Changing the Way We Donate

In her altering aid talk, Joy Sun suggests that putting cash directly into the hands of the poorest people on earth is a more beneficial way of providing aid. This system, referred to as "unconditional cash flow," is now possible, thanks to technology, on a much larger scale.

Our current models of charity and non-profit work are based on the assumption that poor people are in their current financial states because they are uneducated and uninformed. Furthermore, it takes that assumption and concludes that we could make better financial decisions for them. However, studies reveal that when given money directly, poor people are likely to invest and improve their quality of life, and work harder as a result. Payment technology, like the type used in 'Giving Directly,' an organization that provides people in Kenya and Uganda with mobile money transfers, has the power to disrupt the way we conduct our aid work.

Direct payment methods are an efficient and corruption-free way of reaching billions of the world's poor, and ones we should considering implementing.