Beyond Good Intentions

    It’s a mystery to me how the traditional system of “monitoring and evaluation” of aid projects has persisted for so long. Surely we should have been able to recognize decades ago that having internal personnel evaluate the impact of their organization’s projects is generally a flawed endeavor. In the competitive NGO world where countless organizations are competing for the same limited funds, incentive structures aren’t set up for legitimate internal analysis of impact and results. Donors want proof that their money has produced measurable results, therefore, for the sake of their own institutional survival and the continuation of donor grants, it’s not surprising that many NGOs feel pressured to get “creative” in their evaluations.

    While working for a large international NGO years ago, I witnessed evaluators choosing to proudly report on things such as the number of attendees at regional workshops (statistics that certainly didn’t represent how many of the attendees actually stayed awake during said workshops, let alone benefited from the educational opportunity in any way). But the numbers seemed to please the donors. In the meantime, my scathing memo to senior management about the inappropriate and ineffective field projects I was encountering was completely ignored. What was the purpose of evaluating the projects in the first place if the findings didn’t contribute to meaningful changes in policies and practices?
   
     The perverse incentive structures that are driven in large part by the donor culture tend to force most NGOs to paint a pretty picture of their work. However, this seems like an enormous waste of time and money. I am thrilled to see some groups like MIT’s Poverty Action Lab pioneering more rigorous methodologies to evaluate development projects, but I recognize that these sorts of randomized trials can only be used for quantifiable outcomes and they can be extremely costly to perform.

    So in the absence of a culture of external evaluation or any legitimate “watchdog” group for international aid organizations, what other options do we have when it comes to finding evaluations that we trust? My old stats professor will probably kill me for this, but what ever happened to good old-fashioned gut instincts? Do you trust anecdotal reports by people who have visited field projects and come away with certain perceptions?

     I started considering this concept recently when Marc Maxson at Global Giving introduced me to a new project they’re running that allows people who visit any of their countless field sites to submit “postcards from the field”. These blog-like reports written by non-professionals (mostly by interns and student travelers) have an open-ended framework and are only guided by the question, “what would you tell your friends about this project?” According to Marc, “gut feelings about recommending a project are broad enough to predict deeper problems.” However, as I scrolled through the “postcards” I had a really hard time finding any that were critical of the organizations they highlighted. Are visitors afraid to report on problems or are these organizations actually as perfect as they sound? Marc informed me that, “most volunteers try to self-filter and only say good things publicly, but privately send in negative comments.” Well, it’s not perfect, but at least it’s a start!

    So I have a few questions for the SocialEdge community: 1) Who do you trust when it comes to aid evaluations? 2) Would positive/negative evaluations influence your decision to donate to a particular organization? 3) What is the point of having an entire field of “Monitoring and Evaluation” when the incentive structures of most NGOs are merely set up to tell donors what they want to hear?, and 4) Is there a role for visitor feedback and reviews of aid projects that are based on short-term experiences and gut instincts?

    Tell me what you think!

       While working on a film project in Belfast recently, I ran into a woman named Kathy Gau who had rather revolutionary ideas about international development. Kathy had been in the Peace Corps many years ago and has been working on development projects in Swaziland for over two decades. She shared with me a list of "tips" that she frequently gives to new Peace Corps volunteers. When I saw her list, I instantly knew I needed to share it with the Social Edge community to get a dialogue started about the best ways to engage in development work (not only as Peace Corps volunteers, but also more generally). Check out her suggestions below and let me know what you think!

25 Tips for Peace Corps Volunteers  by Kathy Gau and Lyle Jaffe 

1)    If you want to change the world, change yourself.   You cannot effectively contribute toward growth unless you are growing yourself. If you want to grow, drop your ego.  Learn to identify when your ego is in play and develop strategies to quell it.  Empowerment is the capacity to bear power responsibly.  You cannot empower another person.  But you can empower yourself. 

2)    Use this experience to learn about yourself.  This is the most important lesson.  Try to remember it.

