Book Reviews

You'd think these were easy problems to fix: children are starving in Africa--give them food. People are dying from malaria--give them mosquito nets to protect themselves from bites while they're sleeping. So why are there STILL children starving and STILL people dying from Malaria?

William Easterly asks this exact question in his book, The White Man's Burden.

His answer? There are too many "planners" in charge of the resources and not enough "searchers." He uses the release of the fifth Harry Potter book as an example. The crux of his argument: if the world-wide release of this high-demand commodity can be synchronized to the day, surely providing food to children in Africa is doable. It's just that the right people are working on the problem.
"Planners," the ones with the money heading up the foundations, are busy planning to solve the "big" problems, they're tackling poverty, hunger, dirty water, joblessness and disease all at once, and not accomplishing anything. "Searchers," of which there are few in non-profit situations (at least world-wide), instead look for a piecemeal way to solve ONE problem.
The malaria nets, when given out for free, are used as decorations or storage, or as toys--not as a covering for one's sleeping area. But in Malawi, a different tactic was used: everyone is charged for mosquito nets through a particular program. The poor are charged about 50 cents, the rich are charged five dollars. Since the nets each cost a dollar to produce, the program pays for itself by selling to both rich and poor people. And this way, because people are putting a VALUE on the item, they are much more likely to use the malaria nets for shelter, not for recreation (pgs. 13-14).