A New Approach to Poverty

Here's an essay that I put together for a course I'm advising for at Chiang Mai;  its written from the perspective of a business major.  Anyway, its in response to a recent book that I read, 'When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself' by Steve Corbett and Ryan Fikkert.  I think my next blog post will be a review of the book itself, including some of my favorite quotes and my responses to them. Enjoy.
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A New Approach to Poverty

          As Business-Administration majors we are interested in enterprising initiatives in business around the world. In particular, we are looking for good ideas that can serve as models in the ongoing task of poverty alleviation. Our purpose is to look at new approaches that are effective in tackling the issue of poverty in the developing world.  Although historically poverty is attributed to having a lack of material resources, today, research shows that the fundamental problem goes beyond just the material needs (Corbett & Fikkert, 2009), but also includes having a lack of positive relationships with others, as well as a lack of personal accountability and initiative.

       

        The foremost way in which people are considered in poverty is through a lack of material resources. If someone has no money, they are not able to afford such basic necessities as food, clothing, and shelter.  Being in poverty, however, also leads to many other problems. For instance, the poor start to feel trapped by other interconnected factors, including having insufficient assets; feeling vulnerable, powerless, isolated; and having physical weakness (Chambers, 1997). Being monetarily destitute can thus lead to destitution of the person as well.  Moreover, those in poverty begin to feel a sense of worthlessness about their situations, to withdraw from mainstream society, and to experience overbearing physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue and depression.  It is therefore clear that being without money is a crucial problem in itself.  In these cases, then, monetary relief is necessary so that people’s physical needs can be met.  That is, in order for further rehabilitation and development to take place, a person first requires relief in that their basic needs have been met.

         

Lacking in physical, material things is certainly the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about poverty. But it is not the only thing.

A second way in which people can be considered in poverty is through a lacking in social relationships with others. If someone is not developing solid friendships, or is isolated from others in society, they may be considered “socially impoverished”.  That is, they suffer from a lack of meaningful relationships with other human beings, which is necessary for their growth and development as people.  A successful initiative today should thus focus not on projects or products that serve the poor, but on building a relationship with them and working together with them on common ground (Corbett & Fikkert, 2009).  One should keep in mind that rather than trying to “fix” the poor, that the relationship is what is important.  In the process, the “helper” may find out how impoverished they are and how much they need the “helped” in order to see their own social poverty.

        Aside from physical and social needs, there is a third type of poverty.  That is, people can also suffer from a lack of personal initiative and accountability.  Rather than looking for or creating opportunity, they give up and do not take helping themselves into their own hands.  Instead, they depend fully on others and forget how to help themselves.  According to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, it is this lack of freedom to be able to make meaningful choices—to have an ability to affect one’s situation, that is the distinguishing feature of poverty (1999). Moreover, people may have the chance to get out of poverty if they only looked for the opportunities that are around them, rather than giving up and deciding that they cannot do anything about their situation. An effective approach to poverty alleviation thus seeks greater participation of the “helped” in their own rehabilitation, asking them to be accountable in the process. In turn, people learn to earn sufficient material things through the fruit of their own labor.

          We have now illustrated how poverty can be a result of lacking not just in material things, but in lacking social relationships and personal accountability as well.  We have also looked at some of the ways in which to address these issues, and how as Business-Administration majors we ourselves might approach the issue of poverty alleviation. Aside from just giving people handouts of money or completing projects, we need to build relationships with the poor.  By working together, we can help them to realize their gifts and abilities to avoid being in this situation in the future. Moreover, once individuals become empowered to help their own situations, they find their own ways to make money and support their families and communities.   In benefiting from a relationship with others, they in turn take helping themselves into their own hands.