Social Edge: The Challenges of Criticizing 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 ...
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 ...
Comments