3)    Development is disruptive. 
          a)    It implies changes in power relationships that result in uncertainty and loss.  Few people willingly give up power unless they can see there will be gain. 
          b)    Most poor people cannot afford to change radically.  It takes a huge amount of energy (physical and emotional) for average rural folk to maintain daily life, let alone try to break out of the poverty cycle.

4)    Do not expect a smooth ride.  Do not expect people to fall over their feet to listen to you.  Do not expect people to go out of their way to listen to you.  Do not expect.  People had a life before you came.  They will continue to have a life after you leave.  You are probably not a messiah.  If you are, forgive me.  If not, your two years is a furrow in their field in a single agricultural year.  Most of their years your furrow is not there.

5)    Appreciate the fact that you are one of many who will advocate change and then leave.  Why should people trust you before you have demonstrated results?
 
6)    You will not see tangible, measurable results in 2 years anywhere close to what you hope or expect.  The saying that "what takes a day in USA takes a week in Africa, what takes a week in USA takes a month in Africa, what takes a month in USA takes 1 year in Africa" is close to true for reasons that you have no control over. So after your first month on the job, when you are still in USA mode, write down what you would like to achieve in 2 months time.  This now becomes your 2 year work goal.  NOTE:  You can achieve more than this if you move into "take charge mode" but not through a capacity building approach. Also, in 2 years, you will probably not move out of USA mode.

7)    Don't want it more then they want it (or, don't show them how bad you want it to work).  Find other ways to deal with your personal and professional frustrations regarding the work ethic, the what could/should/can be in the face of serious  problems.   You are but one step in a very long journey to address these problems.  Concentrate on doing your step well and having fun.

8)    There is no "us and them".  Human beings are the same everywhere.  Could you do it if it were you in their shoes?  Don’t think for a moment that because you live in a hut and don’t make much money that you are in their shoes.  In your life in the USA, how much of your achievements to date really reflect on you? Or did you just make good use of the opportunities provided you? For certain you did not need to build the systems, government and schools associated with creating these opportunities.  Perhaps your great grandparents did, but not you.

9)    It doesn’t matter how right you think you are, if you haven’t developed a working relationship with someone, if you don’t approach your suggestion with the most sincere humility, you will not convey your message effectively.  Think:  do you want to be right or effective?

10)    Learn how to yield effectively to win.  Their life is not about your principles.  Neither is mine or anybody else’s.  Try to understand why people do what they do and then don’t judge.  Work the problem with them, and your emotions with you.

11)    What you experience is a sliver of time and space.  Be careful not to generalize beyond this.

12)    Pay attention to the way you feel when you spend time judging.  If it feels bad, if you feel worse, then don’t do it.  It isn’t pretty to watch people sit around doing the “these people syndrome”.  If you find yourself doing it, it’s a sure sign that you have something to work out within yourself.  Find it and work it out.

13)    Do not think for a minute that your attitude towards people is unfelt.  Everyone feels when they are being put down.  Make people feel that they have grown in your presence.

14)    Do not be the money volunteer.  Personal interactions should be linked to building genuine relationships, encouraging positive self esteem and confidence. 

15)    Build open, sincere dialogue.  Be sincere.

16)    The basic logic associated with problem solving and analysis is weak.  You may need to catch people up on foundation skills, including sorting, sequencing, matching, opposites, etc.  In your personal time, this can be done in a fun way through puzzles, chess, card games, etc.   Just don't show people that this is a learning exercise or it will come across as patronizing.  The added benefit is that they may start to play these same games with their children.  You have no idea how much difference this can make.

17)    Over a 2 year period, your task is really teaching.  Teaching is all about 1)  finding people's starting point and thereafter, 2) experimenting with teaching methods that will walk people through the steps of awareness and skills development through applied knowledge.  It might take 3 steps or it might take 21 steps.  There is nothing right or wrong about the number of steps so do not judge as this is the same as saying "I have no hope that you can learn".

