Haphazardly Trying to Make the World a Better Place. Inspired by my time as a student at the University of Notre Dame.
When it comes to international aid and development, we are all biased. It doesn't matter if you're a donor reading pamphlets, a celebrity or YouTuber endorsing your favorite NGO, a journalist interviewing villagers, an academic outside of the ivory tower, an experienced aid professional talking about "good aid", or even a free agent trying to be a bridge-maker. There is nothing nefarious about this fact. We as human beings, while capable of untold capacities for empathy, will never have a complete verstehen and fully imagine the complexity of others. This is important because the arbiters of what is and is not ...
My thoughts on how charities need to drop the guilt is getting tons of views. But the question remains: how does a charity drop the guilt? Can they do it overnight? Cold turkey? As I mentioned some charities, like the US-branch of Save the Children, have already stopped using "poverty porn". I'd like to share something I've talked to them about behind closed doors. I guess you can call it a 5 Step Program for NGOs using guilt:
[caption id="attachment_3629" align="aligncenter" width="473" caption="A Charity Guilt-Ad Currently Airing in Canada"][/caption] It's 2011 and we still live in a world where many charities think that the best way to raise funds to help those in need is by using guilt. This needs to stop and here are three reasons why:
This year I’ve been talking a lot about the “Digital Divide”. But what is that? And why does it matter? The “Digital Divide” is basically a term to describe the technological gap which prevents the poorest of the world’s poor from participating in global online conversations that are occurring on the internet. This is important because what we are doing on the internet is starting to have the power to shape our politics, our governments, our economies, and our own personal priorities, opinions, and tastes. If the poorest of the poor are excluded from these global conversations, we can only use the internet ...
So, I recently stumbled on this article (h/t)…
Article from The Guardian
I agree with a lot that is said here. In fact, I’ve said similar stuff myself (and got grief for it). I’ve also seen amazing stuff that’s really changing the conversation away from “poverty porn”. But, it also got me thinking, what do Bangladeshis think of my work?
Here’s what I found in a five minute search:
For someone who normally has a lot to say about this topic – I find myself speechless.
Nathan Kotylak - Water Polo All Star
Meet Nathan Kotylak. A few weeks ago Nathan was a rising star. He was the best water polo player in his school, he was training with the Canadian national water polo team, he earned a scholarship to one of Canada’s best universities, and he was on track to be one of Canada’s Olympic athletes in a few years time.
But that all changed in about the time it takes to make a tweet.
Continue reading ‘From Riots to Aid: The Impact of the Social Lens’
