Job Search

After a slow start, I have been quite successful in looking up development organizations and networking with people who are active in the field of youth participation and civil society empowerment. Particularly those young Egyptian activists I met gave me the energy to continue despite the difficulties of finding a job opening and enduring Cairo’s street life.

Today, I had the first serious job interview of my life, which was quite challenging and I am not sure about my performance, followed by another informal interview. Being in the area already, I also looked up a German foundation and the regional director would immediately take the time to talk with me because of my Columbia business card… It took a few attempts to find their office in one of the many office towers in this neighborhood:

I also connected to local NGOs as well as international NGOs and foreign foundations or development organizations. So, I can draw a limited picture of the current peacebuilding landscape:

After Hosni Mubarak was ousted, large quantities of money were released. Mainly the Americans invested in the country, but without a clear strategy. Thus, some few consultants were paid high salaries, who were not necessarily the best qualified. Quickly, the money and lots of reputation were gone. Then, fall 2011, there was a crackdown on foreign organizations. USAid staff was put on trial, the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation closed and its country director expelled from Egypt. This put the foreign investments on hold.

With an advertisement campaign claiming foreign conspirators as the organizers of the protests, xenophobia increased and foreign engagement became even more suspicious. The attacks on U.S. and German embassies after the disgraceful Californian Mohamed movie contributed their share to tightened security and less engagement.

So now, some foreign organizations closed down their country offices in Egypt. Many froze their investments and particularly programs dealing with civil society support, democracy and related topics have been affected. Even the U.N. agencies keep a low profile and, as USAid, do not publish their real address online and put a sign on their door. At the same time, Egyptian activists identify safe spaces for dialogue, conversation and exchange, listening and hearing of all the different political groups as one of the main needs at the moment. There is a vibrant civil society that has been organizing events and proposing projects in this area to be funded – and that with quite some success. Much more activism is going on now than during Mubarak’s time. However, how much more could happen with the resources only foreign donors could supply? An example is the GIZ’s project tackling informal neighborhoods in Cairo. Generously funded by the Gates’ Africa Funds, they seem to have more than enough money. But their focus is on classical development issues, not hot button topics like disempowerment, self-organization, peace education, etc.

In other words, precisely when our support is needed, we refuse it. With good reason: to protect our staff members and not to discredit projects with ‘suspicious’ foreign funding. Nevertheless, we did not refuse to pour money into the country during Mubaraks regime, knowing about Human Right violations and possibly that much of the money would disappear in corruption.

Personally, this situation means that I have to choose. To cover my expenses for health insurance in Germany, I cannot accept any job offer in Cairo. Those openings at local NGOs that pay local wages are unlikely to pay the minimum I need. They are usually engaged in conflict resolution and the topics I find most interesting, while foreign NGOs work in development, but can afford me…

Anyway, I keep looking and have sent emails to all of the big names present in Cairo. From now on, it’s about keeping my fingers crossed and wait what is going to come up. If I won’t be successful, I’d be sad, but can say that I tried my best.