STORY 39

I participated in a prestigious fellowship program which placed early career lawyers from the global south as embedded technical experts in governments in  Africa. While this sounds appealing, candidates from non-donor countries are not accepted or tolerated. In my specific case, I suffered sexual harassment, hostility (my laptop was stolen from the government office and video camera footage removed) etc. It was a very difficult year and the fellowship did not have the bandwidth to handle contingencies. So they asked me to leave and made me sign an NDA.

There was no negotiation. I was simply asked to sign, and the tone even in the NDA was intimidating and patronizing.  I was given no time to decide what to do. 

I was irritated. Five years later I encountered wrongdoing in a UN agency and point blank informed them I’m not signing an NDA, and they never asked me since I’d made it abundantly clear I’m done being pushed around.

Five years later now, I’ve written to that organization and asked them if they continue to handle troubled placements the way they handled my placement – by firing me and asking me to sign an NDA. I’ve also told them that if young people from the global south at the same level of bargaining power I was at five or six years back are being supported the way I was when stationed in a foreign country, I would be extremely concerned and feel compelled to act.

They have asked me for time to review the documents since the management has changed in entirety.