Why Kristof's endorsement of 'D.I.Y. Aid' is poorly informed

I've avoided reading and writing about The Kristof lately as I've really been trying to get the stress in my life under control. But this merits a response as apparently somebody still doesn't understand the difference between evidence and anecdotes.

In case you've been hiding under a rock, here's a quick rundown on what happened. The Kristof wrote a long piece extolling the virtues of Do-It-Yourself Aid projects, in which amateurs circumvent large aid agencies to implement programs on their own. Dave Algoso wrote a very measured and kind response pointing out that, actually, aid is a very difficult profession and not one that amateurs are equipped to undertake and do well. Tales from the Hood also wrote an excellent response in which he noted that aid is not about us, while DIY aid is often all about the do-er.

The Kristof responded to this barrage of criticism in a late Friday afternoon blog post, which seems to be his preferred time to respond to criticism. In it, he wrote:

Compared to professionals, amateurs tend to be more, well, amateurish. Accountability can be a real problem. But on the whole, I think this concern is misstated. I’ve generally found that grassroots, locally owned aid projects have a better record than large scale, top-down ones that don’t always have the same buy-in. And the truth is that DIY aid projects are more likely to be modest, grassroots efforts undertaken with strong local partners. They often keep their ear to the ground and tinker with their model more than the larger projects. Aid projects often succeed at the experimental level and then have difficulty going to scale, but that’s less of an issue with DIY investments that are never meant to scale up (that’s a separate problem with them, and a legitimate concern).

Tales from the Hood tackles, brings down, and sends to the locker room the idea that amateurism isn't that big of a problem in two wonderful posts on professionalism in aid here and here. What I want to focus on is the problem with Kristof's claims here in terms of research methods, namely that there's not any evidence for his claims. "I’ve generally found that grassroots, locally owned aid projects have a better record than large scale, top-down ones that don’t always have the same buy-in" may be true based on Kristof's limited exposure to local aid projects, but it's not one that's supported by any systematically gathered evidence that I've seen. Has anyone else?

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