What are some strategies for communicating across cultures with people affected by poverty?

One tip before any engagement or communications is to sit back and self reflect. We all come with a history and therefore a bias. What is your bias? What are your values? How has your environment and experiences shaped the way you see the world? Only once we understand our own bias, can we then suspend it and make room for other ways of seeing and experience the world.

It has been said many times: "the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution." This is an ethos that comes up in Silicon Valley or marketing suites across the country when they are trying to create or roll out a new product. Listen to the customers and people this product is meant to serve. This sentiment is equally true when we think about tackling the pernicious scourge of poverty that still afflicts us. This particularly true because when poverty is wrapped up in race, economics, societal change and so many other things that are as sociological as they are technical. The right thing and the smart thing when tackling this is to listen and act upon the lived experiences of those living it everyday.

Participa??o Comunitária: Envolva ativamente membros da comunidade no processo de comunica??o. Realize reuni?es e sess?es de feedback para garantir que as vozes da comunidade sejam ouvidas. Narrativas Locais: Compartilhe histórias e exemplos que sejam culturalmente relevantes e que as pessoas possam se identificar. Destaque sucessos locais para inspirar e motivar.

I want to add one thing, if lower level jobs will be reserved for poor people only, it will resolved unemployement problem. Rich people should do business not a job.

In my experience the bottom of pyramid segment has similar aspirations as the rest. A good way to get their attention would be to recognize their aspirations, which could range from getting their children educated or having their own small business. If someone could pay attention to them or better still, assist them in meeting these aspirations, they would be rewarded by loyalty and followership.

Our education system must change. It creates more postgraduates having lesser jobs. Empathy and inclusive culture isnone part. But largely, we need more entrepreneurs. Encourage and provide for micro and small businesses by this segment of the society. Provide easier loans and expertise to them. Make them part of the growth trajectory of the nation. Value their enterprises howsoever small they may be. Provide tax benefits, technical knowhow and even mentors from top institutes. Communicate with them to bring them up and help them meet their aspirations.

I heard a great philanthropic leader once say: "The people affected by a problem should not only have a voice in the creation of the solution but they should have a vote." Poverty cannot be eradicated by solutions done for or to the poor but rather with them. And with those affected in a leadership role in that whole process.

We should play the role of Enablers to achieve the solutions. The affected segment usually knows whats best for them. We must couple our knowledge and resources after understanding the problems from them to solve the issues. This has to be a collaborative effort and not just unidirectional. The real need is to merge with the people to dive deeper in the causes and the solutions with them and not assuming.

The only cure to poverty is to learn to get out of.it. a good road map to assess skills, socio-cultural environment is needed. The best fit is initially to acclimatize and then stabilize to steadily move out step by step.

When I first started in the private sector, a mentor said something that I have never forgotten: "The vendors and companies make it as easy as possible to buy things that I do not need. However, when it comes to things that poor people need, from benefits to services like education, we make it unbelievably difficult." I find powerful truth in those words today. We generally seek to have those experiencing poverty adapt to the rest of us as opposed to adapting our systems to serve them. From our basic interactions with this community to our attempts to help them lift themselves from poverty, we have to adapt to their needs and not the reverse.

The most important aspect of poverty alleviation is to understand the household need in the activity that the organisation is trying to help with. For example, we've asked the community leaders if they needed a borehole for a particular community, they all said yes, we gave them borehole and tracked usage and observed there was actually no need. Now we do household research through detailed surveys before we grant a community a donated borehole. Research and asking the right questions is key.

One thing that I have observed and do is that the poor are not broke but rather they are broken. So as we seek to communicate our approach should aim at restoring this brokenness. The messaging ought to be in a way that builds the dignity of the poor rather than robbing them further of this dignity.