com/News_Centre/
Microfinance December 23, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in Microfinance.add a comment
The Microfinance Association has been operational since the summer of 2009. Its aim is to provide training and accreditation for those working in the rapidly growing area of microfinance. We recently met Ademola Tosoye to find our more about how the Assocation might be relevant for those looking for entry level roles in international development. Read the full report at http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page647.asp#J and visit our facebook page for a link to a London microfinance event on March 24th 2010 http://www.facebook.com/#/internationaldevelopment
The role of the Private sector in humanitarian efforts December 3, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in emergency relief.Tags: emergency relief
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A conference organised by RedR and King’s humanitarian futures programme
9.30 am a difficult start – balancing tea a croissant and a delegate pack. The list of delegates is revelatory itself a Head of sustainable development at consultants Scott Wilson; a head of private sector engagement at CARE International and PWCs sustainability and climate change manager. My response to all of these – ‘well who’d have guessed that?’
10 am Sir John Holmes the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator gave a very clear keynote speech. Outlined the rising need for humanitarian aid and the struggle to expand the donations base. One source should be the BRICS countries. ‘Donations’ in one simple online way the UN is making it easier to for private companies to donate. However, more significantly they do make donations also in time and expertise. Often though this is ad hoc in respond to single disasters and doesn’t sufficiently tap the creativity of the private sector. For example the creation of transitional shelters using local materials rather than expensive and inadequate tents. Or with water solutions – a recent example of straws with built-in filters. Or solar cookers that obviate the need for women to travel distances for firewood making themselves vulnerable and damage the environment. Even better insurance that provide support for communities facing drought. Schemes are appearing but it is not yet a proper business. The aim has to be the provision of long term partnerships eg pharmaceutical companies with medical relief organisations The WEF human rights initiative from Davos provided a framework that facilitate companies working in groups and also working to the important codes of conduct that distinguish ngos that have worked in the areas. Flowing from this have been some notable examples – DHL helping to eliminate airport bottlenecks or Ericcsson providing telecoms in disaster areas.
Sir John Holmes concluded that companies were no longer to be seen as cash cows but as strategic partners in trilataral arrangements with civil society organisations and government. The aim to provide not a basic ‘fire brigade’ response but long term local capacity. The private sector has, after all, a fundamental interest in stability. This method of working need not be restricted to the developing world. When we consider response to floods for example these three parts of society working together can make a difference anywhere. The humanitarian sector has come a long way from its roots in volunteerism and embracing the private sector is a natural step for a professional approach.
Panel 1 The corporate-humanitarian record to date
11.40am Well the consensus from the opening session was definitely – ‘yes’ to the private sector. Professor Denise Livesley Chairs and introduces three papers for the first panel session
* Professor Alyson Warhurst Warwick Business School – an awesome CV including advisor to the World Economic Forum and consultant with. Maplecroft.com and most likely advised God on how he could create the world in 7 days
She argues that the BRICs countries plus the 11 economies adjacent to them in growth are the key to pulling the world out of recession. However these countries also are very high risk for business – in terms of factors such as pandemics, conflict, climate change etc . Companies need to change their attitude to risk in the same way they were able to when cleaning up the trade in conflict diamonds. The private sector needs to be involved because these vulnerable countries are also key points on the business supply change.
12.20pm Humanitarian logistics – Rolando Tomasino INSEAD social innovation centre.
Who would have thought a session on logistics could be quite so interesting. Rolando works at one of the worlds top Business schools. He talked about his recent work around the science of humanitarian logistics. How to coordinate disparate actors. Lots of different elements involved including from financial flows, information, goods and human capital. Felt there was something the private sector could learn from the humanitarian sector. Particularly in the area of adaptability which relief agencies have to be very good at. Put up some very powerful photographs of poorly organised interventions – unwanted or unsuitable goods – out-of-date foodstuffs and the like. Underlined that private sector companies do not win by having the cheapest supply chain but by having the most adaptable.
Panel 2 Current practice and future possibilities
Jo da Silva Arup. Jo is an engineer with Arup and was instrumental in getting them involved via RedR. Most recently Jo worked in Sri Lanka and enrolled Arup to be more proactively engaged there.
