Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions

Abstract

In today’s in-depth conversation, Karen Levy and I chat about: • Sustainability, often meaning self-reliance without needing continual donor aid, can put significant financial strain on already struggling economies. • The term participatory often results in an impractical burden for underprivileged groups, who are expected to be actively involved in planning and delivering services. • Holistic approaches can dilute focus, obscure individual project impacts, and become unaffordably expensive. • Why it pays to figure out how you’ll interpret the results of an experiment ahead of time • The trouble with misaligned incentives within the development industry • Projects that don’t deliver value for money and should be scaled down • Whether governments typically pay for a project once outside funding is withdrawn • How Karen accidentally became a leading figure in the push to deworm tens of millions of schoolchildren • Logistical challenges in reaching huge numbers of people with essential services • How Karen has enjoyed living in Kenya for several decades • Lessons from Karen’s many-decades career • The goals of Karen’s new project: Fit for Purpose