Following the earthquake in Haiti, dozens, if not hundreds, of relief agencies rushed to the rescue. We all want to help, but how do we know who will use our donations most effectively, who will get to the places of greatest need? Read More...
Have you ever tried to guess how many jelly beans are in a jar? There are some tricks to getting a realistic estimate, like multiplying the number of beans along the jar’s dimensions. Can we apply the same logic to count the number of nonprofit organizations in a Kenyan slum? Actually, that’s a bit trickier because they are not evenly distributed and many are invisible. Read More...
When I say the word “Africa”
what do you picture? Chances are you see in your mind the image of a young,
dark child, shirtless and with a swollen belly, with big eyes looking up at you
in need. In some cases, you might even see flies crawling on the child’s face.
This is an image that is used time and again to portray Africa
in appeals made by nonprofit organizations.
Two books written in the last few years draw the lines of two camps, or two approaches to international development. Both books are “must reads” for those who care about poverty in the poorest of nations. And having read them, one must decide which approach to invest in, for the two approaches are fundamentally different. Read more...
I got an email message at work inviting me to come listen to Wahu Kaara, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Kenya. She was going to speak on campus about human rights and the post-election violence in Kenya (I teach in the School of Public Health at UNC). I had been following the news about Kenya’s disruption closely. For several years I’ve been spending a few weeks in Kenya nearly every summer. I’d been in close contact with my Kenyan friends, concerned about their safety. Read more...