The private sector seen as ‘donor’ not ‘doer’ and in those cases where they act as ‘doers’ then often assumed to be a self funded doer. An ethos in the sector about not wanting to be seen to be making money out of suffering. But private sector organisations as well as NGOs need, after all, to pay staff. Private sector organisations, Jo feels, want to be enablers – offering networks, staff, plant and partners often on a global basis. After disasters the humanitarian impulse may suffice but preference is for more sustained engagement.
‘Remote working’ is another form of contribution Jo touched on this and then on talking about ‘secondments’. Funded by staff, firms and NGOs – eg a seismic engineer in Pakistan from Arup. Pointed out though that the individual is inevitably limited. It is possible to bridge the gap between the relief and private sector organisations. ‘Private firms are from mars NGOs are from Venus’ but that does not mean they are irreconcilable.
Will Day Sustainability Advisor PWC The two sectors can be seen as oil and water eg green beans exported from African while the local population are hungry and out of date chocolate imported as part of ‘relief’
On the other hand CARE worked with Cable & Wireless and Scott Wilson in a very constructive way. So who does what best? Issues such as food security and debt reduction are often seen as squarely within the NGO arena but the scale and urgency and the inter-connectedness of issues and economies mean the distinction between private and humanitarian sector dissolves. Business, for example, is good at risk and being held to account. Often long term strategic thinkers especially in business such as defence and mining.
Climate change is now being taken on by business because they are seriously aware of its impact on their profits
An example of private sector involvement. PWC is a money machine. It’s good at ‘systems’, measuring and accounting but people may be surprised that they are also restoring policing in DRC. They are very expensive but clearly worth it as they get repeat business despite their fees.
Another example – ‘water sanitation’. Often drops off map – governments have no money and NGOs no expertise in this area. Private sector could make a difference but are we willing to use Unilever selling more soap as a measure of success? Yes, surely, if it’s an indicator of improved sanitation. Business as usual in any case is not an option.
Medecin Sans Frontier Marc Dubois Head of MSF UK – introduced a contra note to the day and challenged the consensus that there were merely “wrong-headed suspicions” about the private sector. At the same time pointing out that, yes, a ‘private sector’ saved the people of Darfur but this definition of the private sector was the micro level private households that took initiatives before the ngos or private sector arrived. The Private sector he reminded us were also in DRC – delivering Market advantage at the point of a gun. A fundamental drive for profit. The humanitarian sector is about immediate crises – a very different drive and one that is founded on mpartiality with no ulterior objectives.
Independence. Most of the aid discussed today, Marc continued, isn’t humanitarian at all. It’s been hijacked because of the cachet it brings. The ‘fire brigade’ isn’t a great model to aspire to for emergency relief but it’s clear and better than getting disparate things mixed up. Money spent in Afghanistan or Iraq is for military objectives and is not humanitarian aid. It can look like it but people on the ground know the reality. That is why there is hardly any aid made available to refugees in camps outside Kabul but lots of money being channelled to the remote areas where the battle for ‘hearts and minds’ is being funded by the allies.
Interning in Jane’s Strategic Advisory Service November 24, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in Intelligence and security, Political risk, internships.Tags: Internship
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We have just wrapped up a ‘Careers In Conflict’ Forum at King’s College, University of London. One of the contributors was an alumni of King’s who now works for IHS Jane’s Strategic Advisory Service. In fact most of the speakers turned out to be from King’s. Not planned that way but it just happened. It reminded me that I had recently talked to one of our masters students who had done a placement with the speaker. Here is what Milly told me.
Milly Cottam has just completed a 2.5 days a week, two month internship with the strategic advisory service arm of Jane’s. We spoke to her about her experience just after she had finished her Masters in Non-Proliferation and International Security. Jeff Riley, The Careers Group, University of London, September 2009
What was the recruitment process like? Well it was intense and serious and I would advise anyone to treat it as they would for a paid role. After I applied I had a 1.5 hour interview plus a research test which involved using the internet and databases to dig out information on a specific topic against the clock. I was also given an industry news article to analyse and then was asked questions and my opinion on that. This wasn’t my specialist area so a pretty good test of being able to think on my feet.
Why do you think you were given the internship? Well I dealt with the interview questions okay. They were a mixture of competency based questions and questions about my CV. I think the fact that I’d had some work experience in a consultancy helped – even though it was from the admin perspective. My academic studies have covered a good mix of science and humanities subjects as well and I think they were keen to utilise this background when it came to researching and analysing data.
