When Helping Hurts: Key Ideas and Issues for Poverty Alleviation
In this session, the presenter suggests that in responding to Christ's call to, "Open your hearts and hands to the poor among you," we often mobilize and act with good intentions. But good intentions are not enough. It is possible in our efforts to help people who are poor to actually do harm to the very ones we seek to help. This session will look at the importance of defining poverty appropriately and will explore 3 key principles for engaging in effective poverty alleviation.
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Articulate the 4 aspects of a relational definition of poverty
2. Describe the basic differences between relief, rehabilitation and development
3. Outline the 3 basic steps of asset-based poverty alleviation
Steve Corbett, M.Ed. is an Assistant Professor of Community Development at Covenant College and serves as a Community Development Specialist for the Chalmers Center. Previously, Steve served as Director of Field Operations and Training for the Chalmers Center. Prior to coming to Covenant College, he worked for Food for the Hungry International (FHI) as the Director of Staff Training, and then later as the Regional Director for Central and South America. Steve has a B.A. from Covenant College and a M.Ed. in Adult Education from the University of Georgia.