Most of us in the West see poverty as an economic or resource issue: people do not have enough money, food, water, shelter etc. But research, and our experience, has shown that those that we view as poor tend not to describe poverty in these terms but rather speak of powerlessness, humiliation, fear, shame and social isolation.

Therefore, addressing poverty is not simply a case of 'teaching a man to fish'.

The problem is far more than economic, but a result of damaged relationships and worldviews. We believe that as humans we were designed to have four basic relationships. Each of these must be functioning well for us to be living a healthy and fulfilling life:

• Relationship with God
• Relationship with self
• Relationship with others
• Relationship with the rest of creation as stewards

All of us suffer poverty to some degree but not all of us suffer its economic effects. This understanding is important as we think how to respond to poverty: “until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do more harm than good”

An effective and compassionate approach to poverty must come from a starting point that acknowledges that we all suffer from poverty, but some of us are fortunate enough that it does not impact our lives in economic terms.

You can listen to our podcast 'It Ain't That Simple Mate!' to hear more about how we understand poverty and the issues we face in partnering with the poor:

Or, check our the video below for a bit more of our thinking on exactly what poverty is:"

An excellent resource on this subject is the book When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett (available from Amazon.com here).

Our summary of the principles found in this book (''Understanding Poverty – Causes and Responses') is available here.