The tyranny of numbers, and the in-kind resources we don’t count

Emmanuel Waiswa, Civil Collective

Over a decade ago, I attended a community fundraiser meeting where I had to contribute. As a farmer, donating a goat was my first thought. “Sell the goat and give us the money!” said the Chair of the meeting. Was the goat less valuable than cash? Certainly not! Just like some communities, those of us who interact with international aid have grown used to valuing financial donations over non-cash gifts. We have done this at the expense of unpaid caregivers, volunteers who go the extra mile, and those who make in-kind contributions to our community development work. Yet these non-financial contributions often remain unseen.

When it comes to measuring the inputs of development work, financial contributions don’t tell the whole story. Sure, we need numbers to track investments, but focusing only on the numbers from cash contributions misses the heart of what matters because other resources that present as in-kind contributions and social connections also contribute to the development process. When people are asked to talk about poverty, they often express their lives as limited by many other issues, and not solely the lack of money. So why then, do we mainly talk about the solutions in terms of only cash we can count? Ignoring these in-kind contributions leads to a system and culture in which the full extent of community non-financial contributions is not counted.

This is an excerpt of a blog. To read the piece in its entirety, head to the #ShiftThePower Treehouse.

By: Emmanuel Waiswa, Founder and Director of Civil Collective