In my work with Oxfam Solidarity I have discovered how both people in the developed world as in the developing countries respond better to opportunity driven solutions.
The first ones, the people I encountered on the streets (where I tried to convince them to become a supporting member of Oxfam), had more appreciation and respect when they were told how poor people responded to small economic projects. One story I'd like to tell was this one case where African farmers build an actual marketplace (partially financed by Oxfam) , so they would have an official and consequent way to trade their goods. As the market place gained popularity, it expanded: they build a communication centre, which gave them the opportunity to trade off goods with other villages in case of overproduction. Just the simple fact of building a place where all economic action would occur, gave more structure in trading and thus helped farmers to better plan, anticipate and of course sell their products.
People on the street could relate to this kind of story, because, well, I believe, that everyone has a need for structure (in this way: every place has its function) and they were more willing to grant another person the possibility of building a structured society, because -and again, I believe - everybody likes to have some ground rules in complex situations.
So, to make a long story short, my favourite tip was:
Embrace market mechanisms (Giving stuff away rarely works as well as selling it.)
(And to stress out: I don't longer work for Oxfam, but to be honest, in the time I did and got to know them, they impressed me)
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