Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Six Questions You Should ask Before Donating Goods Overseas

Source: Saundra Schimmelpfennig, The Huffington Post, April 23, 2010.
  1. Is the donation appropriate for the local climate, culture, and religion?
  2. After a disaster, will an influx of donated goods clog the ports?
  3. Are the items actually needed?
  4. Are the goods available locally?
  5. Will the people receiving the goods be able to afford to fix or replace the donated item?
  6. Will donating this item do more harm than good?
I am no expert on disaster relief, but I was told how bad the situation was after a serious earthquake a few decades ago. Tons of stuff, all tax deductible for the donors, arrived and was never inventoried. People came and took away "surprise packages" of stuff.

Drugs came in by the ton, many expired and few linked to the specific needs of the population. There was little likelihood that it would be properly prescribed or even reasonably distributed.

Think about Katrina, and how much harder it is to deliver disaster relief well in countries that you don't know well, with corrupt governments, different languages, and uneducated populations.

Even money may not work, if it goes to the wrong intermediary.

I have a lot of respect for the experienced NGOs that really know the countries in which they provide disaster relief, and indeed in the government agencies such as the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Relief.

I also recognize that there a billions of people whose daily lives are disasters due to extreme poverty. Sometimes you can do more good donating to a good foreign assistance program than to a weak disaster relief program!

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