18)    Introduce people to the process of problem solving and constantly
refer back to the process.  Define the problem and its root causes (problem-objective trees), turn the problem into SMART objectives, develop activities to reach the objectives, break the activities into tasks, monitor, and adjust.  Action – Reflection – Action.

19)    Understand that your frustration is about you.  It is about a diminishing sense of self-importance.  Where else do your expectations regarding tangible achievements within your own timeframe come from?  As a teacher you may not be using appropriate teaching methods.  No one gets it right the first time or the second time.  Good teachers are forever experimenting with new methods and trying to match proven methods with new students and situations.  Everyone is more than capable of being a good teacher,  provided they are prepared to adjust to the student. You need to constantly go back to the drawing board and revisit your starting point and your methods until learning takes place (at times learning needs additional intervention i.e.) to address  emotional issues etc... but you will only know this if you first go through the process of elimination phase).

20)    Do not give up and do not give in.  Unfortunately, the process of development can not be shortened.   Respect that those you work with drew the short straw, appreciate that you did not.  After you die, you can ask God about all this.  For now,  your anguish, guilt and questions about this will just distract from the task at hand and are really rather self indulging, if you think about it.

21)    Keep a lot of irons in the fire.

22)    Be a positive role model in your personal life, someone that young folk can aspire to become like.  Healthy living and all that, including "walking your talk" regarding your sexual relationships.

23)    Peace Corps is first and foremost a cultural exchange program.  You will learn more than you will give.  Be prepared to change your understandings.  You can only balance the formula if you change both sides of the equation. This may not seem like much but refer back to step 1.  It may impact a co-worker a lot.

24)    It takes five years to be a player at management level.  

25)    If you follow any of the above, you will be out of step with most of the development world and time frames.  But at least you will grow and have fun.

      Since the release of my film series on international aid effectiveness I have encountered a wide range of reactions from viewers about my critical (but hopefully optimistic?) opinions on aid. Most people tend to be enthusiastic and supportive about Beyond Good Intentions and the dialogue we are working to create, but some viewers get extremely angry and defensive about the series’ critical commentary. It has led me to step back and analyze why people get so upset about questioning international aid.

    As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the aid industry (and, yes, I definitely view it as an “industry”) is one of the few fields that tends to be immune to criticism. There are two groups of people who are particularly sensitive to hearing about the failures of aid: donors and aid workers. Donors, particularly individuals writing checks for small amounts, want to believe that their money is being well-spent, and that their contribution somehow helped change the world. They want to believe the late-night aid infomercials that claim “for the price of a cup of coffee, you can save a child”. So it’s not surprising that most donors would rather not know if only a small percentage of their donation ever made it to the ground or if no child was actually saved as a result of their generosity due to the poor design of an aid project. As soon as that check is written, they want to be able to go back to sleep feeling good about themselves and their contribution. Finding out later on that their hard-earned money was squandered on fancy conferences, over-paid consultants, and ineffective approaches is not so pleasant. From what I’ve seen, donors across the world are desperately trying to convince themselves that their good intentions and willingness to want to help is enough.

    Many aid workers are also extremely sensitive to criticism of the industry, particularly ex-aid workers who have dedicated their lives to this kind of work. At a screening of my films in Seattle I had several angry ex-aid workers in the audience who seemed to feel that my series were personally questioning the validity of their life’s work. Well, maybe it was. And I guess I don’t blame them for not wanting to question something that they can’t go back and redo. But many aid workers who are currently in the field are also eager to ignore any criticism of their work. But if we are ever going to see real improvements in this field, aid workers need to be more willing to receive critical feedback in order to improve their practices for the benefit of their recipients.

