Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works

Two out of every three people in the world live on less than two dollars a day. This is a grim statistic but hundreds of millions of people are breaking free from poverty with the help of grass-roots programs and organizations funded by regular people here and abroad. In Ending Global Poverty, Stephen Smith gives readers the tools they need to help people overcome poverty and to determine what organizations are most effective in fighting it. Smith takes readers to rural areas and urban slums for a close-up view of innovative and effective programs that are making a real difference. The book also describes how companies and foreign investors could play a constructive role in addressing the problem, offering guidelines and suggestions.

Table of Contents:
Extreme Poverty: The Cruelest Trap * Poverty Traps and the Experience of the Poor * The Keys to Capability: Eight Keys to Escaping Poverty Traps * Escaping the Cruel Trap of Poverty: How the Poor Can Gain the Keys to Capability * Health, Nutrition, and Population * Basic Education * Credit for Poverty Reduction, and Insuring Opportunity * Bottom Up Market Development: Assets and Access for the Poor * Entitlement to New Technologies and the Capability to Benefit from them* Sustaining the Environment for Ending Poverty * Social Inclusion and Human Rights for the Poor and Voiceless * Community Empowerment and Development * Innovations in Poverty Strategy * What You Can Do to Help * First Steps * Further Questions * Stepping Up * What Businesses Can Do * Some Closing Words: An End to Global Poverty

About the Author :
Stephen C. Smith is Professor of Economics at George Washington University. He lives in Reston, Virginia.

Review :
"We have an opportunity, in this generation, to reduce global poverty, both through acts of charity and by working as citizens to influence public policy. Stephen Smith offers reliable information, stories of success, and good advice on how to get personally involved in this important fight. Read it, and then take action. " - David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World "This practical and remarkably hopeful guide to ending world poverty delivers what it promises, clear-headed remedies for heart-breaking conditions. Stephen Smith finds solutions where others see only problems. All who truly place moral values at the top of their agendas will want to read this book. " - Forrest Church, author of The American Creed and Freedom from Fear "A most comprehensive strategy for fighting poverty-of great interest to activists, scholars, and all who care about those most in need. Clearly written and with much conviction." - Amitai Etzioni, author of From Empire to Community "Smith's book is a terrific contribution to our understanding of how to improve the well-being of impoverished people. [His] discussion of the keys to poverty traps dispels many popular misconceptions, and helps the reader understand the real issues. This book should help raise the effectiveness of donors, organizations, and governments in their efforts to help those in need." - Judith M. Dean, International Economist, Washington, DC "Anyone who seeks a better understanding of human poverty should read this book. The author's optimism is a welcome antidote against the skepticism, pessimism and cynicism that often characterizes the debate on global poverty. He also offers a guide for those in rich countries who want to make a difference by supporting aid and relief organizations." - Jan Vandemoortele, Leader, Poverty Group, United Nations Development Program "The world's leaders have repeatedly promised to tackle poverty on a massive scale, but they always seem to find excuses for failing to mobilize the necessary resources. Stephen Smith shows convincingly that even the poorest of the poor can help themselves - with a little help from the rest of us. Anyone who wants to understand why so many remain trapped in poverty, and what they and we can do about it, should read this inspiring book." - Ann Florini, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director of the World Economic Forum's Global Governance Initiative "Get this book. Read it. Step up. Amid a million reasons to shrink away in frustration, Stephen Smith offers a clear and engaging guide to meeting the greatest challenge of our timeA...and reports on practical innovations that he has witnessed around the world - new ideas that are already in place and working. The book, by a leading voice in development economics, offers simple steps, small and large, to push the fight forward." - Jonathan Morduch, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and co-author of The Economics of Microfinance "Offers sensible guidelines to both individuals and corporations about how they can help, but its main contribution is to describe the successes of many programs on the ground, ranging from programs to improve nutrition to those working on education or microcredit, often run by local nongovernmental organizations, which have emerged to fill the gaps left by incompetent or corrupt governments." -Foreign Affairs "A straightforward and accessible book on the causes of poverty and some successful programs for reducing it. Smith reports on a number of successful programs that have helped desperately poor communities overcome those traps. He emphasizes micro-projects that rely on the commitment, ingenuity and hard work of poor people themselves. Smith advocates a bottom-up approach that focuses on community efforts and relies on the generosity and involvement of individuals and non-government organizations." -Washington Post