- Convenor:
-
John Kirkland
(Diversity in Development)
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- Chair:
-
Laura Camfield
(Kings College London)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Stream:
- Agents of development: Communities, movements, volunteers and workers
Short Abstract
People from lower socio-economic groups are less likely to study international development, to find employment in FCDO, NGOs or development departments, or to take up volunteering or international student mobility opportunities. This roundtable asks why, and how this can be addressed.
Description
The 2025 report 'A Profession for the Privileged?' suggested consistent under representation from lower socio-economic groups in the international development profession. They were less likely to study international development than other social sciences, less likely to find employment in the (former) DFID and FCDO, less likely to take up volunteering or international mobility opportunities and less likely to be employed by NGOs.
While the report focuses on the UK, this is a global phenomenon. It suggests under-representation of people with lived experience of poverty and insecurity within a sector rooted in the values of equity. The findings also suggest a relative lack of support for government and charitable spending on international development amongst lower socio-economic groups.
Yet there remains a lack of systematic evidence which could inform our understanding of the scale of the problem. The roundtable seeks to address this in three ways:
Firstly, it seeks to identify other sources of evidence (from the UK and outside) that enhance our understanding of the issue. Secondly, it considers whether existing data could be better utilised – for example, about the career paths of those undertaking postgraduate courses. Finally, it will consider how the experiences of those seeking to enter international development, including the barriers they are facing, could be better captured.
Whilst the emphasis of the roundtable will be on formal employment opportunities in the sector, including academic careers, attention will be paid to take up of volunteering, internship and international mobility opportunities as a means of entering the profession.
Accepted contribution
Contribution short abstract
Drawing on lived and professional experience in the MENA region, this contribution demonstrates how individuals from conflict-affected and marginalized backgrounds are central to development work yet often excluded from formal careers.
Contribution long abstract
My contribution to this roundtable draws on both lived and professional experience across the international development and humanitarian sector in the MENA region, with a particular focus on refugee-led and community-based actors. While the 2025 report highlights socio-economic exclusion within the UK development profession, my experience suggests this dynamic is even more pronounced globally, especially for people from conflict-affected, displaced, or economically marginalised backgrounds. In contexts such as Lebanon and Syria, those with lived experience of poverty, displacement, and insecurity are often over-represented as volunteers and community responders, yet systematically under-represented in formal NGO, donor, and academic roles.
I will contribute evidence and reflections from participatory research, workshops, and coordination spaces with RLOs, highlighting barriers such as unpaid or self-funded internships, language hierarchies, restrictive mobility regimes, lack of credential recognition, and opaque recruitment pathways shaped by Global North educational and professional capital.
I will also reflect on how current data systems fail to capture these trajectories. Many people with lived experience enter the sector through informal pathwaysvolunteering, local coordination, or crisis response, yet remain invisible in datasets focused on postgraduate education, formal internships, or entry-level employment within institutions such as the FCDO or its international counterparts.
Finally, I will propose practical approaches to improve evidence-gathering, including participatory career-path mapping, collaboration with refugee-led and grassroots organisations as knowledge partners, and re-framing “entry into the profession” beyond formal employment to include informal, community-embedded, and crisis-driven development work.