    Is there any other industry that avoids scrutiny like international aid? I’m actually having a hard time thinking of examples (send them my way if you can think of other fields that seem to have obtained the “immunity idol”). There is one field that may work as an example: the health industry. Many years ago, it seemed that all of the knowledge in the health field tended to be concentrated in the minds of the nation’s health professionals. Questioning your doctor’s opinion was not the norm for most patients and demanding better care or alternate treatments was not common. There was an information asymmetry and the expertise of healthcare providers wasn’t really questioned. Then came the internet. Now a quick search on WebMD can make almost any patient more informed and capable of advocating for their rights and treatment options. It’s now viewed as acceptable to question your doctor’s advice, to seek a second opinion, and to be critical of the care you receive. Many patients argue that by allowing for open criticism of the health field, outcomes and practices are improving.

      Could the same be true of international aid? If a culture of critical reflection began to permeate the aid industry, would organizations be pressured to improve their approaches, be more accountable to their recipients, and more effectively use donor funds? Looking at what happened with the healthcare system, my guess is “yes”. However, to do so will require a critical mass of people willing to speak out against the current structures. But when so much resistance to critical reflection seems to be coming from two of the most influential stakeholders (donors and aid workers), I start to think that our last resort for a “critical mass” may actually be from the recipients themselves.

     It’s hard to believe that the final episode in my ten-part series has just been released. The entire Beyond Good Intentions film series is now available to view on our website, and Episode 10 happens to be one of my favorites. I must admit that before I left for my world trip to shoot this series, I had barely heard of social entrepreneurship. Despite being a rapidly growing trend, it was a concept that I hadn’t had much interaction with in the past. However, my very first interview when I started my round-the-world trip in Colombia happened to be with an incredible social entrepreneur named Aureliano who had transformed his impoverished community through a unique recycling cooperative. His organization was not only cleaning up the environment and providing recycled materials to local industries, but was also creating hundreds of local jobs. I was instantly hooked. I think it’s easy to recognize good ideas when you see them, and the merits of social entrepreneurship were instantly apparent.


    As I continued my trip around the world, I searched for social entrepreneurs in every destination I visited. I ended up spending time with over fifteen social entrepreneurs in seven different countries along the way. From Ricardo in Peru who started an innovative micro-credit program for parents to cover school fees, to Bea who is using the media to transform society’s perceptions of disabled people in Argentina. From Padmanabha who has is reforming approaches to rural education in India, to Agung who is revolutionizing the fair trade industry in Bali. I was overwhelmed by the degree of passion and innovation that these social entrepreneurs exuded in their work. It was a challenge to pick only two examples to highlight in Episode 10, but I finally settled on Noel de Villiers from South Africa and Wayan Patut from Indonesia (both rank high on my list of the most impressive changemakers I met on my journey). To hear their stories, check out the final episode on the Beyond Good Intentions website.


    When people hear about my trip and my film series, the first question I tend to get is, “Okay, so what really works?” I’m hesitant to give definitive answers to this question since the primary purpose of my series was to generate a meaningful dialogue about international aid, not to provide a concrete analysis of good and bad approaches. However, when pressed, I inevitably reference my experiences with social entrepreneurs as an example of something that “works.” What makes social entrepreneurs so impressive is their intense passion for their work and their creativity in devising remarkably innovative solutions to the most pressing social issues. I sincerely believe that by giving social entrepreneurs in communities around the world the opportunity to run with their ideas, we will continue to see powerful projects and lasting results.

   
    As I wrap up the release of the Beyond Good Intentions film series, I am thrilled with the dialogue that is already being generated by these ten episodes. This past month I traveled across the country on a sixteen city nationwide tour to share the films, and I received a wide array of reactions at screening events. Many people seem to be excited about the opportunity to critically discuss issues about aid effectiveness that have been ignored for too long. However, other people were a bit less appreciative of my rather critical commentary and would prefer to continue believing in the unquestioned merits of the so-called “good industry” and its well-intentioned projects. However, I’m hopeful that through my work I have helped viewers to realize that good intentions aren’t enough. Aid projects directly affect peoples’ lives, and it is irresponsible of anyone involved to not critically assess how we can help in more effective and appropriate ways.


