I'm planning to write some reflections on my ~2 years living in a developing country working on development and human rights. In hindsight, corruption was a big and unexpected (for me) issue, compounded by the fact that Western and local attitudes toward corruption differed significantly.
For example, a regional government official kept pestering us to hire his nephew, and eventually made his willingness to work with us conditional on it. To a Western mind, this is nepotism and a corrupt practice. In the official's mind, he was fulfilling his duty and obligation to advance the interests of his family and clan.
For another example, we had a local employee who organized compensated opinion polls and focus groups. We eventually realized he was only inviting members of his ethnic group to participate.
My third example is baksheesh. This was (depending on viewpoint) either a small gift or a bribe that we were compelled to give in nearly every interaction with a government official, volunteer, or random locals. We initially tried giving small items related to our organization's mission (solar radios with our logo, for example) in an effort to convince ourselves this was less obviously a bribe than paying cash. But there was a strong local preference for cash, and that eventually won out.
I think most people who work in development and/or EAs tend to be high-minded folks who deeply care about the ethics of what they do. I'm still torn on whether I should have tried harder to counter what I considered corruption, or whether we were better off accepting the local standard in the name of getting things done.
Curious about what the community thinks.
