POVERTY INC., directed by Michael Matheson Miller, is set against the backdrop of the Haitian earthquake of 12th January, 2010, which was followed by aid agencies, governments, NGOs and social entrepreneurs making a lot of donations in cash and kind to help the victims of the disaster. In the end, it turned out that the aid crippled the prices of locally-produced goods: a common consequence wherever foreign aid is the main source of survival for victims of natural or man-made disasters.

The documentary features a series of talking heads including Timothy Schwatz, a Haitian writer and researcher; Andrea Widmer, co-founder Seven Fund, and author of The Pope and The CEO.
There were also interviews from Joel Salatin, a US farmer; Kenneth Michel, CEO dloHaiti; Theodore Dalrymple, author/psychologist; Herman Chinery-Herse, Founder BSL Ghana; Alex George, co-founder, Enersa. These experts, among others, give insight as to how foreign aid under-develops and impoverishes a people. The point is resoundingly made that it is trade, innovation and business that develop countries; no nation has ever developed on aid.



Aid, it is said, has given birth to the global poverty industry. As one of the interviewees proclaims, "the earthquake became a short-term natural disaster that turned into a long-term unnatural disaster." Another interviewee declared that there were more than 10,000 NGOs in post-earthquake Haiti, with more NGOs per capita than anywhere in the world. It was also pointed out that charity has become an unfashionable word that has now been replaced with social entrepreneurship.

In the end, POVERTY INC. advocates that instead of giving a poor population fish, the people should be taught how to fish. Director Miller's effort results in a well-researched story, told captivatingly.

by Amarachukwu Iwuala