Case Study

Food for the children—or bribes for the Minister of Education?

   Food for the Children, an international NGO based in the UK, provides foodgrains and powdered milk to families where children are at risk of malnourishment or starvation. It has provided food to families in the small South Pacific Island nation of Papua Tuyua for the past eight years, utilizing the school system as the means of identifying needy children and distributing the food. The Minister of Education in Papua Tuyua has approved the involvement of the school system in this project, though each year the process of approval has become more cumbersome and drawn out. Sarah Britton has arrived from London for a one week visit as the representative from Food for the Children sent to negotiate the arrangement, and she quickly comes to the opinion that the Education Minister is delaying the process in hopes for a bribe. The local school officials are eager for the food supplies and assure Sarah that they can distribute the food on their own with or without the Minister’s approval.

   Sarah sends an email to the executive committee in London requesting instructions on what she should do. The food has to be supplied within the next several days before the monsoons come.

Question:

You are members of the executive committee. What should Sarah do?