Summary People impacted by disasters need cash aid, but rarely receive it People impacted by a crisis prefer cash relief over in-kind aid (e.g. food, tarps), as it allows them to meet their own needs rather than having others guess for them. Decades of evidence show giving cash improves basic needs like food security and […]
Blog - Yearly Archives: 2023
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Opinions
4 reasons to give cash to disaster survivors, rather than stuff
After a disaster strikes, images of destroyed homes motivate many of us to donate. Often we give to charities handing out things like tarps and food, because that’s what we imagine people need. Here are 4 reasons you should instead… 1. Survivors use cash for urgent goods and services Markets and businesses rebound quicker than […]
Operations
Update on GiveDirectly leadership roles
Summary Rory Stewart is transitioning from President to Senior Advisor Rory Stewart has served as GiveDirectly’s President since August 2022. Under his leadership, GiveDirectly delivered more cash to people living in extreme poverty than any year prior, expanded our climate change response, and secured formal collaborations with multiple African governments. Rory is transitioning to a […]
Operations
Sending cash to flood survivors – 4 things we got right and wrong
For Hassana in Kogi, Nigeria, October’s floods were not like years past. “All our farmlands washed away as many had not yet harvested what they planted. The flooding continued until our homes and other things were destroyed. At this point we were running helter-skelter,” she said. These floods, the worst in a decade, result from […]
Recipients, Research
For refugees in cities, large cash transfers support self-reliance
For families fleeing conflict or crisis, the world is short on solutions. In the past decade, relief organizations have been forced to make steep cuts to rations provided due to budget constraints, while wealthy countries have welcomed fewer than 1% of refugees. For the 33M refugees unable to return home, building a new life in […]
Operations, Recipients
The power of getting a mobile phone
Rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa can mean disconnection. Too poor to afford telephones or travel, some families struggle to keep in touch. Many cannot bank or send money securely. Global news can be slow to reach areas without a cell network. When you donate, you provide people in poverty with more than just cash; you […]
Operations
Fraud in D.R.C. – our apology and response
Summary GiveDirectly has delivered cash transfers to some of the poorest households across sub-Saharan Africa for over a decade. Cash aid sent directly to recipients’ mobile money accounts is effective in avoiding many forms of fraud and waste by removing the need for middlemen or steep overheads. However, fraud is possible in all poverty programs: […]
Operations
How AI helped 6x our disaster response speed
For nearly two weeks after Hurricane Ian hit Ft. Myers, Florida, Shannon P. went without power. Shannon relies on food stamps to make ends meet and is dependent on insulin, which must be refrigerated. To power her fridge, she had to purchase a generator and a constant supply of gas to run it, costing hundreds […]
Opinions, Recipients
Sharing stories of poverty but not ‘poverty porn’
“The sight of a child so starved he’s too weak to cry… it’s enough to make the angels cry,” says Sally Struthers, strolling through a slum in an unidentified south Asian country. These Christian Children’s Fund ads, which ran for two decades, exemplify the ‘poverty porn’ trope still employed by many charities––a practice so ubiquitous […]
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- Operations (76)
- Opinions (68)
- Recipients (44)
- Research (21)
- The Future of Cash (3)
- Uncategorized (91)