PASS especially if you’re Black - Program Officer IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) Employee Review

Dear former IREXer, Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts and feedback regarding your experience at IREX. We are pleased that you found IREX’s mission to be great as we strive for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce. Our managers continue to receive the coaching and training they need to be more effective and successful in their roles. We continue to value our very diversely enriched workforce and celebrate the learning, development, promotion, and elevation of all our staff. It saddens us to read that in your judgement, the International Development industry has a “white supremacy” issue. The characteristics that you have highlighted from an unknown article are based on the opinion of that author and do not represent our culture at IREX. We believe that it is impossible for any one human being to be perfect, which is the reason we strive for excellence and not perfection at IREX. We appreciate the advice you left for our management team. Our leadership team comes from a variety of backgrounds in the development sector and share a common desire to serve others. We will continue to provide the necessary skills and tools to help them succeed as they make IREX a great place to work and advance IREX’s mission. We value our Program Associates and Program Coordinators tremendously. As you know, IREX is a non-profit organization and the budget for staffing is determined by donor funding. Each program evaluates its program needs and determines the appropriate staffing decisions according to available funding. IREX compensates all staff equitably and in line with the pay ranges in the internally published compensation structure which is freely accessible to all staff. HR also conducts periodic surveys to ensure there are no internal inequities and that pay is competitive with similar organizations in the sector. Upon hire, employees are provided with information for reporting concerns to HR. Employees are also informed that there will not be any consequences for reporting a violation, provided the report was made in good faith. IREX has a duty to investigate any allegation made against any employee and take appropriate action. Every employee should also have the basic and fundamental expectation to work without fear of being the victim of false and harmful allegations. IREX has a duty and obligation to provide such an environment for all staff. Our diverse HR team is dedicated to ensuring that IREX is equally diverse and with this, we encourage all interested minorities to visit our website for available career opportunities where they can apply to as many open positions for which they are qualified. Again, we thank you for the time you took to share your thoughts and wish you the very best. The HR Team