In rural Kenya, $22 a month can go a long way. We’re talking about a life-changing coin.
This figure is actually what the nonprofit charity GiveDirectly calculates as needed to conduct an experiment to alleviate extreme poverty in developing countries. In 2018, an NGO launched a test case in carefully selected villages in Kenya, offering adults $22 per month free remittances without the measures they chose. Not just one year, 12 years.
Documentary free moneyMaking its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, the film explores the real-world impact of this experiment on the villagers of the Kugutu settlement. American director Lauren DeFilippo has joined forces with Kenyan director Sam Soko to shoot a movie. DeFilippo created the project with permission from GiveDirectly to film his daring effort.
“I went to Cugutu and was there from the beginning when they came up with all this and came up with the idea,” DeFilippo told Deadline. “I quickly realized that this was going to be more than a movie about an idea, a universal basic income idea, but it was the story of a character I wanted to capture and didn’t have to do it with. a rural area. Kenyans. like a white lady. I started looking for a collaborator really early on and was lucky enough to find Sam Soko and somehow get her involved. “
The film follows a series of villagers who overcome their initial doubts about an offer that seems too good to be true. For example, the money enabled 18-year-old John Omondi to attend university in the capital, Nairobi.
“I can cover my basic expenses,” he says in the movie, “transportation to school, some of my tuition fees, and more.”
A person unexpectedly used it to dig a well; Someone else bought a cow, then another cattle. Another person improved his home. It’s all right, isn’t it? Yes, up to a point.
“We’re seeing some pretty positive effects from UBI in the short term,” says DeFilippo. “When you talk to people in town who get the money, they say it’s very transformative… Although we were skeptical, we’ve seen the results and seen people’s lives change.”
But this is not the end of the story. free money Discover the fascinating and often disturbing results of the GiveDirectly experiment. A basic income gives beneficiaries some control over their own destiny. However, in a sense, participants can be considered guinea pigs in a remote scenario.
“The people whose lives you choose to change ultimately have no authority,” Soko says. “If you have a problem [with the program]They have nowhere to go. Because you are trying to manage and solve the problem from above, it is easy to forget that the people below may have important critical questions that you may not be asking because of your strength.”
Perhaps the experiment had unintended sociological consequences. He quickly created a mini-world, rich and poor. Kugutu’s favorite suddenly became ‘to have’. However, the people of the surrounding villages remained in the “poor” camp. These separate villages often contained members of the same family.
“This is someone who comes in and just draws a line and says, ‘You’re going to improve in this field faster than people on the other side. This is your brother,” says Soko. “It will be interesting and curious to see how these long-term relationships develop.”
In neighboring villages outside the UBI program, some residents were confused and questioned their faith in God.
“It was heartbreaking to hear from neighbors like Milka, the woman who appears in the movie. [She was] Like, “We don’t know what we did wrong…”, DeFilippo recalls. “He thinks they have an opportunity and somehow they missed it. That regret is hard to hear.”
GiveDirectly believes in being an evidence-based analytical organization dedicated to examining the effectiveness of its programs. In any case, the film does not show that anyone in the organization has been slumbered by a Kenyan village in crisis of faith.
“It’s not the level of outcome that matters to them,” Soko says, “because the experiment works for them. [Their attitude is]”Let’s move on to the next one.”
GiveDirectly received an A+ rating from CharityWatch.org, which describes itself as “America’s most independent and powerful charity.” Charity Watch evaluates a charity based on several criteria, including how effectively it uses donations. But DeFilippo argues that such watchdog groups don’t see the whole picture.
“It all depends on the donor’s perspective on how the money is used.” And none of this takes buyers into account,” he says. “That’s the ulterior motive we have: We want to change that and the issues of ethics and responsibility.”
The website GiveDirectly says it has donated more than $550 million in cash to “more than 1.25 million families living in poverty” since 2009, and cheerfully adds (in the context of a call for more donations) “And no, people don’t. “Just blow the drink. Everything’s fine. That’s what most people think at first.”
The NGO’s CEO and co-founder, Michael Fay, is featured in the documentary, arguing that it does things the GM method, unlike previous sometimes unsuccessful efforts to alleviate poverty (Kenyan journalist Larry Maddow. free money“[T]There is a long history of NGOs that bothers many.” The GiveDirectly website writes: “We believe that people living in poverty deserve the honor of choosing how to improve their lives – cash makes that choice possible.”
free money It does not represent an endorsement or condemnation of GiveDirectly and the Socioeconomic Transformation Experiment.
“I really feel like we’re making this movie for an audience from different ends of the spectrum,” DeFilippo says. “The Western view is that these good guys are up for a good fight. The view of African Kenyans is as follows: “We’ve seen this before. It won’t end well.’ We really wanted to tell a story that appealed to both sides. “
free money It is a buy title in TIFF. Dogwoof manages international sales; CAA is the sales representative of the USA This is a timely movie as Universal Basic Income is becoming a growing topic of discussion around the world. Presumably, the Trump and Biden administrations essentially experimented with UBI during and after the Covid shutdown, when they gave unlimited cash grants or “incentive checks” to Americans. This emerged as part of the Coronavirus Relief, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was declared a state of emergency in late March 2020. Research shows that financial aid makes a big difference.
according to PBS first line “Researchers at the Urban Institute… examined the benefits and stimulus measures during the pandemic period. Looking at 2021 as a whole, they predicted that government aid programs, both pre-COVID and created in response to the pandemic, will reduce the 2021 poverty rate to 67% of what it would be without aid. state. ”
“What’s happened over the last five years is that universal basic income has come into a lot of discussion,” Soko says. Many experiments are being done all over the world, in Europe, Africa, America. Governments are really asking how to use UBI… [in] A partial form as a means of confronting and overcoming poverty. So it’s up to us. “
About the documentary, Soko adds: “We think this film is a very urgent part of this conversation and has become a very important part of this broader field and the universal spirit of basic income and remittances.
Source: Deadline
Errol Villanueva is an author and lifestyle journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for exploring the latest trends in fashion, food, travel, and wellness, Errol’s articles are a must-read for anyone interested in living a stylish and fulfilling life.
