I found the chapter on International Nonprofits to be very interesting. It was not surprising that most are relief organizations but it was a surprise that many of those relief agencies are religiously affiliated. The federal government's support of international nonprofit organizations was also very surprising. We have talked a bit about foundations in class so I knew that many foundations that are U.S. based fund large international nonprofits, but the statistics about the increase in foundation funding in the early 90's was interesting. The pandemic of international health issues being a factor in international aid and nonprofit focus, seems obvious but the scale of aid, was surprising. It seems that economics have had a huge influence over the work of international nonprofit organizations; this seems to be a blow to those organizations that want to preserve culture and help the world understand the different types of people.
While exploring the Mercy Corps website, it was surprising to me that their reach goes so far. I had no idea until now that so many countries are affected by this organization in so many different ways. The short clip from William Easterly was incredibly interesting. I had never thoroughly thought about the fact that maybe some people living in "poverty" might not want the type of aid that they are receiving. It's true that people claim they know how to help these people, but where are they getting this information? How do we guarantee that our funds or products get to the people that need them? He brings up the point of accountability or lack there of and it's mind boggling that they organizations that push for foreign aid cannot even guarantee that people are being effected by the money spent. His honesty about the salaries of the employees of the World Bank, was frank and appreciated. I think corruption not only in our own political realm, but in the foreign political world is devastating to hear about and yet very true. Lack of motivation is sad but also leveled out by the people motivated enough to ask for this aid in the first place, it's just a fine line between where positive motivation ends and lack of motivation begins.
I read these forum comments awhile ago and it's really interesting to see what people think about aiding other countries not only in times of natural disaster, but in times of health epidemics, war, etc.
I also thought it was interesting that those living in "poverty" often aren't entitled to a vote on the services they may or may not be receiving. It seems like everyone else gets to put in their two cents. It doesn't make sense that this already disenfranchised group of people don't have the same right.
ReplyDeleteI think the issue of impoverished choice that you (& Saba) wrote about is true even within our own country. Often the lower class is put into a position that it is difficult to vote or reach out to be heard. In our society it seems like we are a lot better at incarcerating people than supporting and healing them. We penalize them for acting out, rather than empowering them and preventing further perpetuation of the negative cycle.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely also appreciated Easterly being candid about his salary while with the World Bank.It seems so hard to provide accountability in our foreign aid but I think Easterly's honesty was his accountability to showing he really understands the problems we're talking about and that we should listen up. I wonder how much money we could collect and use in a variety of good ways if all the bigshots and all these big companies and organizations took just a small cut in pay... Who knows!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to hear Matt (our guest speaker) last night talking about the influence the US government had on his organization in Israel. He pretty much made it sound like they were involved just for the publicity. I think the issue of funding not going to the recipients is largely due to the fact that the people handing out the money have no passion for their jobs. It seems like a nonprofit or social service agency that is structured like a large corporation correlates to the emotions that can be felt by organization the same size, ie; a small organization, everyone is on a personal level, Giant Corporation, no emotion whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said -- where are they getting their information? in regards to what the people in poverty need for aid, it made me think about Okonjo-Iweala’s talk. She mentioned Africa's strong need for infrastructure. Sometimes people forget to listen!! If you go in and listen to what the community needs rather than bringing what you think they will need, it will be so much more meaningful.
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