How do Development Agencies Organise their In-House Technical Expertise?

Abstract

In order to find out how their in-house technical expertise are organised, the organisational structures of eleven international development organisations and multinational agencies have been explored. Issues which cut across countries and sectors (thematic approaches) are also listed for each organisation, as this may affect the level/type of expertise available. Some organisations have re-organised their in-house structures or set up new programmes to account for low staff numbers (World Bank, USAID, DFAT) including re-assigning administration to technical positions or hiring external expertise/volunteers (UNDP, GIZ, FAO) when needed. However, this was not possible for other organisations (Sida, Danida). Thematic or cross-cutting approaches have resulted in reduced (Word Bank, UNDP, Global Affairs Canada) or increased (USAID) numbers of staff available for technical expertise. A number of organisations rely on technical staff working in multiple positions (UNDP, Sida, DFAT, Danida) because of low numbers in-house technical staff available. Due to the sensitive nature of this query, as well as other work-related issues, it is difficult to confirm the numbers and variety of staff expertise available for developmental work for some organisations using available online data. This report is based primarily on summarising information from public documents published by the agencies themselves. The amount of information available varies widely from agency to agency, and is not necessarily comparable across agencies. Some information included in this report was also obtained through informal personal communication with staff members of the agencies mentioned, who spoke with us on condition of anonymity.