    I’m counting on readers in the SocialEdge community to help me spread this message by sharing the series with friends, family, and colleagues, by joining the on-line dialogue, and by becoming part of the movement towards change. I was encouraged by the comments I received in response to last week’s critically entry on micro-lending. It is wonderful to know that people value and support a critical voice in a rarely questioned field. I will continue to post more entries in the coming months and I look forward to getting your feedback.

    The ninth episode in the Beyond Good Intentions series will likely be one of the more controversial ones because it not only takes a critical look at the realities of micro-lending (which seems to have gained saintly status in the development field in recent years), but it does so by questioning the impact of one of the world’s favorite organizations: Kiva. I should start by prefacing my comments with the fact that I have total respect and admiration for the hard work and passion that the entire Kiva team has invested in their work. There are undoubtedly numerous success stories. But what I saw in the field in both Cambodia and Mozambique left much to be desired.

    I embarked on my filmmaking expedition feeling quite excited about the sudden explosion of micro-lending opportunities around the world. What could be bad about people having the chance to pull themselves out of poverty by taking out loans and starting their own initiatives? It definitely sounded like a step up from the charity model in the way it embraced the power of entrepreneurship and gave recipients a sense of control and dignity in the process.

    However, I soon discovered that micro-lending is not the panacea to poverty that the world wants to believe. I met with countless Kiva loan recipients in Cambodia and Mozambique and while several of them had been able to successfully repay their loans, none of them had succeeded at pulling themselves out of poverty. Some of the reasons for this fact (which I discuss in Episode 9) include:

1) The High Interest Rates Being Charged

          * Most of Kiva’s non-profit micro-lending field partners that I met with were charging recipients 30-55% interest on their loans each year.        

          * The lower the loan amount, the higher the interest rate (I was told by a Kiva field partner in Cambodia that this is because the poorer clients generally live far away so there are overhead costs associated with going to collect the money each month)

2) Inadequate Economic Opportunities

          * In extremely poor areas of Cambodia and Mozambique, there simply weren’t enough economic opportunities for loan recipients to capitalize on. It was very difficult for recipients to come up with profitable business models given these constraints.

3) A Lack of Business Skills/Entrepreneurial Talent

          * Due to the high level of competition between micro-lending organizations in the field and an eagerness to get more clients, the entrepreneurial bar had been set quite low. One Kiva loan recipient had even taken out a loan to pay off a bribe (although I assume that wasn’t the story in her online profile, haha).

          * Several Kiva loan recipients I met with had failed in their businesses because they attempted to join an already saturated market (one woman in Mozambique started a vegetable stand… right next to the other 5 identical stands in town. The market was over-saturated and none of the women could make much of a profit. A little business training probably could have prevented this from happening).

          * None of the micro-lending organizations I met with were providing any type of formal business skills training to their recipients. There was an assumption that all loan recipients were entrepreneurs and that they understood how to succeed in business... This was not always the case.

4) Over-burdened Loan Officers

          * I never encountered a Kiva partner in the field that had loan officers with caseloads of less than 100 clients. In fact, one of Kiva’s field partners in Mozambique had 300 loans per loan officer! Loan officers spend most of their time traveling long distances to remote villages to collect loan payments. However, with the additional requirement of having to take photos and stories for Kiva’s website, loan officers complained that they didn’t have any time left over to counsel their clients on their businesses.

          * Kiva funds came in so quickly for the organizations I met with (thanks to Kiva’s dedicated community of online lenders) that their portfolios expanded more quickly than they should have. Loan officers were struggling to keep up with the sudden increase in clients.

5) Lack of Sustainability

          * According to a UN study, only 10% of micro-lending organizations are self-sufficient. The majority (including the Kiva partners I met with) rely on donations and subsidies to stay in business. While Kiva’s network of online donors allows for a significant increase in the number of loan recipients (due to an increase in capital available to lend), this endangers the long-term viability of the organizations.

