Presented by the Kellogg Institute’s Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, the Ford Family Notre Dame Award honors individuals and organizations committed to standing with those in deepest need. Rather than imposing solutions, awardees work alongside the communities they serve, empowering them to become the primary agents of their own change.
Recipients are chosen for their transformative contributions to international human development through research, practice, public service, or philanthropy. This year, the Ford Award will be presented to Paul Niehaus followed by the Ford Lecture in Human Development, in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium at 11:00am.
Ford Lecture in Human Development — "Money for Nothing: Is it Nuts to Give Money to the Poor with No Strings Attached?"
Is it nuts to give money to the poor with no strings attached? And if not, why? This lecture charts GiveDirectly's journey from a controversial idea to a billion dollars delivered, examining what 24 randomized controlled trials revealed along the way about poverty, human agency, and the assumptions implicit in international development. Beyond the economics lies a deeper argument—that program evaluation is never truly neutral, and that choosing which questions to ask is itself an ethical act.
This Ford Lecture in Human Development will be preceded by the conferring of the Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Development and Solidarity on Paul Niehaus.
For more information, visit the event page.
Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute at the Keough School of Global Affairs.