1. Does the success of cash transfers mean that poverty is a result of the capitalist system and instead of working for international development projects I should be an activist trying to change the global economy?
2. Are we going to look back at 2011 as the year that climate change became obvious in US weather?
3. Why is it so hard for people to understand breastfeeding? (I just had a woman at a convenience store tell me that she didn’t breastfeed because her milk didn’t come in because she didn’t drink much milk when she was pregnant. I was genuinely at a loss for words.)
4. Behavior change efforts work best when we remove obstacles and help people do what they already want to do. Is it possible to frame all change programs that way? Or are we stuck always trying to change what people want to do?
5. I agree with GiveWell’s conclusion that philanthropic money is better spent overseas than in the US (thus my career choice) but wow, the US is awfully bad off in some places.
6. Premature babies are often born early because of difficult circumstances in the life of the mother: chaotic or abusive home life, poor nutrition, poor access to medical care. Then we sent these fragile babies home to the same situation that made them this way. It’s a vicious cycle.
On number 1… how do you make the connection that the success of cash transfers means that poverty is the result of a capitalist system?
There are about a thousand answers to 3, but for a historical perspective I recommend Jacqueline Wolf’s “Don’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries“. A really interesting look at how women’s confidence in breastfeeding came to be totally undermined, and with it the medical establishment’s, even though at the dawn of widespread artificial infant feeding the medical and public health authorities were dead set against it. If you’re looking for a good read while you’re down to nurse many hours a day 😉
Interestingly, I was thinking today how when babies are born early or disabled to families with few resources, they at least are qualified for intensive early intervention (whether they receive it is another story), which ALL kids from those homes probably need.
Matt – I realize it’s a bit of a leap, but I am thinking mostly of post-disaster recovery. If everything people need is available to them if they just have the funds to access it, isn’s something really messed up about a system that is set up for them to starve anyway?
On #1 – I think capitalism is a bit like democracy – a terrible system but still better than anything else that has been tried. It is capitalism that has allowed the economic growth which has lifted so many millions, us included, out of poverty.
1. IMO, “no” and “no.” Many tout the success of cash transfer – and there are some resounding successes – but it is one tool among many others in post-disaster contexts. There are very specific kinds of circumstances where cash transfers work – specific enough that I’m not inclined to think of them/it as universally successful…
2. Depends on who you mean by “we”: Republican candidates now making noise about 2012 continue to claim that climate change is essentially a hoax, made possible in part by “bad science.” Go figure.
4. People around the world want to do things that are bad for them, against all logic, for a wide range of reasons. The fact that Phillip Morris continues to thrive speaks to this. I don’t think we’ll ever get totally away from behavior change programming (as in, convincing people not to do something they’d ordinarily want to do) in relief and development.
Unlike Matt and J – I think the global economic system does need to change. But I don’t think that work needs to be done ‘instead of’ development work, it’s got to be done as well as.
That’s why I left the field and worked for Oxfam doing advocacy and policy work on climate change and international trade. Not because the latter was better or more important than the former, but because both needed to be done and I realised I had skills that made me particularly good at the policy and advocacy work.
Hi Alanna
Great article! I like your writing style.
Re Point 3: “Why is it so hard for people to understand breastfeeding?” That’s the $64 question! and requires a very elaborate response. If you and/or others are interested, I suggest 2 books: “the Politics of Breastfeeding” by Gabrielle Palmer & “The Problem with Breastfeeding” by James Akre.
Re Point 6: Relevant to your work might be the ‘Living Proof Project’, incorporating Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for premature babies: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/livingproofproject/Pages/photo-galleries.aspx#gallery=/maternalnewbornandchildhealth/Pages/kangaroo-care.aspx&image=0&pager=0&filter=
and for more about KMC: http://www.kangaroomothercare.com (Dr Nils Bergman)
PS: I found your blog via Helen Keller International: http://www.hki.org/blog/2011/06/breastfeeding-in-the-sahel/#comment-1283, via NY Times op-ed: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/opinion/23kristof.html?src=tptw
Cheers, Julieanne Hensby
Re 1, I’ve had similar thoughts, and that motivated me to learn more about economics. But the more I learn, the less confident I am that I have the answers for big reform – though there are certainly plenty of smaller changes to be made, that are largely about making sure policies aren’t hijacked by vested interests. (Financial policy in the USA and climate change policies worldwide are obvious examples.)