[However, I also recognize that to be sustainable, micro-lending organizations generally have to increase their interest rates, take less risks, and lend to fewer people…which generally would prevent lending opportunities for the poorest of the poor. So, while it may be unsustainable and quite risky, the donor-subsidized model allows these organizations to reach out to poor clients]

    I found it amusing that most of the Kiva loan recipients I interviewed had never heard of Kiva. Most replied, “Kiva who?” While it’s probably a good thing that the loan recipients were unaware that their loan opportunity had been provided by donors in the developed world, it may be disappointing for on-line lenders to hear that there wasn’t a direct connection with recipients. In fact, Kiva’s partner in Mozambique explained to me that the profiles they put on Kiva’s website were recipients that the local organization had already planned on funding. By providing their stories and pictures to Kiva, the organization was merely able to increase their general pool of capital in order to provide loans for more people later on. Kiva is quite honest about this, I’m told, but this dynamic isn’t exactly clear on the website and may be surprising to some donors. 

    I was a little bit nervous for Episode 9 (and this blog entry) to come out because I am well-aware that I am questioning a beloved organization and a highly popular development initiative. However, I feel that I need to be honest about what I witnessed in the field and, most importantly, I need to encourage a meaningful dialogue about the realities of micro-lending. After witnessing micro-lending programs on three different continents, I came to the conclusion that in most cases the poor don’t need loans, they need jobs. From what I saw, micro-lending isn’t pulling the poorest of the poor out of poverty. But I want to hear what you think! Watch Episode 9 of the Beyond Good Intentions series and add your thoughts to the discussion boards.

Before the advent of NGOs and multilateral organizations, nearly all relief and development work was carried out by churches and their vast networks of missionaries. The field has since changed, but faith-based organizations continue to play a major role in the development sector. 

Throughout my round-the-world journey while filming the Beyond Good Intentions series I was eager to find examples of missionaries and faith-based groups that were able to combine aid and religion in a positive and effective way. Sadly, in many of my previous field experiences I had witnessed the opposite. I was particularly concerned when I’d occasionally see faith-based groups that seemed to be using aid as a tool for conversion. Something about that approach felt incredibly unethical to me.

However, while filming the series it became clear that there isn’t a “one size fits all” model when it comes to faith-based aid. I uncovered a wide variety of approaches and opinions on the subject, and by the end of filming I was left with more questions than answers. Several of these approaches are covered in Episode 8 of the Beyond Good Intentions series which was filmed in the rural village of Balama, Mozambique.

The role of faith in international development is not widely discussed, but I’m hopeful that this episode will catalyze a meaningful dialogue. I hope you will check out Episode 8 and share your thoughts about faith-based aid on the discussion boards.

The idea of making a profit while helping the poor has largely been shunned by the aid community in the past. In fact, in many aid circles the term “profit” is still seen as a dirty word. But, fortunately, those sentiments are starting to change. Socially-minded entrepreneurs are demonstrating the power of for-profit approaches to aid, and the innovative concepts of “marketing to the bottom of the pyramid” and maintaining a “double bottom line” are spreading quickly.

While filming the Beyond Good Intentions series I continued to see problems with the charity model, and I was eager to find organizations that were willing to think outside the box. I found that very few non-profit organizations had effective accountability structures in place to ensure that recipients were satisfied with the help being offered, handouts tended to fuel dependency not dignity, and many projects were not sustainable due to their reliance on donor funds. There had to be better solutions…

 
During my travels through Madagascar, I stumbled across a for-profit social enterprise called Bush Proof that embraces market-based solutions to tackling some of the most pressing social challenges in rural communities. Bush Proof has innovated a range of durable, affordable products that are sold directly to the poor and have a positive effect on their health and well-being. It was impressive to see aid recipients suddenly transformed into legitimate clients, and for the concept of customer satisfaction to replace donor coddling. Their for-profit model is able to drastically improve accountability structures by putting the pressure on Bush Proof to only make products that the poor will not only benefit from, but would also be willing to pay for.
 

