Why care about digital information systems? Millions receive good care without them

A community health worker interviewing a client about her family's health.  Most of the notes she jots down never
make it into the program's information system, but she'll remember them.  Gazipur, Bangladesh.

Sure, there's a lot to be gained from collecting information digitally. But it's often expensive, time-consuming, and even risky to implement one.  So it's worth asking: why is it really necessary?

BRAC has been delivering health services for decades in rural Bangladesh.  Typically a community health worker (shashtya shebika) looks after about 200 households surrounding her home.  She visits each one monthly, offering basic health information, products and services.  Once or twice a month she's visited by her supervisor, a more specialized community health worker (shasthya kormi).  During these visits, the pair will follow up on any issues that were identified in the recent household visits and provide check-ups to pregnant mothers and infants.  The supervising community health worker supervises around 10 local community health workers, and rotates between them.

Property rights are central to alleviating poverty, but does ownership really matter?

The common understanding of property rights and its link to economic growth is built on the importance of ownership in rural contexts. But what urban dwellers really need is security and legitimacy of property.

Dhaka is already home to over 15 million people and continues to grow daily.

Bangladesh is one of the most crowded countries in the world.  It should come as no surprise that land is a scarce resource in high demand.  For generations, people have viewed land as an asset, often one that enables them to generate income.  Land ownership potentially enables people to make money and increase their wealth.  Additionally, it signals a status of legitimacy and stability, which is also extremely important. The ultra-poor tend to be those that own at most a tiny piece of land, too small for farming.

Bangladeshis are desperate for ownership and access to land.  Women have far less access generally, with just an estimated 2% of agricultural land in Bangladesh belonging to women.  In a largely agricultural economy, access to land largely determines the ability to generate income.  Land ownership historically has been a key strategy for generating wealth.  Therefore, the denial of property rights (and the implied ability to access and control one's land) enables all of the other conditions that contribute to poverty.   This issue has been in the international media more recently because of large land deals for private developers that are conducted without consultation or consent of the communities who own the land.  Most experts conclude that these forced evictions largely result in increased risk of poverty, food security, and more.

Six resolutions for aid workers (and other people who want to change the world)

It's that time again!  Our opportunity to reflect on the year and commit to concrete goals for improvement in 2015.  I've been thinking of simple changes that development workers can make that are good for them and for their work.  These are not radical suggestions, but if practiced earnestly truly can improve an aid worker's performance as well as an organization's impact.  No excuses this year!!

My six suggestions

1. Be the best manager ever.  Too often, supervision evolves to nothing more than signing forms, dealing with HR issues, and barking out orders.  But helping people learn and grow is at the root of what development should be about.  In 2015, commit to making time for discussions about growth, giving feedback, understanding people's goals, and guiding them. The world needs more changemakers and inspired leaders, and we can help cultivate them.

Lights, camera, action: what happens in the village before you get there

Something about this sign makes me feel like it's there for
my benefit.....kind of like any other random poster
I see in English!

A friend of mine from South Africa told me some interesting development stories recently.  We were talking about the village we visited in Laos, and all the reasons why we should not take the experience at face value. 

Perhaps our immediate doubt is a sign of professional cynicism.  The village was clean, peaceful, and more vibrant than we had expected.  Could this possibly be the way it really was? We of course wondered if the village leaders had been instructed to lead a major drive to collect all the trash before we arrive, deter people from buying the local rice wine the day before, and ensure that everyone wore their nicest clothes that day.

Day trip to a "remote" village in Laos

Off the beaten path!  Where is everybody?

 I spent last week in Laos learning about rural electrification.   I spent one day in a rural village to better understand some of the issues on the ground.  The village’s name was Pakhao, in Vang Vieng, home to 78 households and roughly 600 people.

Typically it does not rain from October to May, but the day we went it rained relentlessly.  The dirt road that wound up to the village was slick, and our pudgy van could not quite get the traction to get up the hill.  It was a good reminder of what it means to live in a hard-to-reach area—communication is not something taken for granted.  I hopped in an SUV for the last leg; some of the others in my group had to settle for the back of a pickup truck and umbrellas to block the rain.

Institutions eat interventions for breakfast

This is what a development expert looks like

An article in the new republic has been circulating recently in the global development circles called "Stop trying to save the world--how big ideas are destroying international development." It contains a lot of useful reflections on failures in development and how certain paradigms perpetuate them.  While I agree with his analysis for the most part, I am troubled by his lack of discussion about the importance of local institutions in identifying and scaling effective strategies.

"Everywhere you want to be": what some take for granted but many can't have

Do tip jars still exist in San Francicso?  Bet it's easier to get
tips in cash-based economies like Kathmandu and Dhaka
(photo from Cafe Kora, Kathmandu).

I know some people who essentially use only digital money.  That is, the only thing in their wallet is plastic.  If that's your daily life, it's easy to take it for granted and forget how awesomely convenient it is.

And Americans have it good this way--our cards are accepted almost everywhere.  I should know, I hopped off the plane in Hong Kong, walked up to an ATM, and walked out with a wallet full of Hong Kong dollars.  I bought a boatload (literally) of champagne and other drinks in Chiang Mai at a grocery store, simply by swiping my visa.  The hotel where I'm staying this week asked for a deposit, and I handed them my card again.  Easy as pie.

The Bangladesh government historically has had very strict rules on Bangladeshis taking money abroad, only recently beginning to allow small amounts of international credit card usage (for most people, the annual spending limit internationally is $5,000 and per online transaction it's $100, up to 1,000 annually).  Baby steps.  Online credit card payments WITHIN Bangladesh were only approved in 2009.