Finding the Most Efficient Way to Fight Poverty

Jesus said the poor will always be with us, but that doesn't absolve us from trying to do something to help those who struggle to survive. There have been all kinds of antipoverty programs launched all over the world, with mixed results. Some approaches fail, while others show minimal results, and some that are promising in the short term don't hold up so well in the long term. The most promising idea is to give money directly to the poor and let them decide how to best use it. After all, poverty comes in all flavors.  

Of course, massive global antipoverty programs face barriers that make research difficult. Sometimes grants to struggling nations end up in the pockets of corrupt leaders. Funding sources, whether from governments or private foundations, can rise and fall on a whim. An enormous amount of charity funding is dedicated to saving lives in an emergency, such as famine, and aren't designed to address generational poverty. But even when a program is deemed to be ineffective in lifting a majority of recipients permanently out of poverty, it means the world to the ones who made it out.