Archive for June, 2010
The Problem with Giving Free Food to Hungry People
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
NPR recently released a 15 minute video which explains unintended impact that giving away free food has on the local economy. It’s something I’ve written about extensively and the video is definitely worth watching…
Welcome to Good Intention's new Website
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Welcome to Good Intention’s new website. To subscribe go to the homepage and click on the RSS link at the bottom of the side bar.
It will take me about a week to update all of the links within this…
Listening to Aid Recipients
Friday, June 25th, 2010
I often ask my readers to imagine being on the receiving end of aid, to try to think of aid from the recipient side rather than the donor side. This is not always easy to do as it requires a…
My Smart Aid Wishlist
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
There’s been a lot of chatter over Twitter lately about how to get the smart aid message out to the average donor. Suggestions have been put forth and a working group is brainstorming ideas for moving…
Media’s Impact on Aid
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
As everyone in the aid world knows, media coverage, charity advertising, and advocacy impact the types of aid projects that get funded and implemented. ALNAP recently opened a forum on media and disasters. I’d like to expand this…
Interesting articles and posts from early June
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Maybe the t-shirt guy was right – Find What Works – a delayed snarky about 1 million shirts
The more things change – Texas in Africa – discusses how we completely overlook a far worse oil spill
If this were you, what skills and abilities would you want from a voluntourist?
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The following is my response to a blog post and subsequent comments in the MIT Global Challenge notebook post titled US Aid Professionals to American Volunteers: Stay Home
The argument going back and forth is on the skills…
A Musing on Tree Plantings and Past Aid Mistakes
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
The recent discussion about the tree planting voluntourism excursion offered through the Royal Caribbean Cruiselines brought to mind my own experiences leading volunteer tree plantings.
These community tree planting events consumed many years of my life when I…
A plane full of volunteers bound for Haiti
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
As we sat in the airport awaiting our flight to Haiti, I was amazed at the number of teenagers clad in matching t-shirts going to Haiti to help with the recovery efforts. It reminded me of when I was a…
Don’t Choose a Charity Based on Administration Costs
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Yesterday there was a flurry of twitter posts regarding the fact that charity: water advertises on their website:
100% of public donations directly fund water projects
The final outcome appears to be that charity: water uses other sources…
