>We should encourage self-empowerment. If there are local laborers who can clean up after a natural disaster, we should empower them to help their community Us

>We should encourage self-empowerment. If there are local laborers who can clean up after a natural disaster, we should empower them to help their community Usually, though, this empowerment is just giving them money. >Instead of sending a Dr to heal people across the world, send a Dr to train local Dr's who heal the locals Similarly, subsidizing study-abroad programs could have a similar effect. I agree that stupidly giving out money is exactly that, stupid. But let's not let the pendulum swing too far the other way - the solution, much of the time, is giving out money, wisely. EDIT: I say the solution is to give out money much of the time because money offers freedom in ways that a good tractor doesn't; moreover, we might not know the comparative need of tractors vs doctors at as high a resolution or in as nuanced a way as the locals do, considering that we haven't lived where they have for X amount of years. Money lets them allocate according to their needs in real time and as specifically as they want. Of course this assumes the people that the money is going to is in the best interests of the people in general, and that's where wisdom and discretion come into play.