Beneficence, Street Begging, and Diverted Giving Schemes

Abstract

In recent years, some cities and localities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere have adopted or intend to adopt one potential solution to the difficulties inherent in addressing the needs of street beggars: diverted giving schemes (DGSs). A DGS is an institutional response designed to motivate people to donate money in charity boxes or donation meters rather than directly to street beggars. Their advocates believe that DGSs are both more efficient and more ethically permissible than direct giving to individual beggars. This article asks whether and how a DGS can be justified. It offers a normative evaluation of the main idea behind this policy, namely, that anonymous and spontaneous donations to charity boxes are in themselves an adequate policy instrument to address the problem of street begging. Ultimately, the paper argues against this idea and develops the case that DGSs can potentially compromise our ability to act on our moral duties toward truly needy beggars. Moreover, it explains why and under which circumstances this kind of program can potentially and seriously interfere with the freedom and opportunities of individuals in the begging population.

The role of community leaders in the eradication of alms begging in Nima, Ghana

“…However, development practitioners and policymakers alike have found it difficult in some cases to assess and distinguish between genuine beggars and fraudulent ones; decide who among the genuine beggars should first receive support; and what form of support should be providedwhether the supports should be direct or indirect (P erez-Muñoz, 2018).…”

“…If support to beggars is direct, then benefactors may find it difficult to identify genuine beggars from the fraudulent ones. Those who are not in favour of direct donation to beggars have argued that giving money or other forms of gifts directly to the beggars will damage their self-respect (Allais, 2015;P erez-Muñoz, 2018) because begging for alms can be humiliating. Thus, alms giving is likely to result in an unequal relationship between beggars and those who give.…”

“…Some have held the view that lack of social capital (e.g. family and friends) and weak social welfare policies and services explain why some people beg publicly (Lee and Farrell, 2003; Pérez-Muñoz, 2018; Tillotson and Lein, 2017).…”

Pak RT is Our Hero

“…This means potentially create urban slums [13], Begging can also be seen as a survival strategy of hunger, increase revenue when ill, unemployed or at a time of scarcity [14], Some effort is required to tackle the problem of beggars. Holistic and effective policy coordination is needed in response to widespread social exclusion of people who beg [15], A large number of beggars seeking information to solve problems encountered during the begging, they depend on the phone but the tools especially illiteracy and lack of awareness about basic rights to information and information needs are the major difficulties faced beggar for accessing information [16], Some policies about the use of media charity box managed by the agency applied in various places for distribution of donations to beggars, is seen as more effective policies to channel donations to beggars but the management should be transparent and be responsible for the money received from donors as well as distribution [17],…”

“…Various studies have been conducted to assess the problem of beggars, As well as about the presence of beggars in various places [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] and efforts to address the problem of beggars [15], [16], [17] but there is no explanation about how the efforts to overcome the need for facilities and infrastructure in the midst of economic limitations.…”