Additional Resources

The data and reports published by the United Nations are great starting points in reviewing the state of the World today and the international community’s efforts and recommendations to help make it a better place. Read more on our Why Business page.

There are endless documentaries, articles, publications, research and more that powerfully shed a light on why programs like Alternativ Global Entrepreneurs’ Business Essentials Training are the next logical and much needed solution in a flawed charity model of aid and relief. We’ve included some of our favorites below.

Documentaries like Poverty Inc.

A powerful and uncompromising film that strikes at the core of the traditional understanding of development and international assistance. See ways to view the film and organizize a screening: https://www.povertyinc.org/

Books

Peace Through Entrepreneurship

*Peace through Entrepreneurship* argues for the significant elevation of entrepreneurship in the service of foreign policy. This entrepreneurship is not rural microfinance or mercantile trading. It is the scalable stuff of Silicon Valley and Sam Walton, generating the vast majority of new jobs in economies…

Dead Aid

In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth.

When Helping Hurts

Bestseller *When Helping Hurts* has changed the way thousands of church and ministry leaders approach poverty. Designed to equip you to begin effectively helping low-income people, *When Helping Hurts* articulates a biblical framework for poverty alleviation.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire's work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm.

Articles, Blogs, and Other Publications

Check the OECD the latest reports and data on development indicators in associated countries.

TED Talks

TED has thousands of compelling short videos featuring world renowned speakers, economists, and global leaders. Many, like the ones we have embedded below, focus on vital topics like global development, poverty, investment and entrepreneurship. Watch these and explore other TED Talks here (https://www.ted.com).

Economic growth is the defining challenge of our time; without it, political and social instability rises, human progress stagnates and societies grow dimmer. But, says economist Dambisa Moyo, dogmatic capitalism isn't creating the growth we need. As she shows, in both state-sponsored and market-driven models, capitalism is failing to solve social ills, fostering corruption and creating income inequality.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause.

Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing.

Alternativ’s Own Clients and Sponsors

Alternativ partners with organizations already making a difference in their communities and that are ready to take the next step in empowering the people they work with to become self sustainable and break the cycle of poverty. Their work and research serve as excellent points of reference in the ongoing global battle against poverty.