[atldev]

I've been to Kenya (village of Ngaamba) 4 times in the last 5 years on service trips through the 410Bridge organization. Their model relies on a village leadership council to prioritize need and decide how resources should be used. Then we come alongside and help. Our first trip focused on water. The second was infrastructure. The third was education. This past June it was staffing a medical clinic that was recently built. Now a community center has sprouted around the clinic and the trip next year will likely focus on micro-finance and entrepreneurship.

This isn't charity. It is partnering with a talented group of village leaders that understand the needs of the community far better than we could. There is accountability but it's driven locally and it's sustainable. They'll be able to carry the momentum they created long after we're gone.

There are plenty of models that work, and I'm glad there are so many helping out. But I've seen first-hand that allowing a community to pull the help they need works better than a foreign push model.

[skrebbel]

> This isn't charity.

Sooo, they pay you US rates for your consultancy?

[atldev]

No, we're all volunteers and we raise money for projects. What I mean is that we don't hand out money. We work alongside the community on each project.

[Radim]

Charity.

But the best kind, the kind that may actually work long-term (as long as "raise money" means voluntary donations, and not some sort of taxation).

[rtpg]

Not trying to be snarky, but are you implying that raising money through taxation would somehow not make this work?

[Tycho]

I think he's saying that if the money is raised through taxation then it's not charity.

[robk]

Doesn't the weak link seem to be the leadership council? Any form of power being held can lead to abuse and misapplication of funds vs direct funding.