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Money alone is not the solution

The key to ending or alleviating poverty is not money. There is not enough charitable contributions to go around the world to end poverty in every nation, so alternative solutions are necessary. CARE knows how to empower people and works to educate them in order to break the relentless cycle of poverty.

CARE know how then and now – CARE package from 1948 – Attribution – Wikimedia Commons

CARE package

CARE is no stranger to helping people in need. In fact, they are a global humanitarian organization and a charitable icon. The term “CARE package” was coined thanks to their strategy of combating misery in post World War II Europe. They  invented the CARE Package as a way for Americans to send lifesaving food and supplies to Europe in 1945. Their CARE packages were so popular they became a synonym for the thoughtful gifts people send to far-away friends and loved ones.

CARE knows how

They are still at work today helping people climb out of poverty. A skill they have honed with over 70 years of experience. Fighting poverty with CARE is about working with people individually and finding a solution to their problem by teaching them to develop a skill that is important in their community.

This requires deep cultural and economic understanding of the current conditions in the area. These conditions are constantly changing too and a strategy that worked before might have to be tweaked or even thrown out and reworked in order to meet current realities. Then it takes skilled teaching and salesmanship to pass not only the knowledge on to the people in need, but they must also be sold that these techniques will work and are worth implementing in order for them to succeed. There is a lot that goes into CARE knows how and conditions are different from community to community and country to country.

CARE knows how – Kallani from Bangladesh- Photo courtesy of CARE

Providing money is not the solution to help communities unless there is a plan in place for using that money in order to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.  Take the story of Kallani and her cow. They had a cow, but it could not provide enough milk to sustain the family and work was hard to come by in northern Bangladesh.

If money was provided to Kallani’s family they would have been grateful and used it and spent it. Without learned economic skills, eventually the money would have run out, and they would have been no better off than before. CARE knows how to help people, and a solution to Kallani’s problem was found.

CARE taught Kallani how to better feed the cow in order to stimulate better production through the Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain program. The best feed for the cow was not found in her village, so under CARE’s tutelage, Kallani was instructed where to find it and how to barter for the best price. Soon the cow was producing enough milk to meet the family’s needs.

CARE now how with cows

Kallani then went into the feed business and went door-to-door helping her neighbors by teaching them how to maximize milk productivity. CARE sparked a chain reaction by helping one person not only survive but thrive by learning and adapting to their environment. Kallani’s relationship with her husband improved as a result as he began to see her as an equal. Empowering women with CARE has helped change attitudes in rural communities thanks to positive results.

This story hits home to me as a blogger. Blogging is a new skill created by the internet and spread through the proliferation of Social Media. In order to make money off of blogging one needs to be savvy and master many new skills including SEO and Social Marketing. During the Recession in our country, I was having a hard time making ends meet. I was not in as serious of a bind as Kallani, but I was seriously worried about my financial future. One of the ways I escaped was by making some money off of this blog. Once these skills are learned and honed, money can be made by passing on this knowledge to others as a teacher just like Kallani.

Thanks to CARE.org for sponsoring today’s discussion. Please visit their site for more information on CARE knows how and to donate in order to give a modern CARE package that will help provide solutions to poverty in developing nations.

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