Limitations of Gifts-In-Kind: A Day Without Dignity

Aid bloggers across the world are writing on behalf of "A Day Without Dignity," a counter-campaign to TOMS Shoes advertising-campaign "A Day Without Shoes" being held today. TOMS Shoes give away a pair of shoes to someone in a developing country for every pair of shoes they sell. This is otherwise known as "gifts in kind," which all sort of individuals and corporations do with their cast-off items for tax benefits.


There has been a lot of response from people mad on behalf of TOMS who believe that "doing something" is equivalent to "doing something good." Something is better than nothing, right? Not always. There is intervention, providing a good or service that is not available (like a complicated surgery) and then there is interference (disrupting the local market for shoes or food by distributing free shoes or food). It is easy to give some thing to somebody, but it is a lot harder (and a lot more worthwhile) to create access to that essential item or enable someone to have the means to purchase that item.

Tom Paulson of Humanosphere writes, "The problem many have with TOMS Shoes is that donating goods is widely regarded today as at best an inferior form of development assistance and, at worst, an external commercial force (whether well-intended or not) that works to undermine local businesses and economies in poor communities."

Shoe-seller in rural Haiti

Haitians don't lack shoes to buy, I pass a dozen or so shoe-sellers every day on my way to work.
Yes, Haitians need shoes to stay safe from the trash and disease on the street.
Yes, children need shoes to be allowed to attend school.
But shoes are attainable for the vast majority of the maléré, the poor. Most of the women I see wear pretty little sandals that wear out in like a month!

There are many things that aren't attainable for the poor that require the resources and abilities of many: good schools, good roads, and good water. Like I have written before, a lot of these things aren't something that people at home can help with. These are the essential roles of government. What Haitians need most of all is a government that can respond effectively to these challenges. Michel Martelly was peaceably elected yesterday as the next president of Haiti. Despite his inexperience and flaws, the aid community and other governments are needed to provide mentorship and resources to his government in order to solve the problems that can be solved by no one else.

Some of my favorite posts in response to A Day Without Dignity:

Humanitarian Aid and Education: An Autoethnography

This one is on the long side, but is a must-read for anyone struggling with the vague desire to help others (especially the poor in foreign countries). Maybe you almost applied to Peace Corps!

Stratosphere: Uganda

Project Diaspora: Uganda

I came home and asked my mother (without revealing to her what I was about to write) what was the one thing, above all, she wanted me to have as I was growing up. Without hesitation and in the soft voice I’ve  always known to have wisdom, she said, “an education.”

KM On A Dollar a Day: Listening

The poor themselves have needs, desires and hopes. They also have valuable insights into their situation and local knowledge about what might or might not work to improve it, or what it would take to introduce new ideas from the outside.