attacking poverty

A series of papers written by academics and practitioners was recently published under the title Attacking Poverty in the Developing World. These papers are the result of a need expressed by the Association of Christian Economists to more effectively engage those who are actively working in the field. The papers all point to a central theme – the poor can be best served if Christian practitioners and academics work more cooperatively to assess and implement programs. It highlights the need for the federation of Christian based organizations with the intent of leveraging what is now proprietary information, field experiences, lessons learned, economic models, and data more effectively – while deepening the collaboration between organizations with like interests for the purpose of serving the poor in Jesus name.

I sent e-mails to a number of the authors and other development relief leaders that asked about their experience in implementing programs that federate and standardize in such a way that is mutually beneficial. I also asked about competing motives and whether it naïve to think that cross disciplinary best practices in use within the business community can be effectively applied to this community. I received some interesting responses. I’ll post some of them in future posts.