Surprisingly perhaps, one of the most massive and successful efforts to listen to poor people was sponsored by the World Bank in 1999 in a study released in three volumes titled Voices of the Poor. There had never been anything like it. In tens of thousands of detailed personal accounts, very poor people speak for themselves, answering the questions: How do you view poverty and well-being? What are your problems and priorities? And what did the world learn from listening directly to the poor? Without a doubt, one of the most powerful revelations came from allowing poor people to finally pull
...more
