Are you an expat woman working in the international aid industry or have you been working in the aid sector in the past? Would you like to share your experience with other professionals like you?

ExpatWomen at Work is pleased to offer you this opportunity. In a round table guided by Alice Gritti (a social psychologist specialized on humanitarian and development workers), you will have the chance to talk about the “good and bad sides” of your professional and personal life experience in the aid sector.

As Alice says:
“Despite the acknowledged number of challenges and stressors aid workers are likely to face in the field, scarce attention has so far been paid to their needs. In my PhD research I found out that aid workers not only have to face expats’ and overseas professionals problems (such as loneliness, re-adaptation, unsettledness, cultural gap), but also specific sector issues (ethical dilemmas, frustration and sense of guilt arising from the daily exposure to poverty and death, security threats, just to name a few). Also, other challenges already documented in the expat literature, like the relational ones, become more pervasive and ubiquitous for aid workers, due to their higher rate of occupational mobility”.

In the 188 questionnaires and 67 Skype interviews collected, the aid sector was described as more challenging for women aid workers:
“At a personal level, women participants have reported higher rates of work-personal life conflict and at a professional level they had voiced difficulties related to different roles expectations of women and stereotypes about women’s skills. Being a woman was described as something ‘critical’ in the achievement of professional credibility and in relation to personal security”.

On the other side, working in international aid can be extremely rewarding in respect to professional development, personal growth, cultural richness and opportunity to travel and much more.

If this broad picture sounds familiar to you, don’t miss the chance to share some of your successful strategies to make the most out of your experience without being overwhelmed by it, to inspire and be inspired and to build new connections!

Write to expatwomenatwork@expatclic.com to reserve your place on Thursday 22nd May 2014 at 8pm CET.