I agree with you, and yes, I kind of missed the systems change part that GiveDirectly is doing. GiveDirectly works with the government in Malawi and Rwanda. They got 100 million in funding from Canva, which they use to implement cash transfers in an entire region in Malawi. Testing it in one district with 185 000 citizens + collaboration with the government is a good step towards systems change, since they can work in entire districts instead of villages. I also know that Equal Right is active in Malawi as well, and their end goal is global universal basic income. I think that GiveDirectly is collaborating with Cool Earth, Equal Right and other basic income organisations (they were invited to collaborate on a text we wrote). Even if this might not be “real systems change”, there are other variables as well. For example, GiveDirectly is used for benchmarking for comparing the impact of different charities and different types of aid, which means that they are inclined to show more impact than cash transfers. GiveDirectly also shifts power from a top-down perspective to a bottom-up perspective. So, I think it is much bigger than it seems.
Just because you work through government doesn’t make it systems change. Governments are usually happy to implement stuff if someone else is paying, then when the money dries up so does the work. I wouldn’t call their Malawi work systems change really.
What I would call systems change is their work convincing the UNHCR to give cash rather than food a lot of the time to refugees.
I agree with you, and yes, I kind of missed the systems change part that GiveDirectly is doing. GiveDirectly works with the government in Malawi and Rwanda. They got 100 million in funding from Canva, which they use to implement cash transfers in an entire region in Malawi. Testing it in one district with 185 000 citizens + collaboration with the government is a good step towards systems change, since they can work in entire districts instead of villages. I also know that Equal Right is active in Malawi as well, and their end goal is global universal basic income. I think that GiveDirectly is collaborating with Cool Earth, Equal Right and other basic income organisations (they were invited to collaborate on a text we wrote). Even if this might not be “real systems change”, there are other variables as well. For example, GiveDirectly is used for benchmarking for comparing the impact of different charities and different types of aid, which means that they are inclined to show more impact than cash transfers. GiveDirectly also shifts power from a top-down perspective to a bottom-up perspective. So, I think it is much bigger than it seems.
Yes, Fortify Health is doing a really good job! Family Empowerment Media is also expanding to other regions and countries, which is very nice to see!
Just because you work through government doesn’t make it systems change. Governments are usually happy to implement stuff if someone else is paying, then when the money dries up so does the work. I wouldn’t call their Malawi work systems change really.
What I would call systems change is their work convincing the UNHCR to give cash rather than food a lot of the time to refugees.