Severe Inequity - Program Manager Catholic Relief Services Employee Review

There is deep inequity and pay disparity between local and expat staff. CRS says they are pushing for equity, but recent events make me doubt that they will ever change. I have seen local staff offered laughable salaries, even when they had multiple masters degrees and years of work experience in the national government. These salaries are less than the "fellowship stipend" given to international development fellows, even though the staff would hold important positions in program management and would have much more important responsibilities than fellows. Local staff end up taking expat positions in other countries because there is no room for growth in their own country. This leads to a "brain shuffle" where people take work in neighboring countries, even though they could have a greater impact in their own. I have heard senior staff at HQ telling international development fellows that CRS needs expats because there are not enough qualified staff in the countries where they work. This has not been my experience at all. Rather, CRS is not willing to pay qualified staff a fair salary in the countries where they work. They prefer to pay expats 2-3X a national staff salary than put forth the effort to hire and retain staff in country. Staff are often overworked and underpaid.