As a result of the lockdowns and restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, freelancing has become much more popular. The international development sector, which offers a wide range of opportunities, is no exception to this trend. A freelance consultant can help and counsel organisations to undertake their duties either on-site or remotely through teleconferencing.
Dutch columnist, Lisanne van Sadelhoff, has become fed up with the notion that people only begin freelancing when they fail to win a permanent contract.
“The longer I freelanced, the more I got rid of that idea. In recent years I have met more and more people from different sectors who finally, after much deliberation, took the ‘jump’ to entrepreneurship, or who dreamed of taking that leap. They were all people who longed for a little more freedom, a little less straitjacket. People who no longer wanted to be accountable to anyone, who wanted to be free on Monday afternoons because they felt like it, who wanted to work from a sunny place for three months because it was possible, who wanted to be able to set themselves free on a summer’s day”.
In this age of digital development, the global workforce has witnessed some major trends and changes. For many, going into the office for a regular 9-to-5, eight-hour working day is becoming a thing of the past. With the pandemic placing restrictions on workers’ mobility, remote working has become more and more attractive, thereby putting further emphasis on freelance work. Many are noticing the upsides of freelancing as it provides flexibility in terms of working hours and allows mobility in terms of leaving.
COVID-19 has proved that collaboration between companies and freelancers is here to stay — 12% of the U.S. workforce started to freelance for the first time in 2020 and 47% of hiring managers are more likely to hire freelancers according to a 2020 Upwork research. The number of people freelancing will likely increase in the coming years and will continue to extend beyond traditional freelance roles.
According to the World Bank (WB), the internet and the rapid development of digital technologies are changing the way people work, entertain, interact and find jobs across high, middle, and low-income countries.
However, “without changes to regulations, this army of freelancers, subcontractors, and pieceworkers will be left out of the traditional social protection systems such as unemployment benefits, sick pay, and pensions,” says a WB report.
One of the key recommendations from another World Bank and International Labor Organization report is that countries need to extend their social and labor protection to people who are working part-time, serial part-time or who have temporary jobs.
On the DevelopmentAid job board, you can choose among over 8,000 employment opportunities including freelance contracts.
