In a 30-minute documentary, ABC Australia profiled GiveDirectly’s work in Kenya. They spoke at length with both Caroline Teti, our External Relations Director in Kenya, and Mitch Riley, our Regional Director. They also featured a range of GiveDirectly recipients, from one who used his transfer to start a band, to another who is growing hundreds of eucalyptus trees.
GiveDirectly in the News
1. Not Everybody Wants a Goat
ABC TV, Foreign Correspondent, Matt Brown, July 11, 2017
US-based GiveDirectly is taking this to a whole new level – directly channelling cash donations to 26,000 impoverished people in Kenya via mobile phone transfers. It’s a 12-year experiment in which some will get monthly payments and others a lump sum. No middlemen involved.
2. Universal Basic Income Could Work In Southeast Asia — But Only If It Goes To Women
The Huffington Post, The Conversation, July 11, 2017
After the NGO GiveDirectly first started its UBI program in a Kenyan village in 2016, it offered some residents US$22 a month The entire community quickly saw positive effects, according to a February 2017 assessment of the program in the New York Times. And residents hope that the experiment, which is scheduled to last for 12 years, will gradually lift them out of poverty.
3. We asked a recipient if she had any complaints about GiveDirectly.
Medium, Margaret Jepchirchir, July 6, 2017
Wait a minute! Complaints? What are you saying? If I heard someone complaining about GiveDirectly, I would literally pluck that person’s hair out! I mean, who would complain about an organization that has brought such a change in the village. Never in my life did I think I would see my village as bright as it is today. So, about complaints? No, I have not heard anyone complain.
4. CASH WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED
BFM Radio, Piali Mukhopadhyay, July 4, 2017
Many charities work like this: they get donations in cash and then they use that money to buy goods like food and clothes to be given away to those in need. But what if the money was just given to those people instead? What happens then? That’s the work that NGO GiveDirectly does. We speak to Piali, GiveDirectly’s Chief Operating Officer on how their work has changed lives so far. “
Cash Transfers in the News
5. Mobile cash reduces hunger, boosts local economies in Kenya
IFRC, July 10, 2017
An innovative, mobile phone-driven cash programme has helped prevent nearly 250,000 people from slipping into severe food insecurity in drought-ravaged Kenya. The Kenya Red Cross Society has given monthly grants of 3,000 Kenya Shillings (about 28 Swiss francs) to more than 41,000 drought-affected families spread across 13 counties over the past three months. The money is primarily transferred using the M-Pesa mobile phone-based money transfer service.
6. Truly left behind…
Pete Vowles, July 2, 2017
How have Susan and her family been missed by the Government of Kenya’s (progressive) social safety net programmes? The Government’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s (OVC) initiative, supported by FCDO and the World Bank, is designed to provide cash directly to the families of the most poor and vulnerable. So why has this not reached Susan?
Effective Altruism in the News
7. Jeff Bezos has asked for charitable giving advice – here’s what he should do with his money
The Conversation, John Picton, July 11, 2017
In light of this, there is one Twitter responder who is worthy of particular attention. Peter Singer, the well-known moral philosopher, also threw himself into the fray, offering – like Madonna – to personally interact with Bezos. Singer is the founder of the “effective altruism” movement. He contends that we – all of us with a disposable income – have a so-called “duty of easy rescue”.
Basic Income in the News
8. Alaska gives residents free cash handouts—here’s what Mark Zuckerberg thinks everyone can learn from it
CNBC, Catherine Clifford, July 5, 2017
The billionaire founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg spent his July 4th weekend in Alaska learning about fishing and local economics as part of his “Year of Travel Challenge.” In Alaska, all residents get a yearly cash payment just for living in the state. The trip gave Zuckerberg yet another platform to lobby for universal basic income (UBI), as he did during his commencement address to Harvard in May.