People want change

For the longest time I have been hearing that services can't be provided to underserved communities for free. The rationale behind such statements - "people will take advantage of the services because they do not truly 'value' the services."

I have always felt this was a bit too narrow sided. It seemed to me that the poorest, most marginalized people - are the communities and populations that need the services the most. They also tend to have the least resources.

A new study by the Poverty Action Lab at MIT (also known as the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab or J-PAL) confirms my assumption - having people pay for services is not always the best approach. J-PAL's well crafted and fastidiously implemented research demonstrates that charging (even nominal fees) creates barriers for poor communities. And, barriers lead to a reduction in services utilization.

You have heard the argument, charge a small fee for the mosquito bed-netting and the mother will value the netting and use it to protect her children from malaria. Well - this J-PAL study ("The Price is Wrong") seems to confirm just the opposite. Providing free and easily accessible resources and services to extremely improvised communities is the most effective mechanism to serve the needs of the communities and the people.

The one caveat to this study - it does not purport to encompass every community or every service. The research is solid for the services they list - but probably needs to be expanded to include other services predominately distributed in global outreach.

Sound scientifically driven research - this is fantastic and has the potential for revolutionizing the way that the international aid community delivers services and resources. J-PAL is a fantastic resource and a much needed asset to all of our efforts.