Martin Burt - Who Owns Poverty?

A meditation on poverty that goes profoundly deeper than anyone else has gone. Its a revelation to find that materialism does not get at the nature of human misery any more than it gets at human happiness. This book will bring major changes in public policy.

Edmund Phelps, 2006 Nobel Laureate in Economics; Director, Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University

Not just a new contribution to development literature but a new paradigm for effective change. Burt is eminently qualified to offer a better way of influencing dramatic and sustainable economic, psychological and social progress for the worlds most vulnerable. Those entrenched in old funding and program models will find this book irritating. Those whose first commitment is to results rather than legacy models will find it illuminating. Open. Read. And learn from one of the worlds most effective influencers.

Joseph Grenny, New York Times bestselling co-author of Influencer and Crucial Conversations

A wonderful account of the work of Fundacin Paraguaya, which runs perhaps the most effective anti-poverty program anywhere in the world. It is an absorbing, compelling story of the lessons learned in its widely-successful fight against povertyand, most importantly, the profound lessons the world can learn from the Foundation in this most fundamental, necessary, and compassionate of all human endeavors.

Ken Wilber, Author of The Theory of Everything and The Religion of Tomorrow

This book is poised to make a significant contribution to the critical task of rethinking conventional assumptions about what poverty is, and how it can be eliminated. Burt weaves a compelling case that what poverty is varies from household to household; the knowledge and creativity of those experiencing poverty are critical to solving it; and long-neglected perspectives from the South are as important as those from the North. This book should be on every development syllabus, and on the nightstand of everyone working to end poverty.

Richard Matthew, Faculty Director, Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation, University of California Irvine

Having worked in social development for the past 40 yearsI am excited with how Burt defines and simplifies poverty, and places it where it belongs in the family. Its too limited to see the Stoplight as an assessment tool; its an intervention tool as well, providing the family a development plan, and giving them the agency to take charge. I have seen it firsthand through our work with the Poverty Stoplight within the WDB Zenzele Development Programme.

Zanele Mbeki, Social worker and Founder, Womens Development Banking Trust (South Africa)

This book and the Poverty Stoplight are game-changers. They remind you that, wherever you are in the world, you have the opportunity to help end poverty, not reduce it, but end it. Who wouldnt want the key to that door?

Lyla Bashan, Author of Global: An Extraordinary Guide for Ordinary Heroes

A profoundly important book and long overdue. It challenges the orthodoxy of largely unsuccessful top-down prescriptions for measuring and ameliorating poverty (whatever that means), offering an alternative rooted in the lived experience and entrepreneurial spirit of the poor. It is a compelling account, a space for new and profound conversations.

James Koch, Founding Fellow and Emeritus Professor, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University

Martn Burt fundamentally reframes the way we think about poverty. When poor families are welcomed into the process of designing solutions to the worlds thorniest challenges, they become the protagonists of their own stories. Drawing on decades of experience as a mayor, an academic, and a development practitioner, Burt offers a road map for working with the worlds poor to eliminate poverty for good. A must-read for all people who are fighting for transformational change.

Willy Foote, Founder and CEO, Root Capital (US)

A powerful reminder that good intentions will not solve global poverty. Poor people themselves must be involved in defining and solving their own poverty, and their voices must be heard in development organizations. His book documents how this can happen with the Poverty Stoplight. The Poverty Stoplight honors the potential of human creativity and resourcefulness.

Margee Ensign, President, Dickinson College

Martn Burt is a remarkable changemaker, equally at home in rural villages of Paraguay or Tanzania as in Davos. This book is a wonderful account of his personal journey exploring how to make poverty measurement genuinely owned by the poor in ways that expand their agency to potentially transform the nature of their interaction with state and market institutions. This story is vividly told, right down to the dialogues of engagement and resistance that he faced on this ongoing exploration.

Michael Walton, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

A marvelous book, beautifully written. Overflowing with wisdom, humility, clear and revolutionary bottom-up philosophy and methodology for eliminating poverty in partnership with families and communities. It is filled with fascinating stories about addressing the resistance to change and the addiction to conventional wisdom embedded in government. Every anti-poverty activist, advocate, or administrator needs to read this book.

Dorothy Stoneman, Founder, YouthBuild (US)

Such powerful reflections and insights about an undeniable reality: that no one knows more about poverty than those who experience it, and that external solutions can only concentrate on the appearance of poverty, rather than its essence. So too is it a powerful challenge to those organizations working on the Sustainable Development Goalsa call to return ownership of (and power over) poverty to those whose lives it shapes, and to ensure that the opportunities they supply match the demands made by poor families themselves.

Carmen Velasco, Co-Founder, ProMujer International

This book is a masterpiece. Its power is the lens it creates through which assumptions are challenged and new perspectives are formed. If a problem well-defined is a problem half-solved, this book is a testament to how we view and define the problem can either liberate or limit us. A must-read read by all who have a conscience and are advocates for a more just and fair society.

Diran Apelian, Alcoa-Howmet Professor of Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor,

University of California Irvine

Martn has a unique ability to see solutions where others see only problems, solutions that begin with empowering people by enabling them to see that they are capable of what no one else thinks they can do: defining their own biggest challenges and then triumphing over them. And when a few people do that, then an entire village starts to do it, and entire nations and maybe even the world.

Carl Byker, Winner of the Primetime Emmy and Peabody awards

Martn Burt devotes his entire life to understanding and alleviating poverty. His methodologies are pragmatic and adaptive. His heart is magnanimous, sharing all his knowledge selflessly. You will certainly gain from reading this rich depository of wisdom.

Jack Sim, Founder, World Toilet Organization (Singapore)