Good Intentions and the Road to Hell
22/07/2010 14:07:57
The Road to Hell they say is paved with good intentions. I recently met the internet entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Liao who told me a very interesting story.
Bill does quite a bit of work in Uganda. He told me about a man he once met in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. He was attending a party one evening where everyone was in great spirits bar one unhappy looking security guard who stood out from the crowd.
He approached the man and asked him what was troubling him.
"I used to be a farmer" he replied " in the North of the country. It was a great life but I had to abandon my farm and come find work in the city to support my family".
"Thats terrible" replied Bill' "was it the war that forced you to leave?".
"No the war was fine". he said. "One week we would sell our crops to the army, the next to the rebels, and every third week we would hide under the house as they shot away at each other. It was a good life! But then one day an international charity arrived and they started handing out free food at the market. This killed off my farm. We could no longer sell our crops and all the farmers in the district had to abandon their farms to seek work elsewhere".
Had this charity bought crops from these local farmers and then redistributed this food to those in need, local disaster for this man and the other farmers might have been averted. Back in 2005 the UN almost made the same mistake on a much bigger scale, following the tsunami, when they considered bringing in tons of US rice to Banda Aceh to feed survivors. Irish aid agency Concern and other local agencies pointed out that the island was a rice growing economy and that this 'food aid' would actually destroy the local inland economy which had been unaffected by the wave.
As we know the charity sector can and must up its game - it can become more efficient and more cost effective. It can have a greater reach. More people in the world can be helped to climb out of poverty, at home and overseas, particularly if we put modern technology at the heart of the solution.
However we do need to be keenly aware of the impact our 'good work' can have. Charities need to be looking at the big picture and see the full impact of their efforts on the lives of those they are seeking to help. It's important that charity work everywhere helps to empower people rather than creating dependency on aid. Our efforts and support should empower people to fulfill their own potential. They should be empowered to climb out of poverty through their own efforts and be given the opportunity to take control of their own lives and their own destinies.
As MyGoodPoints.org grows in size we will of course need to be 100% sure that all of our charity partners are trustworthy, honest and hard working. That all of your funds are donated to projects as agreed and are used as you see fit. We have put processes in place and have partnered with KPMG to audit all of our charity partners in this regard. We will definitely be doing more in this space to maintain and build trust. This will be important for us. However we also need to be sure that these projects and these charity partners are all working to empower people and have a positive impact on the communities involved.
It is important that the charity projects we all fund through MyGoodPoints.org do good and not harm.