Too much of a good thing?
Lessons for aid workers in Haiti from the 2004 tsunami
Like the tsunami, the earthquake has produced an outpouring of generosity amounting to $1 billion so far.
The experience of the tsunami suggests that agencies will not be able to spend it. Nine months on [after the tsunami], governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had disbursed just 39% of the money they had promised to spend. A French NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), stopped emergency fund-raising, saying it did not need more. It was criticised for this, but in retrospect was justified. As the tsunami evaluation put it, “allocation and programming…were driven by the extent of public and media interest, and by the unprecedented funding available, rather than by assessment and need.” This seems to be happening in Haiti, too; MSF has again asked people to switch donations to its general fund.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing this article. The Economist is great.
We donated to MSF last week (as they were already on the ground and running in Haiti) but designated it for their general fund so they could use it where it was most needed. It just made sense to give the NGO flexibility. I imagine, once this is all over, they'll need funds to rebuild their hospital, etc., so I feel that the gift also has long-term potential.
It's a tricky thing, giving.
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