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 ...
5 Steps for NGOs to Move from Guilt to Empowerment
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:
3 Reasons Charities Need to Drop the 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:
How Come the Poor Can’t Video Blog? Thoughts on the Digital Divide
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 ...
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:
If you’re familiar with the YouTube community, you probably already know Craig (aka WheezyWaiter). If not, I strongly urge you to check out his channel and subscribe. Craig recently made a video talking about the difference between empathy and sympathy.
I’m mentioning this video on this blog because the difference between sympathy and empathy is something I’ve talked about a lot – albeit mostly offline with friends – when I talk about changing the conversation on global poverty.
You see, one of the things that inspired me to start this project is that I hated how charities were (and sometimes still are) talking about global poverty. You’ve probably all seen the ads: it usually features black and white images of emaciated crying children with an ominous voice saying how you can save their lives for just $2 a day.
Screenshot from a child-sponsorship charity TV advertisement that airs here in Canada. Ads like this are sympathy-based marketing. We're provoked into donating because we feel pity for what we see - not because we relate to what we see.
The problem with this kind of messaging is that it reduces the poor to a “them” or to objects which we pity. More importantly, as we become a more connected and globalized society, many of the poor are becoming aware of how their images are being used abroad and do not want to be portrayed in such a manner.
And bottom line, if we get inundated with guilt-based messaging, it only becomes a matter of time until we tune out the whole issue of global poverty. Guilt-based messaging does a disservice both to the individuals whose images they use and the overall goal of ending extreme global poverty.
Empathy-based messaging tries to portray the depth, complexity, and humanity of those in need. It often skews towards positive and happy imagery because, as a nature of the human condition, we are able to better empathize with someone's joy than someone's pain.
Moving to empathy-based messaging is the first step to trying to understand the complexity of ending extreme global poverty. But, to paraphrase John Green, we are limited by our own experiences and the lives we were born into. This limits how fully and how complexly we can imagine those who are different from us.
But just because we have limits to empathizing what it’s like to be from a different culture, ethnicity, or religion doesn’t mean we shouldn’t constantly be striving to imagine people complexly. And this is where I think the next step (beyond empathy-based messaging) comes in. There can be bridge-makers (or “free agents”) who can help foster greater mutual understanding and empathy.
Hey Shawn, I saw your Davos video (of course) and the one blaring thing I noticed is that you did not mention what is UNIQUE about YOU. Lots of people work on ending poverty. You even listed websites who are doing it too.. but you didn’t say.. what is special about YOU.
You’ve gotta start using that as your leverage. Thats why I gave YOU money instead of them. That’s why we follow you. You’ve got a unique audience because of the unique way you work – which is also important.
Mention it in your next davos, and in any of the other videos you make that describe what you do. The thing about not using guilt, about showing your viewers where the money goes.. use that. use the unique viewers you have.. we are not middle aged charity people.
We’re nerdfighters and youtubers and we are powerful – use it!
“Innocent children of war, famine, and disease – will you help them?” WELL THEN PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL RIGHT NOW! Operators are standing by! It only costs as much as a cup of coffee a day! Does this sound familiar? Well, that’s part of the problem.
One of the reasons I started this project is because I had the lofty goal of changing the conversation about global poverty. Commercials are a big influence on that conversation. More often than not, when someone sees images of the third world or poverty on TV – it is usually from a television commercial. But commercials like the ones I talk about my latest episode on YouTube, actually do a disservice.
People don’t like to be made to feel guilty. There is no point – making me feel guilty doesn’t get us any closer to solving global poverty. But commercials like these definitely try and take the viewer on a guilt trip – complete with rhetorical questions such as “But who cares? He’s not your child – why should you care?”.
These commercials also go for the pity factor. In the 15 videos that I have thus far put on YouTube – there is only one video which has a child crying. But, judging by all the charity/poverty-related commercials on TV, you’d think that all kids did in the third world was cry and make sad faces. Evoking images that make us see the poor as objects of pity not only do a disservice to the poor – it’s downright insulting. In fact, if I got a dime for every time I saw a kid smiling here in Bangladesh, this project would have paid for itself.
The only thing worse than evoking our pity for the poor or making us feel guilty is the fact that it all boils down to one message: send us your money. Send us your money and you’ll feel better. It’s an over-simplified conception of global poverty that hinders real solutions towards ending global poverty. Did you know, that developed nations get back more money from the third world per year as interest on their debt than we give to them each year in aid? It’s true – and it has been for quite a while.
Picking up the phone and dialing the number on your screen does more to ensuring more pity-evoking and guilt-inducing commercials in the future than it does to help us achieve the end of poverty. I think it’s time to change the conversation about poverty. And, thanks to your support – my loft goal of changing the conversation is starting to look not-so-lofty anymore. As of recently, The Uncultured Project on YouTube is now more popular (in terms of subscriptions) than all the following YouTube channels combined:
This is not a charity, organization, or anything formal. It’s my journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time. To learn more click here.