What was the work like? It was very enjoyable and I learned a lot. It happened to be fairly quiet when I was there so I’m not sure I got an accurate picture of what it would normally be like. I know the student who started after me is having a very different experience working on lots of client projects. Typically, Jane’s is approached by government agencies, industry and corporate firms within the defence and security sector who want very practical advice. During my time I was involved in both client and internal projects. I learned a lot from these and through observing internal meetings, particularly about the concerns of clients and how they need to be at the forefront of your efforts. This was probably the most significant difference between my MA course and the internship. I was constantly encouraged to focus on the implications my analysis would have for the end user which in this case were the clients. Much of the work done there is very detailed and specific. They will often be looking at particular weapons systems or vehicles across different regions. People working on these types of project will be getting micro level detail and using Excel spreadsheets in a way that our Masters course just doesn’t require. The Masters is a great foundation and though the team at Jane’s were very knowledgeable they respect and use the skills you come to the internship with. The other significant thing I got from my time there was, confidence. Jane’s is very well known in the sector, I have a lot of respect for the people I was working with and the level of knowledge and expertise they have. It made me realise that I could make a contribution in that kind of group.
Human Rights and International Development November 7, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in international development.Tags: Human Rights
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Saturday 8.50am I’ve been invited to speak at an event on Human rights and international development organised by Oxfid an Oxford university organisation that does great work raising the development profile amongst it’s students. Jo Evans the co president who invited me came to our ‘Getting into International Development’ event previously and has quickly got involved with Oxfid in the first year of her degree. What I’ve forgotten is my phone and Hilary Mantel book. On the other hand I’ve got a bacon sandwich and a tea and I’m waiting for the bus to move off
9.20am Despite the fact that I’m already on board the bus keeps stopping to pick up other passengers. If people choose to live in Hillingdon can they really expect buses from London to pick them up? The bus is the Oxford ‘tube’ – just £16 return or 2 euros with free ‘wi-fi’ and autumn sunshine.
10.50am Everything going worryingly smoothly as I arrive in good time. I foolishly think this is because I have my life handled and am now anxious about it all being part of a practical joke by the Supreme Being.
11am Transitional justice in the African great lakes region. Phil Clark an Oxford research fellow gave a really interesting talk on Rwanda and it’s post genocide justice system. Incidentally without a single PowerPoint slide. ‘Transitional Justice’ refers to the range of processes and mechanisms that are are put in place in states emerging from a period of conflict. In Rwanda’s case of course, it is after the genocide that saw a million people, mainly Tutsis, killed in 100 days in 1994. Phil explained that this was an unusually ‘intimate’ genocide in the sense that the killers generally knew their victims as friends, neighbours and even family members. Intimate also in the sense that the violence was hand-to-hand and the weapons were low tech – axes, spears and the like. This had a number of consequences
The conflict was pervasive. Every Rwandan after the conflict was either a perpetrator, a survivor or was closely related to someone in those categories.
The Tutsi (the Rwandan Patriotic Front) group that overthrew the regime that had planned the genocide soon found themselves with around 120,000 young Hutu suspects in jails designed for 45,000 and a survivor population clamouring for justice and that would not accept the proposed amnesty solution to the backlog of cases. A truth and reconciliation commission on the south African model was also unacceptable because of its emphasis on ‘amnesty’ in return for confessions.
The solution hived off the most serious high level cases to a UN supervised International Criminal Court(ICC). A second layer of serious cases to be dealt with by the Rwandan national courts and in an innovative and radical programme to have the majority of cases dealt with by a form of community justice. The village Gacaca courts were given a legal status, codified into law, made representative by incorporating a formal role for women and with locally elected judges and then rolled out to 9,000 Rwandan villages.
Phil Clark’s main point is that these courts have been, in general, successful despite the criticisms of the international legal community. They have prosecuted between 300,000 and 400,000 cases and exposed up to 200,000 more. Those found guilty have been given either prison sentences or community sentences – such as rebuilding homes or working on roads. The backlog of cases has been cleared up without simply letting perpetrators go. On the downside most survivors feel the courts have been too lenient (which is the opposite of what legal commentators feared would happen) and the proposal that the courts could take on the backlog of cases from the ICC has been opposed by organizations such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. One consequence of this criticism in Britain is that Hutu suspects instead of being sent back to Rwanda to face justice have been allowed to stay free in Britain and may not face any trial at all.
