Resume template · Updated October 2026
International development resume template
Short answer
Olivia gives an international development application a confident first screen: a blue header band with your name and contact details, then labelled skill rows, languages included, above the jobs. The fictional sample is a monitoring and evaluation manager at an international health NGO in Nairobi who started at a local community health trust, with a results framework, a move to digital data, quality audits, an endline survey and a feedback line.
Download the international development sample
Wanjiru is a fictional monitoring and evaluation manager. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Olivia suits an international development resume
Olivia opens with a full-width blue band holding a white name and contact line, then prints labelled skill rows, including a languages row, before experience. Languages, data tools and donor reporting are early filters for NGO and agency posts, and this order brings them forward.
Second choice: Catalyst. Catalyst skips the summary and opens on the current posting, a good fit for senior programme or country directors with long field records.
What goes in each section, in Olivia's order
Olivia prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Name your sector (health, education, livelihoods, governance, humanitarian response), your function (programmes, M&E, grants, finance, operations) and where you have worked, by country or region. Context decides many development hires, so "six years in Kenya, one drought response" belongs up front.
- Skills. Technical holds programme craft: results frameworks, indicator design, survey sampling, data quality assessment, budget monitoring, safeguarding. Tools holds KoboToolbox, ODK, DHIS2, Power BI or Stata. Give languages their own row with an honest level, because some postings require one outright.
- Work Experience. Write each job as a programme: funder type, budget, geography, people reached and what you were accountable for. Results are usually the programme's indicators, so frame them with your role ("led the endline survey that showed...") and add at least one line on reporting or compliance.
- Education. A master's in development, public health, economics or a technical field is common for professional posts. Give degree and school, and add a field-research dissertation only if it fits the job.
- Selected evaluations and assessments. An extra list of evaluations, assessments or reports you led or co-authored gives reviewers something concrete to ask about. Give the type, sector, country and year, never internal file names.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Wanjiru Kamau
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Community Health Programmes
Nairobi, Kenya | wanjiru.kamau@example.com | +254 20 555 0136 | linkedin.com/in/sample-wanjiru-kamau
Monitoring and evaluation manager at an international health NGO's Kenya office, running the results framework for a five-county community health programme funded by a bilateral donor and a private foundation. Started at a local community health trust, so designs indicators that community health volunteers can actually collect.
Experience
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Horizon Health Partners International, Kenya Office, Nairobi, Kenya (01/2022 to Present)
- Manage the results framework and 42 indicators for a $9 million community health programme across five counties, leading six M&E officers.
- Moved household data collection from paper to KoboToolbox, cutting the time from visit to dashboard from six weeks to one.
- Run quarterly data quality assessments with county health records officers; reporting completeness rose from 78% to 95%.
- Led the endline survey of 2,400 households and co-wrote the evaluation report shared with the donors and county governments.
- Prepare the M&E sections of quarterly and annual donor reports and keep indicator evidence ready for audit.
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Rift Valley Community Health Trust, Nakuru, Kenya (03/2018 to 12/2021)
- Trained 300 community health volunteers on monthly reporting tools and using their own data.
- Cleaned and analysed programme data in Stata and Excel for monthly reviews with the county health team.
- Set up a community feedback line and logbook in which every complaint was recorded, referred and closed.
Selected evaluations and assessments
- Endline evaluation, community health programme, five Kenyan counties, 2025 (co-author)
- Baseline household survey, maternal and child health, 2022 (lead analyst)
- Rapid needs assessment, drought response, northern Kenya, 2023 (data lead)
Education
MPH, Public Health, Highlands University of Health Sciences (11/2017)
BSc, Statistics, Lakeview University (12/2015)
Skills
Results frameworks and logframes, Indicator design, Household survey sampling, Data quality assessment, Donor reporting, Community feedback mechanisms, KoboToolbox, DHIS2, Stata, Power BI, Excel, Training field teams, Working with county governments, English (fluent), Kiswahili (native), French (intermediate)
How to make the sample yours
Show a grant can survive an audit
For US federal awards, the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.334) requires recipients and subrecipients to keep award records for three years from submission of the final financial report. Grants, finance and M&E staff who have handled audits or closeout can say so, with the award type and the result.
Use accountability language accurately
The Core Humanitarian Standard sets out nine commitments to people and communities affected by crisis; it was launched in 2014 and revised in 2022 and 2023. If you set up feedback and complaints mechanisms or assessed a programme against the CHS, name it.
Make national experience explicit
National staff bring context and language that international hires often lack. Spell it out: districts or counties covered, government partners, local languages, community networks.
From the private or public sector
Accountants, engineers, nurses, teachers and data analysts are all hired in development. Lead with the technical skill, then any work abroad, languages, volunteering with a real role or cross-cultural teams.
Show the range of funders
Bilateral agencies, UN bodies, foundations and private donors each have their own templates and rules. Listing the kinds you have reported to makes you easier to place on a new award.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- international development
- monitoring and evaluation
- results framework
- logframe
- indicator design
- data quality assessment
- donor reporting
- grant compliance
- baseline and endline surveys
- KoboToolbox
- DHIS2
- capacity building
- safeguarding
- community feedback mechanisms
- humanitarian response
Mistakes to avoid
- A whole programme's reach presented as a personal achievement; say what your role or team did.
- Short volunteer trips presented as development experience, with no work, skills or results described.
- Personal details of programme participants, or locations that could put staff or communities at risk.
- A language listed as fluent that you could not use in an interview.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
How do I break into international development?
Build a technical skill first (data, finance, health, engineering, education), then get relevant experience: national NGOs, volunteering with a real role, fellowships or junior posts. Languages and work in the region you want both help a great deal.
Should I list every country I have worked in?
Name them in your jobs and summary, but only where you did substantive work. A region line ("East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan") keeps it tidy.
How long should an international development resume be?
Two pages is normal for experienced staff and one for early-career applicants. Some agency portals use their own application forms, so keep both a resume and a fuller CV ready.
How do I show results when programmes are long and outcomes slow?
Use output and process measures you controlled (people trained, data completeness, reports on time) plus the outcome evidence your evaluations produced, framed as programme results with your role named.
Do I need a master's degree for development work?
Many international and professional posts list one, often in development, public health, economics or a technical field. National and entry-level roles tend to weigh experience and local knowledge more.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Olivia PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 8 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
Guides and templates for this resume
Sources, checked 29 October 2026
We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: 2 CFR 200.334 Record retention requirements (recipients and subrecipients must retain all Federal award records for three years from the date of submission of the final financial report)
- Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability: The Standard (sets out nine commitments to people and communities affected by crisis; launched in 2014, revised in 2022-23)
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