Winner of over 60 international film festival honors, the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award, and the €5,000 Best Documentary Award from the FIFE Environmental Film Festival in Paris.
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"I see multiple colonial governors," says Ghanaian software entrepreneur Herman Chinery-Hesse of the international development establishment. "We are held captive by the donor community."
The West has made itself the protagonist of development, giving rise to a multibillion dollar poverty industry.
From TOMs Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S. food aid, the film challenges each of us to ask the tough question: Could I be part of the problem?
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A wave of change is rising
Leaders across disciplines and political lines recognize the need for a paradigm shift.
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Join MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Notre Dame, Cornell, Penn, and the growing list of universities and high schools screening Poverty, Inc.
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World Vision is a multi billion dollar organization with some concerning practices ranging from objectifying poverty imagery to the monetization of subsidized agriculture that undermines local markets in the name of food aid.
As the Better Care Network explains, "The research demonstrates, there are not bad and good orphanages. Rather, orphanages are simply not a good solution for children. Children grow up best in families. Foster families, extended families, and other arrangements. But families, not institutions."
Last month, 61 NGOs signed "An Open Letter to the USDA and USAID on planned peanut shipment to Haiti" and begun an internet firestorm. This is a sign of progress. We'd like to add a Haitian voice to the discussion.
Poverty, Inc. co-producer Mark R. Weber discusses orphans, microfinance, fair trade, social entrepreneurship, and other lessons learned making Poverty, Inc. at the Jubilee Professional conference in Pittsburgh.
Speaking on a panel called "Growth Markets, Development Opportunities: Africa & the Middle East" this evening at the MIT World Real Estate Forum at the MIT Media Lab, Accra-based real estate Carlo Matta of Laurus Development Partners explained the pervasive challenge of land title ambiguity dampening economic activity in countries like Ghana.
Poverty, Inc. is now available on Amazon, Amazon On-Demand, iTunes, and other platforms.
Poverty, Inc. will make its DVD and Video On Demand release on March 1st, and we are delighted to announce that the Spanish dubbing and subtitling will be included in all purchases of the film.
Why do we charge money for Poverty, Inc.? Are we profiting from poverty? Co-Producer Mark Weber explains why pricing is important for accountability and impact.
"You don't make documentaries to win awards. You make them to change culture." That's when I decided to defer MIT and spend the year touring with the film, engaging people around the country and internationally on these ideas.
Variety's chief international film critic Peter Debruge (@AskDebruge) reviewed Poverty, Inc. at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in November.
Poverty, Inc. has been honored with the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award presented by the Atlas Network.
A letter from Director-Producer Michael Matheson Miller: Dear Friends of Poverty, Inc., thank you for joining our short-list of people committed to a cultural shift in charity and development.
Newly minted Nobel laureate and foreign aid skeptic Angus Deaton has found no credible evidence that foreign aid promotes economic growth; indeed, he says, signs show that the relationship is negative.
Upon seeing Poverty, Inc. at Harvard Business School, Marie-Noelle Nwokolo brought the conversation to Dickinson College and was honored with the Student Sustainability Champion award by PERC for her thought leadership.
Director-Producer Michael Matheson Miller is a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute, a think tank focused on the intersection of market economics and moral philosophy and theology. He writes and speaks extensively on issues of development, political economy, religion, and culture. He previously taught philosophy and political science at Ave Maria College in Nicaragua and was the chair of the philosophy and theology department. Michael holds graduate degrees in philosophy, international development, and international business. He has lived and traveled in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He has been featured on FOX Business, CNBC, Russ Roberts, and numerous radio shows. He has been published inThe New York Post, The Washington Times, The LA Daily News, The Detroit News, and Real Clear Politics.
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Email us at info@povertyinc.org.
It is a difficult time for Africans in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Yemen. Drought and war are threatening 20 million lives. Many Poverty, Inc. viewers are wondering, what is the right thing to do in this situation. There are no easy answers to such a tragedy. First, those who are putting their lives on the line to address it should be commended for their initiative; just as important, they should arm themselves with principles gleaned from the past.