Facebook founder hands out tons of money to poor people in Africa

Among the many charitable programs there are both effective ones that allow developing the economy of poor countries and improving the lives of people, as well as frankly weird and controversial ones, like PlayPump, which are ineffective pumps for water disguised as children’s merry-go-rounds and worked through child labor.

The GiveDirectly project is trying to solve the problem of poverty in Africa directly - simply by handing out money to the needy. You can spend them on any purpose. GiveDirectly is considered the first charitable organization that decided to distribute money to donors directly. The GiveDirectly grant of a thousand dollars exceeds GDP per capita in Uganda.

Studies show that, contrary to expectations, the poor mostly don’t eat money and don’t spend it on alcohol, tobacco and drugs, but instead invest in things necessary for life - like a metal roof for a house. A large amount also pushes the poor to look for work and improves their quality of life.

Another important point: if some programs, such as the fight against malaria and the distribution of pills against parasites, are finite and can exhaust themselves, then the money of rich Western patrons of poor Africa will always be needed, it seems. Money is much more important for the poor than for the rich, and monetary assistance will never lose its relevance, Vox notes.

Tranche Dustin Moskowitz, who together with Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and owns more than two percent of the shares of the social network - the largest in the history of GiveDirectly.

The Moskovits Foundation has previously supported a charitable organization whose board of directors includes another Harvard graduate Chris Hughes who was involved in the founding of Facebook, but donations were limited to two to five million dollars.

Now he has allocated 25 millions, of them directly to Kenyans and Ugandans from 16 to 19 million dollars. The rest of the money will go to administrative needs and give GiveDirectly advertising campaign, writes Vox.