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Feb 26, 2010
A Lesson from Haiti: Are Search and Rescue Teams Worth It?
The images of people being rescued from the rubble in Haiti by international search and rescue teams were inspiring and have led some to call for more investment in search and rescue teams. But looking at the data, I think that’s exactly the wrong lesson from the experience in Haiti. As a public health practitioner, and someone dedicated to outcomes measurement, it seems likely to me that SAR-focused relief efforts improperly subordinate the good of the many to the good of a very few. In other words, there are much better ways to direct disaster relief than SAR.
Feb 24, 2010
Helping Haiti’s Children, Part II
What should people do who want to help Haiti’s children?
Feb 15, 2010
When Good Surveys Go Bad—And How To Prevent It
Surveys can easily lead to bad data and false conclusions that can result in future missteps. For instance, a recent study by Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman in South Africa found that roughly 40 percent of survey respondents provided erroneous information about their use of credit. To help organizations use surveys effectively, we’re hosting a conference call on February 22nd at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific with David and Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy. The call is free. To register for the call and get call-in details, send an email to info@ndpmetrics.com.
Feb 11, 2010
A Round-Up of Education Headlines
There have been a number of articles and reports published in the past few weeks pointing toward the value of clear evidence of what works in the field of education.
Jan 25, 2010
A Downside of Donor Education?
In an earlier post I argued that donors pushing for better measurement and accountability might not be as effective as non-profit employees pushing for those same reforms internally, but Mario Morino of Venture Philanthropy Partners takes it one step further and says external pressure might actually be detrimental.
Jan 22, 2010
Will Donor Advice Do Any Good?
As I see more and more advice on giving to Haiti appear, I’ve begun to wonder: how will we know if this proliferation of good advice has had an impact on the Haitian relief and recovery effort? What metrics will tell us that donors to Haiti and the nonprofits working there learned the lessons of the tsunami, Katrina, and Nargis?
Jan 16, 2010
Are Efforts to Help Donors Give Better Misdirected?
If more outreach and information about reform is directed towards those working in non-profits, organizations might change before all their funders know why it’s necessary.
Jan 13, 2010
Advice for Donors to Haiti
As the relief effort in Haiti ramps up, donors should think about lessons learned from recent disaster relief efforts.
Jan 07, 2010
Is Agro-Imperialism Really Agro-Opportunity?
Investors from countries with a lot of money but very little arable land—such as Saudi Arabia, South Korea and India—have purchased the rights to develop millions of acres for agriculture and export the yield for sale in their native countries. Observers implicitly conclude that the lease of Ethiopian land to foreign developers amounts to nothing less than exploitation of the poor by the wealthy. But does it have to be?