Comments on Roving Bandit: Kiva: A Gateway Drug?

I think you're probably right. Would be very i...

2012-01-05T16:53:56.977Z

I think you're probably right. Would be very interesting to see what those people say.

In a certain large INGO I'm familiar with, a %...

2012-01-05T16:36:57.717Z

In a certain large INGO I'm familiar with, a %age of those who sign on and exit as regular donors, get surveyed in some detail on their reasons - including whether they're switching to another dev NGO, or another cause, and why. Judgements could be made on the propensity of impact-seeking behaviour. There's data around alright, I doubt you'll find much current & interesting stuff in published journals though. I'll see what I'm able to relate. My gut feel is that donors change much more based on pursuit of novelty than focused attempts for greater programme quality & impact from their donations.

thanks for the link!

2012-01-05T16:13:38.553Z

thanks for the link!

There seem to be two relevant "dependent vari...

2012-01-05T15:35:48.442Z

There seem to be two relevant "dependent variables" that could be influenced in the short run by participation in Kiva. As you highlight in your post, rising interest could lead to more future engagement (i.e. "get people hooked on dev"). But, on the other hand, the *quality* of the engagement will likely change as well as the quantity. That is, if someone falls into the camp of people for whom Kiva could be a gateway drug, they're not likely immersed in development/aid/etc. worlds already. Their early experiences may be highly formative to their views on how development works, what kind of aid is effective, what the nature of our relationship with poor countries is or should be, etc.

Since you're asking for data, I would point to the study on the impact of Live Aid on public perception of Africa: http://www.eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0708/DOC1830.pdf. I think of organizations like Kiva as being complicit in promoting misperceptions, even down to, at the most basic level, misrepresenting how Kiva loans work. For whatever reason, that distorting effect preoccupies me more than the quantity-of-engagement effect. As a result, I tend to worry that it will be a gateway drug to more perverse forms of engagement rather than more impactful ones...

Just thinking out loud!

You'll not only need data on whether or not it...

2012-01-05T12:25:59.352Z

You'll not only need data on whether or not it gets people more interested, but whether or not they are interested + informed enough to make a decent impact. Our initial experiences do much to cement our approach to development. As Cynan hints, if they get interested in development AND come from a sock-sending background, perhaps it would have been better if you had just stayed away in the first place.

Well lets see some data....

2012-01-05T11:34:36.394Z

Well lets see some data....

Unfortunately I have seen people use similar argum...

2012-01-05T11:23:59.879Z

Unfortunately I have seen people use similar arguments about sending socks to Japan.