I asked Phil why he had said Amnesty was not an ‘independent’ organization. He explained that what he meant that was that their opposition to the Gacaca courts was not based on local empirical research in Rwanda but based on interviews with the Rwandan diaspora. Amnesty, he felt, had a poor understanding of the nature of the courts which are alien to their professional legal minds.
12.15pm Thoughts turning to lunch. I spotted some evil looking sandwiches and fruit – the key indicators of a deeply unsatisfying ‘buffet lunch’ I feel like invoking the UN charter dedicated to Jeff Riley’s lunch human rights.
• An inalieanable right to a Hot lunch
• Hot lunches should include a proper pudding and not just fruit
• When acting as a guest speaker he will not be obliged to queue
• He shall not pay
I fear most of these principles are about to be breached. Once again underlining the importance of rights in the arena of jeff Riley to move off the page and into the real world menu.
1.30pm The Iraq War and International Law. After lunch another excellent talk by Andrew Williams from the University of Warwick. Again no PowerPoint just an expert talking about what he knew. In this case a number of disturbing cases where claims that Iraqi citizens had been abused and tortured by members of the British Army and calls for inquiries had met with resistance from the UK government. A contrast drawn between the government’s public position that human rights violations are not tolerated and there is no cooperation with governments implicated. All shocking cases. More details from the Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham www.publicinterestlawyers.co.uk
3.30pm After this powerful contribution I was in a slightly stupefied state when I stood up to do my talk but it went okay I think. Anyway it all seemed slightly mundane and trivial compared to what I had heard before.
The Study India Programme November 4, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in international development.Tags: courses, international development
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The Study India Programme is an opportunity for undergraduates to have a 3 weeks expenses-paid experience in India in either Mumbai or Delhi, in summer 2010. If you are graduating in 2010 you will still be counted as an undergraduate. The programme is designed to build links between British students and India. Typically Indian students come in large numbers to study in the UK and this programme, funded by the UK India Education and Research Initiative helps provide some cultural and intellectual two way traffic. I spoke to Selma Shawkat-Mohammed one of the 200 students who successfully applied for the first year of the programme in 2009. Selma is now a masters student in King’s College War Studies department.
www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=159732297565&ref=ts
Use the Facebook site to keep up to date with the programme. The next application round is expected to start in January 2010. Register your interest by emailing studyindia@kcl.ac.uk. More details at www.studyindia.org.uk/. There is a sister programme for China (www.studychina.org.uk for more information.)
What did it involve? As well as the cultural lectures we had talks on things like the tension between the environment and development, economics and even workshops on drama and Indian dance. These were at local colleges. Also there was a chance to do some work experience with a range of different types of organisations – art galleries, local government, charites for disabled children for example and NGOs. I actually arranged my own placement before I left the UK to a think tank. The one I wrote to originally couldn’t help me as it was just too small but they put me in touch with India’s biggest think tank, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. To be honest I wasn’t able to do any research but I spent my time meeting the researchers and experts. It was really revealing getting their perspective on issues such as relations with Iran which are quite counter to the consensus in the west.
What did it cost? We had to pay for our own air fares but everything else was pretty well covered. Including our hotel and hostel accomodation. Though there was always the temptation to eat out in the evening which wasn’t paid for by the programme. I heard that at least one student got paid to write about the trip in The Guardian which helped them offset the costs.
Why did you go and How difficult was it to get selected? Well it was a great chance to have an informed visit. I also felt I wanted to challenge myself.
There were a 1000 applicants for 200 places – not terrible odds really but still competitive. In the spirit of the programme they was interested in hearing about what applicants might bring to India and, of course, why India in the first place.
Policy work in the UK Parliament November 3, 2009
Posted by jefffromclapham in international development.Tags: international development, Internship, policy
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Sophia Pickles has been employed as the Assistant Coordinator for the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa for the last 9 months. We talked to her about her work and how she got the post .
