The roundtable, hosted by the University of Edinburgh Business School's Project Fair will bring together delegates from 17 organisations based in at least 11 countries.
Participants include Médecins Sans Frontières, Human Rights Watch, WaterAid, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Last Mile Health, the World Resources Institute and The END Fund, as well as policy and development bodies such as the Global Reporting Initiative and Helvetas.
Marianne Walker, Global Reward and Mobility Lead at WaterAid, highlighted the importance of the upcoming roundtable:
“The Geneva roundtable offers a rare opportunity to contribute to shaping a global benefits framework for the sector. These events consistently bring together HR and reward professionals from across the international development space to share learning, explore practical solutions, and inspire fresh thinking. They provide space for meaningful collaboration, helping to build a more coherent and fair approach to reward – something that supports stronger missions and more sustainable impact across organisations.”
The gathering at the International Committee of the Red Cross will focus on fairness in benefits, such as healthcare, parental leave, pensions and working conditions. It builds on Project Fair’s widely used Principles and Standards of Fair Reward for International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). The roundtable aims to develop a shared vision for equitable and sustainable benefit structures.
International aid and development is a vast, complex sector. In the UK alone, over 19,000 non-governmental organisations work internationally. Globally, it accounts for more than £170 billion in funding, with Africa and Asia receiving the most significant share. While many still picture aid workers from the global north deployed to the global south, most are nationals of the countries where programmes are delivered or from neighbouring countries.
Project Fair builds on almost two decades of research into the psychological impact of dual salary systems, which are common across international non-governmental organisations and can undermine motivation, retention and teamwork.
Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann, Project Fair Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Business School, said:
“International non-governmental organisations play a vital role in tackling global challenges—from disaster response to health, education and human rights. However, the people delivering that work are often treated very differently depending on where they are based and where they come from. In some cases, staff with the same skills and roles have been paid up to ten times less than their international counterparts.
“Fairness isn’t just a compliance issue. It affects whether organisations are trusted, whether they can retain skilled staff, and how effectively they deliver their mission. This roundtable is about learning from each other and moving forward together with greater transparency, equity and intent.”
Project Fair is part of the University of Edinburgh Business School. It is built upon a strong body of our research and practice over more than a decade into the psychological impact of dual salaries in the INGO sector impacting employee motivation, performance, retention, learning and teamwork. Underpinning our work is in-depth expertise in social justice and fairness, and the role organisational policies and practices play to address the challenges related to poverty and inequality.
Beyond research, we provide a platform for membership, collaboration and networking amongst our growing 100 plus INGO online HR and Reward community with over 200 individual members.
The project aims to create a collaborative space for discussion of practical, equitable, and evidence-based reward approaches that enable INGOs to maximise their contributions to decent work, sustainable livelihood, and poverty eradication.
Read more about Project Fair’s work.
Ishbel McWha-Hermann is our Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director (Academic) MBA Programmes.