Bush Proof’s work is featured in Episode 7 in the Beyond Good Intentions film series. The episode was filmed in the villages around Ambondromamy, Madagascar and it explores how the company is applying their for-profit model to address the challenges of providing access to clean water in rural areas. Check out the episode on-line and tell us what you think about the promise of for-profit approaches to aid by adding your thoughts to the discussion boards.

People have often asked me whether or not I’ve ever considered joining the Peace Corps, and I have always responded “definitely not.” Something about the program never felt quite right to me. I was skeptical of the fact that it was a government program (and wondered if volunteers were somehow being used to further U.S. interests abroad), I doubted that I had any real skills to offer as a recent college graduate, and I wasn’t sure that two years was long enough to really make a legitimate impact. However, as I met more and more Peace Corps volunteers on my travels, I began to realize that everyone’s experience was unique, and I decided to approach the organization with an open mind.

The sixth episode in the Beyond Good Intentions series was filmed in one of the most remote corners of Madagascar. It follows my extensive overland journey to visit a Peace Corps couple that was just finishing up their two years of service. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found in terms of their ability to integrate into the community and make a positive impact. However, the same was not true for other volunteers I met in Madagascar.

The episode presents both sides of the Peace Corps debate and leaves the issue open for discussion. I’m particularly interested to get people talking about President Obama’s plans to double the size of the Peace Corps. Is this a good idea? Watch the episode and join the dialogue!
 

How do we know if an aid project is truly effective? The traditional approaches of “monitoring and evaluation” in the aid world often seem to produce vague results that are more geared at proving the success of a project, by whatever means necessary, in order to please donors and ensure continued funding.

The MIT Poverty Action Lab is transforming that paradigm. Instead of relying on loose evaluation techniques, they are using randomized trials to produce hard evidence about the effectiveness of aid projects worldwide.

To film Episode five in the Beyond Good Intentions series, I traveled to a rural part of Rajasthan, India with field researchers from the MIT Poverty Action Lab. In the episode I explore two randomized trials that they are conducting in the field, including an iron fortification intervention and a nurse-monitoring program.

The preliminary results for the two programs are extremely different, but there is no questioning the validity of the evidence. Is it irresponsible to implement an aid project that hasn’t been tested by a randomized trial? Check out the episode, and let us know what you think about the role of research in development.
 

It has always concerned me that we tend to expect so little from non-profits. How does an entire sector get away with being held to such low standards? In my travels I continued to witness aid organizations that were wasting money, duplicating efforts, expanding their missions beyond what they were capable of doing, and were poorly managed.

Such inefficiencies, which are almost expected in the non-profit world, would typically not be tolerated in a business setting. However, due to skewed accountability structures, there seems to be few incentives for non-profits to change their ways (because the only entity they have to be accountable to are the donors, not the recipients). I was excited to hear that there was an organization in Cambodia that was changing this structure and raising the bar.

Episode four in the Beyond Good Intentions series was shot in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and it highlights the work of the Cambodia Trust, an organization that specializes in training prosthetic specialists and providing prosthetic limbs to enable countless Cambodians to walk again. What drew me to the organization was the fact that the Cambodia Trust was one of the first non-profits in the world to obtain certification from the International Organization of Standardization.

Having this status means that outside auditors regularly evaluate their work and they are voluntarily maintaining the same high standards that would be expected of a for-profit prosthetics school and clinic. They treat their recipients like clients, they reduce inefficiencies through cooperation with other organizations, and they focus on “customer satisfaction” as their primary goal.

Should the Cambodia Trust serve as a model for other non-profits? Hear their story and share your thoughts!
 

The international community’s response to natural disasters is always strong. Donors and aid agencies undoubtedly feel compelled to write large checks and lend a hand during the immediate aftermath of a tragedy. However, disaster relief operations are notoriously ineffective, uncoordinated, and wasteful.

So what is the solution? My frustrations with the inadequacies of disaster relief efforts led me to Indonesia to investigate whether or not international aid agencies could be more innovative in their responses.