What does the APPG do? The group was set up in the wake of the Rwandan genocide because some Members of Parliament felt that the government’s response to the disaster was not strong enough. The 220 member strong, cross-party committee is headed up of a Labour Chair (Eric Joyce MP who until recently had been in the government) a a steering Executive Committee that comprises a Conservative and Labour Vice Chair and a Liberal Democrat Secretary. There are also Peers on the APPG’s Executive, including the Bishop of Winchester. The Group as a whole is made up of the committee plus over 220 Parliamentarians who are all interested in the region.
The Group acts as a lynchpin between Parliament and interested organisations such as the media, ngos and think tanks as well as, crucially, Parliamentarians from the Great Lakes region . We do different types of work
- We receive information from a wide range of sources such as ngos- both UK based and those that are situated in Great Lakes countries – and brief our group with policy recommendations. Our members may then tablet an oral or written question in the House of Commons, initiate a debate ,put forth an EDM or incorporate our work into their wider discussions.
- We act as an independent monitor of our own government’s work in the region. For example when there were recent riots in Uganda which led to over 20 people being killed and we were able to produce a report that explained the context and prognoses of the violence. Uganda is a member of the Commonwealth which makes it of particular interest to our members. There aren’t necessarily mechanisms within parliament who can reach and brief Members on topics such as these with the same facility as the APPG. We’re fortunate to have a privileged position between the policy makers and those on the ground, observing and reporting on what is happening there. To that extent we are able to assist parliamentarians in holding the government to account.
- We also run a number of events that help keep Parliamentarians up to date with the region and this includes events that involve Parliamentarians from the region. We have had visitors from all of the Great Lakes countries and have exceptional relationships with both political and civil society in Rwanda, Uganda, the DRC and Burundi
How does the group work politically ? We are funded externally and not by the house. Our funders have to be ‘neutral’ and so while we can approach ngos we aren’t allowed to get money from businesses with economic interests in the region. Unfortunately the majority of neutral sources tend not to have much money and so we have a very small budget. In general there seems to a large degree of political consensus about the region. There are occasionally issues whereby the major parties differ in their policy approach – such as on various aspects of Burundian foreign policy. In cases such as these there might be less political interest from one corner or another about certain issues pertaining to Burundi – but this varies.
How did you get the job ?I started off as an unpaid intern with the Group – I did this for around 5 months for 3 days a week. When the paid job came up I was one of several candidates. Things in my favour included the fact that I had worked in the region and spoke French – a language I use a lot in the post. One other thing that really helped was that one of my referees was a CEO of an ngo that was very involved with the Group’s work. I had worked for this ngo at the beginning of my development career when they were quite small. It reinforced for me the importance of being willing to start with smaller, less well-known organisations. The interviewers were very impressed that this person was willing to vouch for me.
Incidentally I got the original internship through looking at W4MP web site which is fairly well known, I think. We still have interns attached to the committee though the intern system is coming under increasing scrutiny – we all agree that it’s not fair for qualified individuals to work for free! I suspect that we’ll soon be in a situation where we either renumerate interns or take on very short term cases within a ‘work shadowing’ framework
How have you benefited ? Well it is paid work – pro-rata £23K (I work a three day week.) More than that though it has really moved my skills set into a new arena. I have had a lot practical experience of working in development in India with UNICEF and Africa with GOAL but this work has supplemented my field-based knowledge and really helped me get to grips with policy. For example I have to be very familiar with, and brief the Group Members on, not just the reports received from contacts in ngos and in field based positions and other civil networks but also the political positions of allies in Europe and elsewhere. This helps ensure that we assimilate – or are at least aware of – individual countries’ policy positions and so we can make informed recommendations. Before I had this role I didn’t have such clear ideas on how and why policy is formulated and adopted.
The other aspect of my job obliges me to keep myself informed of the situation on the ground in the region. Having worked there really helps – I know where to look and who to ask but in general the role helps me get an overview of events.
It has also transformed my writing skills. I write a lot of 2 page summaries, as with the piece on Uganda (MPs really don’t often have time to read longer pieces) but also more substantial reports running to around 30 pages or so. A recent one involved a regional report that was generated by a parliamentarian’s visit to the Congo on the issue of gender based violence – you can see this on our website.
Communications – the role has allowed me to use and develop my communication skills. I meet a huge range of people – EU representatives, ambassadors, writers and celebrities – including Sting and Sandi Toksvig recently.
*****
You can read more case studies at www.careers.lon.ac.uk/development and www.careers.lon.ac.uk/policy
