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How to aid? – Guidelines for the generous
By Lykke E. Andersen*,
La Paz, 28 January 2008.
“Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable
ways it can change someone else's life forever.“
Margaret Cho
Generosity is a very admirable trait, but sometimes generosity
backfires. The most horrific example I can think of, is poor
parents chopping off the hands of their children in order to
make them more effective beggars.
Each individual donation is rarely harmful, and probably much
needed, but when millions of such donations are made every day
over decades, it can change incentives in undesirable ways, as
in the example above.
When considering which charity to support, it is important to
think through the potential negative side-effects. Since each
individual project is unlike to have serious negative
side-effects, the charities themselves will not present such
information. They will naturally and rightfully stress all the
positive impacts of their projects.
Lacking a good, thoughtful guide for donors, here are a few
recommendations:
1)
Think big:
Instead of imagining the impacts of the one project you are
considering, scale it up and imagine the impacts of hundreds of
similar projects or millions of similar donations. This is not
unrealistic, as most poor countries (and rich ones too) have
thousands of active NGOs receiving donations from millions of
people.
As an
example, consider shelters for pregnant teenage
girls. Having a baby when you are 14 can be very bad news for
both mother and child, and help is clearly warranted. The girls
can stay for free at the shelter for 18 months, and they will
get food, clothing, baby supplies, and training. Sounds great!
Just be sure that it does not sound so great that young girls
think it is worth becoming pregnant just to escape annoying
parents or a lousy job.
Such shelters should never become the easiest option for the
girls.
In general, if aid is conditioned on some undesirable
characteristic (like poverty or teenage pregnancy), it has a
tendency to promote those undesirable characteristics, as people
try to qualify for the aid. As far as possible, you should try
to condition on something desirable, like school attendance or
work.
Creating jobs is much better than giving gifts.
2)
Think small:
You don’t have to try to save the World. Just take time to talk
with your children, colleagues, friends, students, neighbors, a
passing traveler, and anybody else who might benefit from your
experience. Take on an exchange student or an apprentice, or go
working abroad for
some time.
Learn a new language. Treat foreigners in your own country with
hospitality and respect, and be open-minded and friendly when
you travel. Organize unusual events with an unusual mix of
people in order to help expand their minds. Read ferociously in
order to expand your own.
Most likely, your everyday actions and attitudes will have a
much larger impact on the World than a few thousand dollars sent
to a charity. Especially
if those actions and attitudes inspire others.
(*) Director, Institute for Advanced
Development Studies, La Paz, Bolivia. The author happily
receives comments at the following e-mail:
landersen@inesad.edu.bo.
Ó
Institute for Advanced Development Studies 2006.
The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the
author and do not necessarily coincide with those of the Institute.
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