community involvement
Hot new trick for identifying the poor: Letting neighbors rank each other
Sometimes social scientists measure wealth and poverty by earnings; other times by assets. But the truth is, most people use a much simpler approach. They compare themselves to their neighbors.
It’s the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses"—the perception that to see where you stand in society, you look next door. Turns out this might be good social science, too. A recent MIT research group studying aid distribution found that neighbors comparing and ranking their own wealth relative to others in the community is really the best determinant of who has the most, and who has the most need.
By involving communities rather than relying on empirical calculations of wealth and poverty, the researchers found that aid programs were able to target those who truly had the most need. Neighbors are able to see the complexities of things like illness, single motherhood, earning potential and education level that simple asset calculations can’t account for, Fast Company reported. They also have a better idea of the type of informal work others in the community may do to make ends meet, and thus are better able to see who needs the most assistance rather than simply who fits the textbook definition of poverty.
Asking beneficiaries who's in need has another, perhaps even more important benefit. It increases satisfaction and participation in aid programs, making them more useful to exactly the people who need them.
The lesson, it seems, is easy enough. To determine who in a community should receive aid … just ask.
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