sustainability or pollo campero

The other day I was sitting in front of Pollo Campero (think Guatemalan KFC), waiting for a ride. A little girl came and asked for a coin. I didn't have one. She sat down and I started talking to her. Ten years old. Not in school. Doesn't know the alphabet. Never been inside a Pollo Campero. Her twenty-year-old tatooed sister with two children sat, begging, about 15 yards away. I invited them all in for a chicken dinner. Did it fix anything? No. Did it create dependency? Maybe. Did it reinforce begging? Probably. Was it the right thing to do?

Sustainability is the hot issue in the development world. Can the project sustain itself? Is it financially viable? Is it scalable? Is it profitable? What's the effect on the environment? Is it creating dependency? Is it teaching self-sufficiency? All these questions are crucial. There are too many stories of people with wonderful intentions who come and make a mess of things, and then, of course, are the billions of dollars of government interventions which are wasted. In Bangladesh I saw a multi-million dollar fishpond investment standing empty. Some foreign government had sent the money, the project was left half-completed and now stands as a memorial to ill-advised planning. Here in Guatemala we have been told stories about how LDS Church members from rural communities will take off their shoes, dress-up "really cute Lamanite" and go begging every time a Book of Mormon tour bus carrying North Americans rolls into town. I don't fault the rural members...they are doing the most economically rational thing they could possibly do, and their needs are real...but somehow it doesn't seem like the best solution.

On the other hand, solutions such as microcredit (when done well) have proven to be highly effective. The repayment statistics are incredible, the money is given directly to the poor and the capital is used to generate employment. But microcredit is not without its critics. It has been argued that microcredit doesn't reach the poorest of the poor, that MFIs (microfinance institutions) that focus on financial sustainability become as bad as the money lenders they seek to replace (google Compartamos), and that microcredit doesn't really provide a ladder to the formal economy, but instead allows people to eke by. Personally, I don't agree with those critics. I'll admit that mainstream microcredit is probably not a viable solution for the poorest of the poor (crippled beggars, the sick, the elderly, street children) but I don't see why someone would criticize helping a person who makes $2/day instead of $1. We just need to continue to seek out solutions for those microcredit doesn't help currently. As for financial viability--I'm convinced by the scaling argument. If only donor-funded microcredit is "pure" because it charges incredibly low interest rates, we'll never reach the required scale to really help the world's poor. And I do believe in the power of the market to dictate interest rates, especially as more and more MFI's spring up. Finally, the recipients of microcredit may never really grow their businesses beyond subsistance levels, but their children are going to school and the real effects make take a generation to see...

So what does this all have to do with the school? I guess I'm inclined towards the side of financial sustainability. We are making progress right now. We're reviewing the school's finances, we're reworking the organization and we are trying to lay the groundwork to grow the school. We will try to look for the best/most effective ways to use donations. The goal of financial sustainability requires hard decisions...what do you do when a family that is not on scholarship ceases to pay tuition--should they be asked to leave? Should they be allowed to enroll indefinately just because they have a sad story? I think these are cases best judged individually, but certainly there has to be a mix...

I have reflected on my experience here with the school, as well as with the beggars and finally came to some conclusions. On a systemic level, I think you have to push for sustainability (financial and otherwise) to have any real impact. As ProGuate moves forward, I think we will emphasize this more and more. On a personal level, however, I think we have been commanded to give, to succor, to love, without asking questions. So did I do the right thing by buying a chicken lunch for a family of beggars? Maybe not, but I would do it again.