Professional Is Not a Title

"Professionalism may have less to do with your job title/organization and whether you are paid staff or a volunteer, and more to do with how you approach aid/development."

That is from Saundra Schimmelpfennig's excellent post over at Good Intentions are Not Enough. There has been a lot of commentary on Nick Kristof's recent NYT Magazine article about "DIY" foreign aid. The heat:light ratio of that commentary has been high. Saundra's common sense in summarizing the apparently diverging views on this topic is most welcome, because it shows that there is more consensus than might be apparent. Here is more:

"There is a need for fresh perspectives and a variety of ideas and approaches. However this must be tempered with knowledge of the factors that led to success and failures in the past so the same mistakes are not constantly repeated."

I recommend the whole post.

www.globalgiving.org, Pulling for the Underdog