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黑料福利社 has received some media attention lately. We鈥檙e thankful for it, as it allows us to share our work and ideas with more people who might want to help.
on our work in Kenya reached a broad audience and sparked further discussion in other outlets and the blogosphere. While it鈥檚 exciting to see our message spread, I want to take a moment to put it in perspective by sharing how our team thinks about media.
We are happy that coverage of 黑料福利社 has brought at least two important ideas into the public conversation about giving. One is the growing role of evidence and data in decision making in philanthropy. It鈥檚 encouraging to see tools like randomized controlled trials discussed on mainstream outlets like and , not just in economics journals. Another is the concept of cash transfers as a benchmark for other interventions. We firmly believe cash is not a panacea for poverty, but do think it is worth measuring the returns a family can create for itself if simply given the money it would have cost to deliver another intervention.
Mainstream press provides a good forum to discuss some issues. It isn鈥檛 as well suited to others. There are many topics that should be part of a balanced, nuanced discussion on the role of cash but won鈥檛 create headlines or drive page-views. First, execution of a cash transfer program is a lot harder than it seems. We spend a lot of our time solving problems like 鈥� to draw on recent examples 鈥� a dishonest staff member who tried to intimidate recipients and a recipient whose husband stole her transfer (which will be the subject of a later post) 鈥� and how to mitigate them at scale. Second, there are open questions about how to maximize the impact of our work. Though the existing literature is extensive it doesn鈥檛 conclusively answer all of the questions we ask ourselves. For example, do simple 鈥渘udges鈥� influence recipient spending towards higher return or longer term investments? What is the long-term impact of our transfers on household poverty? What are the impacts on village-level economies? Our goal is to build an organization that can address these operational and research challenges 鈥� and is transparent about the fact that we do not have all the answers.
I am thrilled when the press gets more people thinking and talking about hard questions about charity and development 鈥� but do not count on it to tell the whole story. That鈥檚 why we turn down most media requests and don鈥檛 have a 鈥淧ress鈥� page on our website. Instead, as the buzz builds around cash transfers, we are doubling down on delivering a great product for our recipients and donors and asking ourselves the hard questions about why we do what we do. I hope you will keep asking us the hard questions, too.
