“An expat is worth two times than a local staff”

(IRC Staff Experience)

I was a Coordinator in an African Country Office [at the International Rescue Committee] for two years. I had a stellar national team (five members) whom I supervised. The Country Office hired a Senior Coordinator (white) who shortly after starting, I knew it was going to be very difficult with whom to work. Besides these five national staff we were also hosting a Fellow- White Male. The preference over the national colleagues was apparent. So apparent that my team would come up to me and complain about the treatment/ tone of voice/ lack of respect that this Senior Coor[dinator] was evidently having with the team members but definitely not with the white male colleague. I was caught in the middle and was trying coach (sic) the Senior Coord[inator] on cultural differences and the cultural norms and expectations from the team. To which I got a response of.. “It is not my problem if they think I am rude, this is how I speak and they can get use to it”…This was month 1 of the Senior Coord[inator’s] two year contract…. By month 3, the first team member left, and her reasoning for leaving was the Senior coord[inator]…. we hired a replacement, and by her second month, the replacement also left. We had at least three other national team members leave and during their exit interview they explicitly said they were leaving because of the Snr Coord [Senior Coordinator]. It was too much to handle, they would say.

There were a few instances of clear racist and colonialism tone to her management style that really irritated me. For instance, one time at an external meeting with partners she stated… “an expat is worth two times than a local staff”… that is one of the many racist and troubling remarks that she would say without any hesitation. My self and another Coordinator complained to the Country Director, only to be dismissed and not taken seriously. I eventually left the Country Office. The main reason was because I was burned out, but part of that burn out was having an ill fitted supervisor that made matters worst (sic). I do recall that after I left, there was an investigation on the Snr Coord [Senior Coordinator’s] behavior. Eventually, she was let go I believe (unclear). But it took at least six people to leave the organization, multiple complaints, an internal investigation, not to mention time and resources, for our voices to be heard.