"But how are the scholarship recipients supposed to study when they live in one dirty room with six siblings and a single mother?" asked a fellow board-member (and veteran school counselor) during our meeting last night for a Tanzanian education NGO.
He had visited the homes of secondary school scholarship recipients and came away feeling frustrated. And now this small, highly efficient education NGO is offering loans and exploring construction opportunities.
I made a point for narrower goals, having just read about development bloat, but I'll admit that the slippery slope towards mission creep is, in fact, covered in ice. It is especially tempting to reach beyond your organizations original goals when you start to notice all the other symptoms of poverty that prevent your single intervention from working (or if you exhibit any form of empathy).
He had visited the homes of secondary school scholarship recipients and came away feeling frustrated. And now this small, highly efficient education NGO is offering loans and exploring construction opportunities.
I made a point for narrower goals, having just read about development bloat, but I'll admit that the slippery slope towards mission creep is, in fact, covered in ice. It is especially tempting to reach beyond your organizations original goals when you start to notice all the other symptoms of poverty that prevent your single intervention from working (or if you exhibit any form of empathy).
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