Nick Kristof Explores Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid: What Did He Miss?
From Flickr user / Piers Brown
On Sunday, October 24, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof published a lengthy piece in the Sunday magazine about passionate, determined individuals inspired to work around the globe for change and “to create a better world.”
After detailing the work of Elizabeth Scharpf, a Harvard Business School student cum founder of a company working to produce inexpensive sanitary pads for women in Asia and Africa, Kristof writes:
“And so Scharpf joined a revolution, so far unnamed because it is just beginning. It’s all about what might be called Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid, because it starts with the proposition that it’s not only presidents and United Nations officials who chip away at global challenges. Passionate individuals with great ideas can do the same, especially in the age of the Internet and social media.”
Yes, technology has revolutionized the way individuals can connect instantaneously with others on the other side of the world, to put faces with names of individuals they have given assistance to, to fund raise, to share news and, as Kristof emphasized in a Q & A we did with him recently, to simply engage more people in the world with pressing challenges. But social entrepreneurship and global volunteerism are not novel ideas born in the 21st century. For example, Kristof mentions Muhammad Yunus, who founded Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank in 1976, and Ela Bhatt, who founded India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in 1972, as social entrepreneurs whose ideas have made a lasting societal impact. The Peace Corps will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2011. And individuals have regularly volunteered on their own and with church missions and nonprofit organizations for decades. These phenomenon are not novel, yet new technologies are making it possible for those of us at home to be exposed to what individuals are doing abroad. Who hasn’t received an email about a friend running a marathon while raising money for a charity? Or learned of an acquaintance’s mission to a developing country and been asked to donate money or supplies?
Kristof describes a number of Americans who have found themselves inspired to devote their lives to changing the world, from a young woman who used her meager savings to start an orphanage in Nepal to a family who began donating their entire salaries to worthy organizations. Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, authors of The Networked Nonprofit, refer to do-gooders like those as “free agents for social change,” a new breed of individuals who are passionate about issues, but aren’t aligned with any particular organization.
In Kristof’s opinion, these innovators and entrepreneurs are often filling a void left by state governments and multilateral organizations:
“It’s striking that the most innovative activists aren’t necessarily the ones with the most resources, or the best tools. If that were true, a team at the World Bank would have addressed the menstruation problem long ago, and G20 countries would be leading the effort to prevent Congolese warlords from monetizing their minerals. Rather, what often happens is that those best positioned to take action look the other way, and then the initiative is taken by the Scharpfs and Shannons of the world, who are fueled by some combustible mix of indignation and vision.”
While reading Kristof’s piece, I found myself asking, “What do these individuals have in common? What makes a social entrepreneur?” I parsed out a set of common characteristics found amongst the individuals he profiles and other social entrepreneurs I’m familiar with. These innovators’ dreams often start with a simple idea or spark, whether it be helping one girl go to school or wanting to donate money, but not knowing who to give it to. They possess a creative spirit and a willingness to think outside the box that often lead them to experiment and take risks. And, given that they are often not aligned with major aid organizations, they are usually more willing to admit when they have failed or hit a roadblock. They recognize that improvements brought about by their efforts, while small and incremental, can slowly bring about progress. They also find that their pursuits can slowly over their lives, eating away at personal savings and depleting other personal resources.
They also acknowledge that running a sophisticated aid project - and better yet, one on your own - is challenging work. Financing travel and living expenses, coordinating at home and abroad, seeking funds and grants, and locating a trusted team on the ground are just a small sampling of the obstacles they encounter.
Kristof briefly touches upon potential such stumbling blocks:
“Are these young idealists unsophisticated about what it takes to change the world? Yes, often. At first, they don’t always appreciate the importance of listening to local people and bringing them into the management of projects, and they usually overestimate the odds of success. They also sometimes think it will be romantic to tackle social problems, a view that may fade when they’ve caught malaria.”
The work of some of the individuals he profiles have often been made easier financially through the receipt of substantial grants to continue their projects. Scharpf received a $60,000 grant from Echoing Green, while another woman, Maggie Doyne, won a $20,000 prize from a women’s magazine and a $100,000 prize from a Do Something competition.
What Kristof Leaves Out
While Kristof doesn’t gloss over many of the obstacles facing today’s breed of volunteers and social entrepreneurs (loss of income, strained familial relationships, risks) and that the reality of undertaking a project is often far more challenging than could have been initially imagined, there are other equally important factors that didn't make it into the article (although I'm sure Kristof is more than aware of them). Namely:
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The challenge of finding opportunities to forge partnerships with local individuals and groups already on the ground already doing similar work - this is something that the NGO Invisible Children, working to set up schools in Uganda, faced.
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Working to sustain projects for the long-term, as the commitment of the community you are serving is needed for true change to happen. Cultivating a team on the ground that share your project’s mission and goals can be challenging if others haven’t “bought in” to your idea.
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The need to monitor and thoroughly evaluate work completed in order to learn from the successes and failures of pilot projects.
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The challenges that come with fundraising, including the time-consuming process that goes into searching for and preparing grant applications and filing to become a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
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Learning and navigating the laws of a foreign country.
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Security and protection in insecure zones.
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Working alongside, and sometimes running up against large, established non-profit organizations working in the same field.
Well-aware that the majority of individuals interested in social causes may not have the time, money or desire to initiate a project in a foreign country, Kristof offers a number of suggestions for those willing to take the first step on his blog. He recognizes that, “The challenge is to cultivate an ideology of altruism, to spread a culture of social engagement — and then to figure out what people can do at a practical level.”
In our interconnected, digital world, it’s becoming easier to do this, whether it be through blog postings, photo sharing platforms, YouTube videos, or Facebook updates. The long-running debate between clicktivism/slacktivism and doing something offline to make a greater impact has shed light on the role that social media plays when it comes to social change. But technology has also made it easier to see what something like a micro-loan or donation can do to help others, whether it be connecting with the recipient of a Kiva loan or getting updates on a child you are sponsoring in a foreign country. As Kristof told us, social media helps to engage a broader audience and to reduce the cynicism that sometimes prevents people from getting involved in a cause they care about.
Hopefully Kristof’s article will spark more dialogue amongst NGOs, nonprofits, large players and small players to discuss the work being done. What is your reaction to Kristof's article? How have you been involved in issues you care about? Share you comments below!
