Basics of IDC

Finally, something about IDC and NOT me whining or ranting. Kinda refreshing, eh?

Sitting in my classes, I definitely feel like I’m in over my head. There’s a lot of history and politics and finance and unwritten protocol that I just know nothing about.

Three weeks ago, I sat through my first UIDC (Understanding International Development Cooperation) course.  

*Heads up, I am NOT a teacher, an expert, a specialist or any of those other things. I’m a student and then some, I’m learning this stuff in class and trying to summarize it so you understand WTH I’m talking about as time passes*

Like many “industries”, there are multiple sectors in International Development Cooperation

Education, Health and Social Services, Governance, Disaster and Emergencies, Humanitarian Assistance, Global Partnerships, Climate change and so on and so forth.  All of those are individual sectors within groups and aid organizations.

POP QUIZ! How many of these acronyms can you identify:   

DFID, USAID, IDC, ODA, KOICA, PO, NPO, MDG, FDI and OEEC

*Answers are the end of the blog*

If you’re like me, you can probably guess three or four. That was just from the first day in class. Felt like I walked into the middle of a conversation. Ouch

There are two types of “aid”, to be exact. There’s humanitarian assistance: aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies.

Then there’s development aid, financial aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by focusing on alleviating poverty in the long term, rather than a short term response.

What I intend to focus on is “development aid”, stuff to help the nation in the long run.

So far, the stuff we’re discussing in class is just the framework for development. There are tons of organizations and companies and entities involved.

The basic idea is that you work in either the public or private sector, for profit or not-for-profit, in the field or in the office.

Public sector tends to be government organizations. Private tends not to be. For profit means working for money (profits). Not for profit and non-profits (Yes, they are actually different) don’t work for cash, they tend to run off of donations and whatnot.

In the field is pretty straightforward: you’re in the field. You go out to whatever place you’re working with.  In the office is pretty straightforward as well; you work in an office, you’re a desk jockey.

I’ve not yet decided if I want to stick with public or private sector, but I know I want to work for-profit and in the field. The idea of a desk job makes me sad. Even being confined to a classroom (and not an office typing away all day) was soul crushing (God only knows how I did it for nearly five years, especially when you consider that I never wanted to be a teacher).

As for the specific designation, my goal is disaster and emergency response. (The aim of emergency [disaster] response is to provide immediate assistance to maintain life, improve health and support the morale of the affected population. It also may involve initial repairs to damaged infrastructure. The focus in the response phase is on meeting the basic needs of the people until more permanent and sustainable solutions can be found.)   But I don’t think I want to help with the response itself after the fact. Planning seems like a much better (and more effective) focus; I want people to know what to do BEFORE disaster hits.

 On a more personal note: sitting in class and studying this stuff is actually kinda scary. Can't remember the last time something made me so... unsettled (?). I hesitate to raise my hand because I don’t want to look stupid. I actually (no joke) asked my professor if I could have my paper back because I thought it wasn’t good enough and I wanted to do it again later. I don’t second-guess myself, though. I just straight-up don't trust my instincts.  I’ve lost count of the times I’ve decided something and then done the opposite because I thought I was wrong. NOW, that’s only with me. I’m hella good with other people, I’ll know if you’re worth it or not right away. It’s me, myself and I that I’m still on the fence about. 

*Props to Wikipedia for all the definitions, because I’m not that scholarly to be able to pull these definitions outta thin air just yet.*

Quiz Answers:

DFID- Department for International Development

USAID- United States Agency for International Development

IDC- International Development Cooperation

ODA- Official Development Assistance

KOICA- Korea International Cooperation Agency

PO- [For] Profit Organization

NPO- Non-Profit Organization

MDG- Millennium Development Goals

FDI- Foreign Direct Investment

OEEC- Organisation for European Economic Co-operation