Why are international development orgs all white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always wondered why you only see white people (U.S. and European) going to help in countries in crisis, whether it's somewhere in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) or the Middle East. Doctors w/o Borders, etc.

Why aren't more black people or people of color in general helping out in situations like these?

Just because you dont see them, doesn't mean they don't exist. They just operate within their own organizations. Besides I feel Black Americans should concentrate on our own community. Oprah building a "private girls school" in South Africa makes ZERO SENSE TO ME. How about a charter school in Chicago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assumed it's because the rich, white girls were the ones who could afford to take lower paying jobs.

This is some of it. Also, with the less rich but still privileged, guilt. And with others, determination to give others the things that they themselves could have taken for granted.... and their parents raised them right to care about others.

Caring about others to what extent though? All non profits and charities operate under the the assumption that there are poor helpless set of others in exotic far away lands; cue stock photos with dark skinned Indian girls in traditional clothes. It seems disingenuous to me that a rich white girl who spends her holidays in Paris can realistically empathize with and care about a victim of gang rape in India.

Why aren't more indian girls or indian refugees or some kind given jobs at these organizations?

Because you are talking about the bureaucratic jobs at a HQ in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Every good and successful ID org has plenty of smart, well plugged in and connected and capable people working in the field (and yes along with some who might come from other countries to work on the ground). Top down only missions don't work as well so its not fair to say they aren't "given" jobs. You can't force anyone in the US (where the vast majority of international dev. ngos are HQed) to do any kind of job, so the idea that someone of Indian descent (who might have had a very similar upbringing as the 25 year old white chick and therefore feel just as American/ distant) will necessarily want a job in ID just because of her ethnicity is false and you can't "make" her want it because that's now how our society works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for one such agency. We hire almost exclusively out of the very top schools. Those schools are still, sadly, mostly white. That's your answer right there.

Whites are still the largest racial group in the U.S., so course that may be reflected in the student bodies of major universities. "That's your answer right there."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always wondered why you only see white people (U.S. and European) going to help in countries in crisis, whether it's somewhere in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) or the Middle East. Doctors w/o Borders, etc.

Why aren't more black people or people of color in general helping out in situations like these?

Just because you dont see them, doesn't mean they don't exist. They just operate within their own organizations. Besides I feel Black Americans should concentrate on our own community. Oprah building a "private girls school" in South Africa makes ZERO SENSE TO ME. How about a charter school in Chicago?

I'd love to see Oprah fund some lessons for the ruling ANC party on what transparent and democratic government is supposed to be. The South African government's respect for basic rights and democratic pluralism has been pretty much downhill since Mandela retired as state president.

[Anonymous]

I haven't experienced this. I work at a 4,000 person organization and our DC office which has 800+ people is very diverse. In my group of 10, I am one of 2 white people.

[Anonymous]

LOL at all these people calling the World Bank a "development" organization.

[Anonymous]

Oh, what a limited world view we have, OP.

Corporacion Andina de Fomento, in Caracas, is run almost entirely by Hispanics (upper class, largely white Hispanics, but Hispanics). (Given your concerns, go work in Caracas, such a lovely place under the socialists.) Then there's the Caribbean Development Bank, the CDB, based in Barbados. The staff is almost entirely black (upper class in their countries of origin, but "of color" as seem to care about that). There's another opportunity for you. See also the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, Bladex, etc. But be careful, because while the staff of none of these organizations is as white as a Democratic presidential debate, their respective management/staff is just as elite as you will find in their DC counterparts.

But the answer about DC-based MLAs and other international development organizations is that they were founded by elites, which in the US meant (and still largely means, though decreasingly) -- gasp! -- "whites".

You need to get out more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always wondered why you only see white people (U.S. and European) going to help in countries in crisis, whether it's somewhere in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) or the Middle East. Doctors w/o Borders, etc.

Why aren't more black people or people of color in general helping out in situations like these?

Amen.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why are humanitarian and international development organizations staffed almost exclusively by white people?

i've been working in the development community for the past five years and im surprised by how all the jobs are held by white rich trust fund girls. it kind of baffles me because these are the most privileged people and they're trying to tweet about female maternal mortality in Kenya or India. The whole thing seems to fake to me.

I don't know what you mean. I've worked in large international public health and development firms (commonly known as "USAID's little bitches") for close to a decade. Nigerians, Indians, Chinese were abound. Work for the World Bank now and you'd be hard-pressed to find very many Americans across the organization.

[Anonymous]

Thw World Bank has a ton of non-white people, my DH included, who is Indian.

[Anonymous]

1. In five years you've never managed to go overseas and see the people on the ground operating?

2. White people in power or positions of high visibility surprise you?

3. In all this time, you haven't noticed that aid and development purposely frame communities solely in terms of their need?

Read this:
http://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/

If you're in a position to promote a suitable candidate of color, do so.

Seek out diverse voices for participation in reporting.

Develop relationships with any of the vast numbers of "country nationals" with leadership positions in the countries where programs take place.

Glad you got woke and all. Now use this to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Because it's poorly paid until you get to the tippy top (and even then, when compared to what you *could* be making as the director of a sizable company in the private sector).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assumed it's because the rich, white girls were the ones who could afford to take lower paying jobs.

This is some of it. Also, with the less rich but still privileged, guilt. And with others, determination to give others the things that they themselves could have taken for granted.... and their parents raised them right to care about others.

Oh please. Caring about others is the nice face people put on it. The real reasons people do it are for the travel and "adventure" and to escape the perceived misery of corporate America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assumed it's because the rich, white girls were the ones who could afford to take lower paying jobs.

This is some of it. Also, with the less rich but still privileged, guilt. And with others, determination to give others the things that they themselves could have taken for granted.... and their parents raised them right to care about others.

Caring about others to what extent though? All non profits and charities operate under the the assumption that there are poor helpless set of others in exotic far away lands; cue stock photos with dark skinned Indian girls in traditional clothes. It seems disingenuous to me that a rich white girl who spends her holidays in Paris can realistically empathize with and care about a victim of gang rape in India.

Why aren't more indian girls or indian refugees or some kind given jobs at these organizations?

They usually are on the ground. Not here in American HQ though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always wondered why you only see white people (U.S. and European) going to help in countries in crisis, whether it's somewhere in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) or the Middle East. Doctors w/o Borders, etc.

Why aren't more black people or people of color in general helping out in situations like these?

NP and not in this line of work, but. . . I remember seeing the photos of the Doctors Without Borders personnel killed in an Afghan hospital by the American military recently, and they mostly nonwhite.