This nice summary of BDI logic models does two things. It 1) gives you an overview of a model for behavior change that actually takes into account the complexity of human decision-making and 2) tells you how to market it to potential donors. It’s very savvy, and it makes me kind of sad. I see useful public health research go unused all the time because it’s too complicated for non-experts, and donors are rarely experts.
donors
Bad granting can hurt communities
I have mentioned before that bad donor projects will hurt they communities they are in. This article demonstrates that a bad grantmaking process will also hurt communities. Which makes sense when you think about it, but how many people think about it?
In the case of the Northwest Area Foundation, I think they went off the rails as soon as they decided that a new organization had to be created for implementation. It’s always tempting to make something new and better but too often it’s just new, inexperienced, and not up to the demands being made. It’s my opinion that you always work with existing groups if you can.
I saw a lot of small developing world NGOs formed around a single issue go through endless rounds of training so they could apply for different donors’ grants. It did often make me wonder how much work they could get done in the time it took to be trained.
Not talking about abortion
Outcry Over Search Word Ban on Health Site. Johns Hopkins recently made it impossible to search for the word “abortion” on their health information site, and then reversed the decision. Although I certainly agree that people need to be able to find information about abortion on a health website, I also feel bad for Johns Hopkins. They really can lose their USG funding for this.
The USG controls what you can say about abortion and family planning if you take their money. Agree or disagree with it, but that’s the way it is. The government’s policies put Hopkins in a terrible position. They have to choose what is “right” over what gets them money. That sounds like an easy decision. But it isn’t as if they were spending their government grants on strippers and hot air balloon rides. Their government funding goes towards vital research that benefits at least as many people as the information on abortion would. I wouldn’t want to have to make that decision.
Lesson: Diversify your donor base.