As the international development sector is vital to drive the growth of societies, it would be interesting to learn a little more about the professionals working within this field. At DevelopmentAid.org, we have analyzed the profiles of over 110,000 experts to gather invaluable insights into their work experience, sector, skills among much other information and this article shares the findings. These unique insights could improve your hiring process or, if you are an individual consultant, help to further your career.
International development and the people behind it
Global development is an umbrella term for the concept of creating a common future in which people worldwide experience a higher quality of life. This vision of the future is guided by the pursuit of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations. It particularly relates to problems that are sometimes beyond the ability of individual countries to address such as climate change, disaster relief, diseases and health issues, migration, and many more.
Despite the obvious importance of international development, having insufficient knowledge of the professionals working within the sector makes it difficult for hiring companies to build a broader picture of the workforce market. Where do the professionals come from? How experienced are they? Which languages do they speak? How much do they get paid? These questions can be answered by utilizing DevelopmentAid’s business intelligence.
DevelopmentAid is the leading information service provider for the international development sector, offering intel on funding opportunities, experts for hire, development news, and exclusive media content among many more benefits. For this article, we analyzed the DevelopmentAid expert database using many of the search filters available for DevelopmentAid members to gather six valuable insights into the profiles of global development specialists.
Insight #1: Nearly 50% of development experts are from Africa
According to international development experts, it will be vital to prioritize the engagement and capacity building of local communities during 2025.
DevelopmentAid’s database includes the profiles of over 50,000 consultants from the Global South so it is the ideal resource to find local talent for a project’s open positions. In fact, nearly 50% of experts are African citizens which makes it easier to contract local experts for aid programs operating on this continent.
Table I | Percentage of global development consultants per citizenship. Data collected by Sofia Oliveira from DevelopmentAid’s database during January 2025.
Insight #2: 71% of development consultants hold a Master’s degree as a minimum
A large majority of experts working in global development have a Master’s degree as a minimum qualification. MBA graduates, medical doctors, and PhD holders are also well represented in this sector representing 19%, 11%, and 10% of database experts.
This insight allows hiring professionals to narrow their search and locate the ideal candidate for an open position.
Insight #3: Most specialists have over 16 years of experience
The international development consultants who feature on the DevelopmentAid database are highly experienced with the majority having 16 years or more work experience in the sector. Junior consultants with one to five years of experience represent only 6% of the experts who have joined the DevelopmentAid member community.
Table II | Percentage of global development consultants per number of years of experience. Data collected by Sofia Oliveira from DevelopmentAid’s database during January 2025.
Insight #4: Project management is the field with the most professionals
The majority of development professionals are experienced in project management sectors such as administration, procurement, resource, and programme management. Education and local development and related sectors are also popular spheres of expertise. While fundraising is a top concern for many non-profit organizations, only a small percentage of experts work in this subsector which ranks in 13th place overall.
This insight is somewhat complicated by the fact that professionals often work in more than one sector.
Table III | Percentage of global development consultants per field/sector. Data collected by Sofia Oliveira from DevelopmentAid’s database during January 2025. Note: professionals often work across more than one sector.
Insight #5: English is the dominant language, but French and Spanish are also common
English is spoken by 97% of experts so is therefore the dominant language among global development professionals but to engage and build capacity in local communities, experts must communicate effectively and be able to speak the language of the beneficiaries of their expertise. Using DevelopmentAid’s basic and advanced recruitment database, specialists can be filtered by the languages they speak and this revealed that French and Spanish are popular and are spoken by 33% and 16% of consultants with Arabic and Swahili making up the top 5 most spoken languages which is not surprising considering the high percentage of African citizens who have registered with DevelopmentAid.
Table IIV | Top 5 languages spoken by global development experts, by percentage of consultants. Data collected by Sofia Oliveira from DevelopmentAid’s database during January 2025.
Insight #6: Expert fees range from €118 to €900 per day
Recruiting professionals for a project can be challenging, particularly if budgeting for expert fees is inaccurate. To avoid this situation, recruitment professionals and bidding teams often use various sources to gain an understanding of the current range of expert fees and the DevelopmentAid database is an excellent way to cross-check the findings.
According to the database, development consultants with over 16 years of experience charge an average of €501per day. This fee level drops to €265 a day for experts with 11 to 15 years of experience and to €175 for professionals who have worked for 6 to 10 years in the sector. Unfortunately, the data available for the fees charged by junior experts is insufficient to produce an accurate result.
Table V | Daily fees charged by experts with different experience levels. Data collected by Sofia Oliveira from DevelopmentAid’s database during January 2025. Notes: 1 – The average daily fees were calculated based on the four most recent monthly averages available.
Final thoughts: how to leverage this exclusive data
For organizations working in the development field
The profile of development specialists and how much they charge is useful intelligence to benchmark recruitment targets, salaries, and consultant fees.
For development experts looking for a new role
Understanding the competition enables a consultant to refine their value proposition, identify which skills need to be honed, and adjust their expert fees accordingly.
When seeking unique candidates who can drive impact and help to implement a project, consider exploring the DevelopmentAid expert database. Registering for a Premium membership will unlock advanced search capabilities and connect you with professionals who have the skills and experience to meet your specific needs.
