Hmmphs at World Vision

[sqbr]

I donate to World Vision every now and then since it's a friend's favoured charity and they always seemed ok. Yesterday I read a little rant about foreign aid which included a swipe at World Vision for forcing Christianity on people and in general bossing locals around and being condescending and unhelpful. I mean to look into that, but before I had the chance got an email from World Vision asking me to do a survey about charities in general, and I decided to get it dealt with before I lose my answering-email momentum.

There were a few opportunities to express my opinion on the relationship between charity and religion (I have no issue with religious charities in principle if they're actually helping people, but prefer secular charities given the option), which I took gladly, but there was absolutely no way to express a desire for charities to work with communities and let those in need control or even offer input on what form their aid takes. It wasn't anywhere in the list of priorities, and there was no place to leave it as a write in answer or add general comments at the end. Hmmmmph!

Comments

[lilacsigil]

World Vision has several different parts, and some of them seem to be more community-focused than others - there's been complaints from India and Sri Lanka about a lack of local consultation, but there seem to be more locals involved in West Africa and Ethiopia. And they sponsor general infrastructure improvement and health initiatives rather then invidividual children these days, which is a good thing.

[sqbr]

Yes, I get the impression they do do some good. And of course the people in charge of writing the survey are probably not the ones on the ground!