This weekend’s New York Times Magazine features an article by Nick Kristof on the “new” phenomenon of “do-it-yourself” foreign aid work. The idea of young, idealistic Westerners leaving behind a life of privilege to try to fix the many problems of the developing world isn’t a new one: it’s what drove the Peace Corps revolution in the 70s and 80s and what makes so many young people today raise money for causes far from their own lives. Kristof says near the end of his article that, “well-meaning individuals like Doyne (one of the women in his piece) help at the edges but don’t fundamentally change the nature of the challenge.” And this is true. Drops in the bucket are crucial and can have much more tangible benefits than country-wide policy programs, but it gives everyone involved a sense that it CAN work (even just a little bit). That said, the more interesting question to me is how do we incorporate these smaller missions with the larger ones like the MDGs? Can they overlap without compromising the success of the other?