Who Owns Poverty?

by Martin Burt

This is the story of the one question about global poverty we never thought to who owns it? It’s a question with an unexpected answer, one that challenges everything that we thought we knew about what poverty is, and what we can do about it. This is a story of a powerful data-driven methodology being used in a dozen countries across 5 continents. It’s a new approach that puts poor families in charge of defining and diagnosing their own unique, multidimensional poverty—who by owning the problem, own the solution. This book is for all the governments, development NGOs, charities, dreamers, thinkers, doers and leaders who are frustrated with limiting their aspirations to reducing poverty, or alleviating its effects—and the lack of progress we face in doing either. This is a book about unleashing trapped energy within poor families to do the eliminate global poverty once and for all.

Genres: Poverty

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[Abbie Condie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a fascinating book for anyone interested in learning more about the ins and outs of poverty measurement through a specific organizational case study. The approach taken by Fundación Paraguaya is quite remarkable, since they empower their clients to “own” their respective journeys out of poverty using their Poverty Stoplight tool. I have a lot of respect for their approach and the insights shared by the author from his organization’s own experience and appreciated his critique of many “top down” poverty measurement approaches often taken by government agencies and international development organizations.

[Paola Talavera · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a question with a very difficult answer; Who owns poverty? Know the reality of Paraguay and low-income families, and how they can have a second chance.
Becoming an example of global methodology where families are in charge of defining and diagnosing their own unique, multidimensional poverty.
When you own your problem, you own your solution.

[José Antonio Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who owns Poverty? is Martin Burt's answer to what poverty is. After a partner challenged him with that question in 2008, Martin commit to better understand the poverty problem. As a founder of Fundacion Paraguaya and a micro-credit operation, he experienced poverty first hand, and felt the urge to help more people prosper.

In Who owns Poverty?, Martin Burt narrates his hero journey helping people progress. He shares his youth in Paraguay, his family challenges during the Paraguay's military dictadura, his studies abroad and his early jobs helping poor people through micro-credits, up to the Poverty Stoplight. Martin's journey is an open-ended quest.

His findings, after such long exploration journey, are a challenge to the status quo held by multinational and national organizations (governmental and non-governmental alike). Traditionally poverty has been defined as a class, as a national statistic, that makes no meaning for the actual people. Martin's conclusions are that in order to really make a difference, we need to switch the question from What is to Who owns Poverty. Poverty is a multidimensional problem, too complex to be represented by a number. By changing the question, a whole new understanding opens up. Starting by recognizing each individual's agency and motivation to improve. Poverty is not the same for everyone, top-down one-size-fits-all approaches ignore individuality and agency and end up being a waste of resources with little impact.

Martin and his team developed a 6-category dashboard, The "Poverty Stoplight", that makes family self assessment of their needs explicit. The tool empowers families to improve their lives, to prioritize goals and set hopes in motion.

Therefore, instead of treating people with paternalistic welfare; business, leaders and organizations can help by providing a network of solutions. People usually don't want others to solve their problems, they rather solve them by themselves, but lack resources (not only money that is one more resource). Making the solutions network available is all they need to ignite the process.

At the end of the day, that's all the Poverty Stoplight really is: information and the dignity of choice. Isn't that all anyone could wish in life? To not be held captive to someone else's definition of who we are?

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated the author's journey on his quest to end poverty by asking "Who Own's Poverty?" It's a provoking question and his proven methodology is now being utilized by other agencies and countries around the world. Initially, Martin started his social entrepreneurism with microfinance in the 80's and in the 90's came up with his Poverty Stoplight methodology. The Poverty Stoplight is a self-assessment tool for those in poverty to own their situation and identify things that will bring them into the middle class by classifying if a factor is red (don't have), yellow (have a little), or green (have enough). He reflects that everyone is poor in one way or another including himself and at the very end of the book he says something to the effect of, "Hi, I'm Martin Burt and my family has three yellows and two red factors."

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating investigation of the cycle of poverty as told by Foundation Paraguay's ED, Martin Burt. His organization developed a "Poverty Stoplight" system whereby poor families could rate themselves on a number of different indicators, and set goals on how they could progress towards becoming "non-poor." While it was a bit long and detailed, I learned a great deal from this examination of poverty's causes and proposal of a practical system that is replicated in many countries around the world.

[Anabella Wasserman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about the topic. It brought a new perspective how to eradicate poverty.