I could do that!
Continuing our recently-introduced service for those who wish to give a helping hand to people in need around the planet, we "engage with" — to use some jargon — the British Red Cross, which is hiring a "Livelihoods Advisor" for a project in Sri Lanka. Now what might a "Livelihoods Advisor" do? The term is new to us here and it inspires all kinds of images, but rather than waste time on conjecture, let's see what the organization says about the job:
PURPOSE: "To participate in the design and implementation of livelihoods projects within a sustainable livelihoods framework and integrated disaster management approach, primarily by providing field-based contextual analysis that can be applied to designing project modalities."
In his brilliant 1946 essay, "Politics And The English Language", George Orwell wrote: "...modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug." Indeed. So, seeing that we don't really know what a "Livelihoods Advisor" is supposed to do, let's look at the employee's SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: "Ensure that interventions are demand driven, and that appropriate participatory mechanisms are in place to ensure that community needs are the primary influence on project design, implementation." Yes, quite. This is followed by a classic: "Proactively share relevant programme information with other Movement actors." Eh?
The humanitarian aid industry is dependent on factors such as politics, good will, money and communication. English is the principle language for communication between donors and recipients and because this is a global venture, there's a very real need to make that English as simple as possible and as functional as feasible. As with charity, the British Red Cross should bear in mind that clarity begins as home.
