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Earning the Salary You Deserve for Work in the MENA Region

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by Impactpool

NGO salary report in the MENA region (National and International recruitments)

 

Regardless of whether you’ve worked in the MENA region for years or are just considering beginning to, it’s useful to have a sense of the salary you can expect from working in INGOs in this region. This is particularly true as salaries can vary widely based on organisation, your own professional experience and skill set, and whether you are a national citizen or international recruitment in the country you want to work in. This article presents an overview of typical salaries for national and international recruitments with the aim of providing information and points for consideration to ensure you’re earning what you both expect and deserve.

 

Importantly, what is often referred to as just the ‘MENA region’ – shorthand for the Middle East and North Africa – refers to anywhere from 14 to 18 countries depending on whose counting. Countries commonly considered to be in the region include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

While these countries vary widely in terms of availability in particular development sectors, many face common challenges, including socio-economic ones like high unemployment, low female labour market participation, and a need for systems strengthening in sectors such as education.  Many of these countries also have humanitarian needs, such as high numbers of refugees and varying impacts from forced migration. 

 

 

Information on the work and salaries of several main INGOs and development institutions is presented below, followed by some key take-aways when considering your salary for work in the MENA region.

  

 

1. UN: The UN is active in MENA countries, offering a range of support from working with refugees through UNHCR through providing food and cash assistance through WFP. The UN’s salary scales for Professional and higher categories are based five grades (P-1 to P-5) for Professionals, two Director levels (D-1 and D-2) and other levels of Assistant Secretary-General and Under Secretary-General. Regardless of which organisations in the UN you work, this salary scale will be used.

 

  • A P1 professional just starting out can expect to make 44,593 USD gross per year, which can over years rise to up to 61,628 USD gross.
  • A P3 professional in their first year will make 74,649 USD gross, which can eventually be increased to up to 97,747 gross.
  • A P5 employee will start at a minimum of 110,869 USD gross, which can eventually rise to 138,944 USD gross.

 

In contrast, salaries in the General Service and Related Categories are paid on a local basis based on the principle, according to the UN, that the ‘conditions of service for locally recruited staff should reflect the best prevailing conditions found locally for similar work’. In short, this means that salaries are determined based on salary surveys identifying the amount paid under the best conditions for similar work.

 

  • For example, a national employee in Lebanon (someone in the General Service Category) just starting out at the UN in the P1 category would be paid around 36,290 USD gross per year. Over time, this could be raised up to 56,312 USD gross.
  • In contrast, a national employee in Lebanon starting at P3 would start at around 50,700 USD, and could eventually over years make 79,000 USD gross annually.

 

To access the salary scales of UN Professional and Higher Categories, follow this link. You can find the global list of salary scales for staff in the General Service and related categories (who are paid based on local conditions) here (accurate as of 19 November 2021).

  

2. World Bank Group: The World Bank undertakes a wide range of work in MENA, including infrastructure development and programmes targeting both refugees and locals. It hires both Internationally recruited staff (IRS), which are required to have ‘global mobility’ and ‘international experience’ and Locally Recruited Staff (LRS), which are not. Country offices generally hire local recruitments (LRS) unless an IRS is required. Like many institutions, the World Bank has a salary range established for a set of grade levels. This salary structure has 11 salary ranges. The lowest range generally starts at the GA grade, though in some country offices it starts with G1, and goes up to GK.

 

  • GA-GD are for administrative jobs, such as Team Assistant or Executive Assistant
    • In Jordan, this salary bracket ranges from 10,240 Jordan Dinars (JOD) (around 14,500 USD) to a maximum of 38,550 JOD (around 54,000 USD)

  • GA-GJ are for professional and technical jobs, which generally required technical professional credentials and/or advanced academic achievements.
    • In Jordan, the salary range for GE, for example, starts at 28,140 (39,700 USD) and goes up to 52,260 (around 74,000 USD), with a midpoint of 40,200 (56,700 USD)

  • GH-GJ are for managerial jobs such as Sector Director, Country Manager or Director, and Vice President.
    • In Jordan, GH levels start at 90,730 JOD (128,000 USD) and go up to 168,490 JOD (237,600 USD), with a midpoint of 129,610 JOD (183,000 USD).

 



It’s also useful to know that GA-GD level positions often require 2-3 years of professional experience as well as a Bachelor’s degree, while GE level jobs and above often need a minimum of five years of relevant professional experience and a Masters or PhD. 

  

The full salary ranges and midpoints for each grade level for each of the MENA countries the World Bank operates in can be found here (accurate as of 07/01/2021) and other FAQS about working with the Bank, including a link to current openings, can be found here
 


 

Other organisations working in MENA such as Oxfam International or the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) do not make salary scales public but often provide some information about how salaries are determined. Oxfam International, which works in countries such as Libya, Jordan, and Yemen, states, ‘Oxfam International: ‘A competitive guaranteed net salary which takes into account the international market, internal equity and your skills and competences. An Annual pay review will be carried out for international staff in order to make any adjustments to pay based on international market research, average global inflation, business needs and affordability.’ 

 

Meanwhile, ICRC, which works in multiple MENA countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Kuwait, explain that along with level of experience and academic qualifications considered when determining a starting salary, ‘Salary scales are benchmarked against a mix of international NGOs, international organizations and companies from the private sector.’ For this reason, getting a sense of salaries of similar positions from different organisations and companies can be useful for negotiating your salary when you are offered a job.

 

Consultants: For consultants working with INGOs in the MENA region, the pay can vary quite significantly based both on a project’s need and budget. In Lebanon and Jordan, for example, 250-300 USD per day is common for a mid-level local consultant, with the lower end of this rate more common for other countries such as Iraq, Palestine, and those in North Africa. One international consultant described a daily rate of around 300 USD in Turkey working with Oxfam while another was making between 400-450 USD a day working on a project in MENA with the Red Cross on a project with a pay scale aimed at international rather than national consultants. In general, short-term consulting contracts may have higher daily rates than longer-term contracts, so this is worth bearing in mind when negotiating your rate.


 

Overall, when you are considering what to negotiate for a current or future job in an INGO in the MENA region, it’s important to make sure you’re aware of:

  • Salary scales or guidelines the INGO will follow, along with 
  • Salary scale criteria so that you can best explain why you deserve to be placed into one grade versus another
  • General cost of living (which varies significantly by country) and, if you’re a national staff, the average income of similar types of jobs, as this may be your best way of estimating – and negotiating – the income you deserve.

 

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