Review: When Helping Hurts

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert's book When Helping Hurts:  How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself outlines both a theological basis for understanding poverty and practical strategies for living life together with the poor and marginalized.  The book is designed for those working both in North America and in the majority world.  Throughout the book, the authors urge the reader to engage with the materially poor, while avoiding the 'godlike' complex often carried by those who seek to help the poor.
     Early in the book, the authors define poverty with a definition that encompasses both material and spiritual poverty.   Poverty is defined as a break in four foundational relationships:  relationships with God, self, others, and with creation.  After defining the nature of poverty, the authors then explore the nature of poverty alleviation, defining poverty alleviation as "he ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation" (Kindle location 1207).  The authors then present a more specific definition of material poverty and its alleviation.  Material poverty alleviation is defined as "working to reconcile the four foundational relationships so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work" (Kindle location 1218).
      After laying these foundations, Corbett and Fikkert then proceed to describe appropriate strategies for poverty alleviation.  They present the model of asset based community development (ABCD) as a way of helping communities identify their strengths and identify the ways in which these strengths can facilitate their development.  The authors also contrast relief, rehabilitation, and development, highlighting in particular the need to avoid providing relief when longer term solutions are needed.  Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the need to avoid doing for the community what it can do for itself; the authors strongly urge participatory approaches to building relationships with poor communities.
     In the remaining chapters of the book, the authors discuss specific situations and approaches to poverty alleviation, including short-term learning trips, community savings associations, and strategies for building community organizations and supports for those experiencing material poverty.
     When Helping Hurts is a necessary corrective to many well-intended practices that unintentionally hinder poverty alleviation.  Despite the weaknesses of many Western efforts, the authors do not discourage their readers from being involved with the materially poor; rather, they urge involvement in a way that works towards restoration of relationships, rather than simply providing additional resources to the materially poor.  They write, "our basic predisposition should be to see poor communities—including their natural resources, people, families, neighborhood associations, schools, businesses, governments, culture, etc.—as being created by Jesus Christ and reflective of His goodness. Hence, as we enter a poor community, there is a sense in which we are walking on holy ground, because Christ has been actively at work in that community since the creation of the world! This should give us an attitude of respect and a desire to help the community residents to discover, celebrate, and further develop God’s gifts to them" (Kindle location 2012).
     When Helping Hurts is highly recommended.  The book is convicting and challenging, but also practical in its approach.

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself