ICLEI Reviews

Luckily I found a new position so that I could leave ICLEI before my contract ends. This place is simply aweful. You do extremely hard work and get not even as much as an acknowledgment from the senior managers. It is exploitation. They do not care about personal development nor about actual skills or experiences. With my team we carried out one of the most successful projects of iclei in a long time (according to my colleagues). In order to make this happened we worked very long hours and put a lot of passion and energy into our work. The team supervisor over achieved in fundraising and other project objectives. A very talented and driven person. As a thank you this person is being bullied out and 2 of the senior managers are going around taking credit for the work our team did and saying untrue and bullish things about my supervisor. Also, I applied for a job in my field (over 3 years experience in similar organisation) at iclei and ended up often doing simple administrative and stupid tasks. While there is need to people like me with experience, they prefer to underperform than to share what they seem to believe are activities and knowledge only open to a clique of 3-4 managers. The fact that I had much more demanding responsibilities in my previous job where I did very well does not interest them unless it serves their personal advancement.

Some key managerial positions are held by unqualified people. Despite blatant strategic mistakes, these people are still in place, protected by the hierarchy. Management as rule will disregard any initiatives, won't offer career development opportunities, training or just recognition of work because they only care about their own performance and don't see the long term benefits of keeping staff motivated. Unfortunately this approach can be explained as the main strategy consists of firing in every possible direction with the hope of getting project money to pay for high management salaries and non strategic work. Since non-management staff is disposable there is no incentive to try to keep them motivated or interested. There is also a feeling of discrimination when people whose contract can be extended will not be offered the best conditions if they depend on a visa to stay and work in Germany. If you have to go there as a last resort, use the networking opportunities to leave as soon as you can.