The Problem With International Development—and a Plan to Fix It
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Michael Hobbes examines the persistent failures in international development, using the PlayPump water system as a case study for how promising interventions collapse during rapid scaling. Drawing on research by economists like Michael Kremer and the experiences of projects from Jeffrey Sachs’s Millennium Villages to deworming programs, he reveals how donor pressure, overhead paranoia, and the pursuit of Big Ideas create a predictable cycle of initial success followed by widespread failure.
The article argues that development’s fundamental problem isn’t ineffectiveness but unrealistic expectations driven by complex adaptive systems that resist one-size-fits-all solutions. Hobbes proposes abandoning the quest for transformative interventions in favor of incremental, context-specific approaches, increased investment in organizational infrastructure, and leveraging wealthy nations’ economic power to create conditions where development can occur organically rather than through imposed solutions.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
The Predictable Failure Pattern
Development interventions follow a recurring cycle: exciting innovation, localized success, massive donor funding, rapid expansion without adequate testing, widespread failure.
Evidence Doesn’t Scale Automatically
Randomized controlled trials proving interventions work in one location provide insufficient evidence for assuming effectiveness across millions of people in different contexts.
The Overhead Paradox
Donor obsession with low overhead percentages forces NGOs to underinvest in essential infrastructure, training, and evaluation systems needed for actual effectiveness.
Complex Adaptive Systems
Communities function as ecosystems where introducing external interventions triggers unpredictable adaptations, making outcomes impossible to forecast from controlled trials alone.
Development Has Actually Worked
Despite project failures, global poverty has declined dramatically over 50 years, suggesting development happens through gradual processes rather than transformative interventions.
Moral Imperative Remains
Despite logistical and technical problems, the fundamental argument for development aid—addressing massive global inequality—remains morally compelling and practically necessary.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Systemic Dysfunction in International Aid
International development faces structural failures not because individual projects are poorly conceived, but because the entire system—donor incentives, scaling pressures, overhead restrictions, and unrealistic expectations—creates conditions where well-intentioned interventions predictably collapse when expanded beyond their original context.
Purpose
Recalibrating Development Expectations
To challenge the development industry’s pursuit of transformative Big Ideas and advocate for incremental, context-specific interventions supported by adequate organizational infrastructure, ultimately arguing that modest improvements achieved through patient, evidence-based work are both more realistic and morally necessary than failed attempts at revolutionary change.
Structure
Case Studies → Pattern Analysis → Solutions
Opens with PlayPump failure narrative → Examines evidence-based interventions through Kremer’s deworming research → Exposes overhead paradox through NGO internal operations → Analyzes complex adaptive systems via Millennium Villages → Concludes with moral argument and incremental reform proposals, using concrete examples throughout to illustrate abstract systemic problems.
Tone
Self-Critical, Analytical & Ultimately Hopeful
Combines insider candor with rigorous critique, maintaining scholarly objectivity while injecting personal anecdotes and occasional irreverence. Despite cataloguing systemic failures, avoids cynicism by anchoring arguments in moral conviction and proposing realistic reforms rather than abandoning the development enterprise entirely.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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A long, passionate piece of writing or speech, typically expressing strong opinions or criticism about a particular subject.
“Sachs became a development celebrity with his book The End of Poverty, a screed against the rich world’s complacency.”
In a way that is impossible to understand or explain; confusingly or bewilderingly.
“The American Red Cross sent confused volunteers, clueless employees, and, bafflingly, perishable Danish pastries to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.”
Relating to or measured by the quality or character of something rather than numerical data or quantities.
“Judging charities on the impacts of their work yields qualitative information, sentences, and observations that can’t be compared across charities.”
A typical example, pattern, or model of something; a worldview or set of assumptions underlying a theory or practice.
“What I want to talk shit on is the paradigm of the Big Idea—that once we identify the correct one, we can simply unfurl it on the entire developing world.”
A countless or extremely great number of something; innumerable or multitudinous.
“The arguments against international development are myriad, and mostly logistical and technical.”
Disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed; freed from idealistic beliefs.
“I’m sometimes disillusioned with what my job requires me to do, what it requires that I demand of others.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to the article, Michael Kremer’s deworming research in Kenya conclusively proved that deworming pills improve children’s academic test scores.
2What does the author identify as the primary reason NGOs avoid investing in overhead infrastructure like dedicated HR and fundraising departments?
3Which sentence best captures the author’s core argument about why development interventions fail when scaled up?
4Evaluate whether each statement about the Millennium Villages Project in Dertu is supported by the article:
The influx of donor money and improved infrastructure attracted thousands of new residents from refugee camps and other parts of Kenya.
The project failed primarily because Jeffrey Sachs hired managers who lacked knowledge of local culture and language.
Dertu transformed from a temporary stopover for nomads into a permanent settlement where people stayed specifically to access project benefits.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5Based on the author’s discussion of food aid and malnutrition in Udaipur, India, what can be inferred about his view on addressing poverty?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Complex adaptive systems refers to communities as ecosystems where culture, politics, history, laws, infrastructure, and individual behaviors interact dynamically. Like introducing a non-native species to a coral reef, inserting development interventions—donor cash, trained personnel, equipment—causes the entire system to adapt in unpredictable ways. The Millennium Villages Project in Dertu illustrates this: improved infrastructure attracted migration, creating dependency that transformed a nomadic stopover into a permanent settlement struggling with overcrowding and resource strain that donors never anticipated.
The author contends that proving an intervention works for 30,000 students in one Kenyan district doesn’t guarantee it will work for millions across Africa or India because local conditions vary enormously. Success depends on context-specific factors—language compatibility, existing infrastructure, cultural practices, political stability—that don’t transfer automatically. The deworming case demonstrates this: while rigorously proven effective in Kenya, Evidence Action stopped measuring educational outcomes when scaling to millions in India, essentially assuming universal applicability without continued verification. Testing must be iterative and location-specific rather than a one-time validation for global rollout.
The PlayPump paradox reveals that the same feature making a development idea appealing—clever design solving multiple problems simultaneously—often guarantees its failure at scale. The pump seemed perfect: child-powered water access plus billboard revenue for maintenance plus HIV prevention messaging. But this complexity created multiple failure points: children weren’t reliable energy sources, billboards didn’t sell in rural areas, maintenance systems collapsed. The author notes that in some villages under specific circumstances, PlayPumps worked fabulously, but donor pressure to find universal solutions prevented context-appropriate deployment. Sometimes the simplest solution—a hand pump—outperforms the cleverest innovation.
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This article is classified as Advanced level, requiring sophisticated analytical skills to navigate complex arguments about systems theory, evidence-based policy, and development economics. The text demands understanding nuanced critiques that simultaneously acknowledge development’s achievements while exposing structural failures, tracking extended case studies across multiple paragraphs, and synthesizing insights from diverse sources including academic research, NGO practice, and policy analysis. Vocabulary includes specialized terms like “randomistas,” “philanthrocapitalism,” and “complex adaptive systems” used with precision in context-dependent ways that reward careful reading.
Hobbes grounds his defense in moral rather than technical arguments: “We have so much, they have so little.” Despite demonstrating that even wildly successful interventions produce modest gains—deworming pills adding only $30 to lifetime wages—he argues these incremental improvements matter profoundly for the world’s poorest people. The article’s conclusion rejects abandoning development in favor of recalibrating expectations: accepting that social policy advances through baby steps and trial-and-error rather than revolutionary breakthroughs. His insider perspective acknowledges dysfunction while insisting the moral imperative to address global inequality justifies continued investment in more realistic, patient approaches.
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