Nickel and Diming: Not An End-Goal Solution

There is a coffee shop in my town that has recently started a small nonprofit arm of its organization.  They call it Full Circle Coffee, and it purchases – through Fair Trade markets – coffee beans from small farmers in developing countries.  Admittedly, this is an excellent program that is helping some families.  It is making a difference for someone, and that means something.

But it is not making a difference for everyone – and that means something, too.

I am not saying that we should never do anything on a micro level.  But I am trying to point out that micro-level aid will not ever change the macro-level.  It will not change the context.  Farmers will still barely get by in their poor local economies with terrible infrastructure and far-too-basic education.  Helping them in small ways will make a difference, but it will not change the overall context of the situation.  It will not end the problem.

We cannot continue to nickel and dime our way through humanitarian aid if we think that will end these problems.  Doing small, micro-level things will not change the context and end these problems.  It helps some people, for sure; but it does not help everyone.  And we cannot continue to nickel and dime our way through these problems, because it is not enough.

So what I am trying to say with all of this?  My main point is this: Based on the fact that we are not doing well with ending these problems in the world, we need to be more strategic about our aid.  Since we need to be more strategic about our aid, we need to recognize that we cannot nickel and dime our way to ending these problems.  We need to strategically put our aid in endeavors that will change the context, the macro, the overall – and end these problems.

It’s time for us to realize that no matter how good these small programs like Full Circle Coffee can be, they are not ending these problems.  And that needs to be our focus.  Nickel and diming humanitarian aid will not end these problems.

…and we need to end these problems.