Episode 3 in the Beyond Good Intentions series takes place in rural communities on the island of Java, Indonesia. When an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit the region, houses crumbled and 1.5 million people were suddenly left homeless. But had aid agencies learned their lessons from the failures of the tsunami relief efforts? I found that most had not.

However, the episode concentrates on the innovative work of two organizations including CARE International, who had devised a unique voucher system and market-based approach to disaster relief, and Domes for the World, who were pioneering more innovative approaches to home reconstruction. Sounds great, right? You may be surprised by the results.

Check out the episode and tell us what you think about the role of innovation in aid.
 

I will admit that I was a serial international volunteer for most of my teens and early twenties. I’ve played with orphans, taught English, and dug wells in all corners of the globe. But I always came home feeling as if I had gained more than I had given, and I often wondered if my presence was even necessary.

When I recently screened Episode 2 of the Beyond Good Intentions series at a well-known university, I asked the students to raise their hands if they had ever volunteered abroad—nearly all twenty-five hands went up. I then asked how many of them had ever volunteered in the local community around campus—three hands.

Why is there such a lure towards helping abroad instead of helping at home? Do we really think we have something to offer by dedicating our time in other countries, or is it merely about the thrill of the adventure and the satisfaction of feeling as if we’re doing something good for the world?

The “Volunteering Abroad” episode in the Beyond Good Intentions series attempts to address some of these important questions. I filmed the episode in a town called Posadas in the far north of Argentina. A British volunteer agency called i-to-i sends international volunteers there to work at either an animal refuge or an orphanage.

The volunteers had paid a hefty amount of money for the experience, but were their efforts really effective? Is it possible that the short-term volunteers were actually doing more harm than good? Check out the episode and share your thoughts about volunteering abroad on the discussion boards.
 

Throughout the past decade I have met a wide range of international aid workers on nearly every continent. Most aid workers I encounter seem to be well intentioned in their efforts, but they often fall short of making a real impact. Occasionally I’ve even met aid workers who didn’t speak the local language, would rarely stay in a country for more than two years, and lived an overly luxurious expatriate lifestyle.

Often they would simply import ideas and impose their projects on communities, instead of taking the time to find out what the people really needed. After all I’d seen, I was intent on uncovering examples of aid workers who had found more effective roles for themselves.
 
The first episode in the Beyond Good Intentions film series addresses the role of international aid workers and challenges viewers to question how aid workers can engage more appropriately and effectively in the field. The episode was filmed in a community of displaced persons called Los Altos de Florida on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia where I met up with an American aid worker named Matt Alexander. Matt is trying to find ways of assisting the local community by serving as a bridge to help them get connected to the resources they need in order to bring their own ideas to life. 

But is his methodology working? Check out the episode and share your thoughts!

After years of working with aid projects around the world, I finally came to the unfortunate realization that the vast majority of international aid organizations weren’t effective and their projects weren’t drastically improving lives. I decided that I would either quit and never do development work again, or I would dedicate my life to uncovering how the field of international aid could be more effective.

Luckily, I chose the latter and Beyond Good Intentions was born. Beyond Good Intentions is an organization that embraces the power of both film and education to catalyze a much-needed dialogue about aid effectiveness. Our hope is that by bringing these issues to light, we can start a movement to transform the current policies and approaches that prevent many aid projects from making a real impact.

The Beyond Good Intentions series is a ten-part web series that I shot in 2006/2007 on a solo year-long journey around the world. I had never made a film before (I was literally reading the manual of the camera on my way to Colombia), but with practice I quickly became more confident behind the camera.

During the trip I met with countless aid workers and recipients in eight different countries in an effort to uncover the most innovative and effective approaches to international aid worldwide.

Each five-minute episode covers a unique theme in international aid effectiveness and attempts to present both the positive and negative sides of the issues in an effort to stimulate a meaningful dialogue about the realities of aid. A new episode in the Beyond Good Intentions series will be released every Wednesday until May 27th, 2009. Check out the series and join the on-line discussion.