In the river they swim [electronic resource] : essays from around the world on enterprise solutions to poverty / edited by Michael Fairbanks [and others] ; with a foreword by Rick Warren.

Cover image for In the river they swim [electronic resource] : essays from around the world on enterprise solutions to poverty / edited by Michael Fairbanks [and others] ; with a foreword by Rick Warren.

ISBN:

9781599473604

Title:

In the river they swim [electronic resource] : essays from around the world on enterprise solutions to poverty / edited by Michael Fairbanks [and others] ; with a foreword by Rick Warren.

Author:

Fairbanks, Michael, 1957-

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 274 pages) : illustrations

Contents:

The backbone of a new Rwanda / Flight VS 56 : riding the cultural divide / A space alien in chaps / A mind for the poor / Waiting for Mr. Anderson / My faith in capitalism / Nature is destiny, and the more nature, the worse the destiny / Locomotives, needles, and aid / On globalization / The merits of change / Claver's wall / Leadership, in context / Selling culture without selling out / The Afghan method / Global strategy in old Kabul / After God, it's customer relations / The longest roundabout in the world / Alexander the Great, Mother Teresa, and Arse / Archimedes' formidable dare / On presidents / The risk of dreams / Praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe / Our greatest fear / Changing mindsets / Entire, unto himself / "When are you coming back?" / "That's my duck!" (the case for integration) / "Mr. President, tear down the walls!" / Deciding what not to do

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Poverty -- Prevention.

Economic development -- Social aspects.

Entrepreneurship -- Social aspects.

Social responsibility of business.

Servant leadership.

Added Author:

Fairbanks, Michael, 1957-

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2009

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
339.46 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The sociologist Thomas Sowell writes, "We need to confront the most blatant fact that has persisted across centuries of social history--vast ddifferences in productivity among peoples, and the economic and other consequences of such differences." Poverty demeans dignity, shrinks the soul, wastes potential, and inflicts suffering on three billion people on our planet. We must also acknowledge that, during the past fifty yyears, the record in international assistance to the least developed countries has been disappointing; the economics-based abstractions developed in the think tanks of Europe and North America are insufficient.

In the River They Swim is the antithesis to that search for solutions the next big theory of global poverty. From the fresh perspective of advisors on the frontlines of development to the insight of leaders like President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Pastor Rick Warren, it tells the story of change in the microcosms of emerging businesses, industries, and governments. These essays display a personal nature to their work that rigorous analysis alone cannot explain.

We learn that a Sufi master can teach us about the different levels of knowledge, the "different ways to know a river." These practitioners could have written about its length, its source, its depth, its width, the power of its current, and the life it contains. They could have invested time and money to travel to that river so that they could sit on its shores and look at it, feel the sand that borders it, and watch the birds at play over it. Instead, they dove in to swim in the river, felt its current along their bodies, and tasted something of it. They wondered, briefly, if they had the strength to swim its length, and now they share the answer.

If human development is a river, the authors in this volume, and perhaps some readers, will no longer be satisfied to stand along its banks.

Author Notes

Marcela Escobari-Rose is executive director of Harvard's Center for International Development.

Michael Fairbanks is a cofounder of SEVEN and the OTF Group and coauthor of Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Growth in Developing Nations .

Malik Fal leads Microsoft's Business Marketing and Operations Group covering forty-nine African countries.

Elizabeth Hooper is executive director of SEVEN.

Reviews (1)

Library Journal Review

The poor you will always have with you, says Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. In God Knows, Holman (academic research writer & editor, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Ctr. for Health & Human Rights, Harvard Sch. of Public Health; The Hungry Are Dying) surveys how Christians have historically responded to poverty and discloses her own journey to awareness. The result: a unique fusion of memoir and research. Holman filters each example of Christian reactions to human need and social welfare through three paradigms: sensing need, sharing the world, and embodying the sacred kingdom. Holman's historical analysis of ancient writers (e.g., Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom) will prove to be didactic for 21st-century social activism and ecumenical approaches to addressing poverty. It will find its appropriate home with students of religion, theology, and social work. In the River They Swim also addresses the Gordian knot of poverty and features a foreword by Rick Warren, who reminds readers of this sober truth: three billion people live in poverty. Government handouts are not the answer; instead, the "enterprise solutions" offered in these essays are empowering, for they provide knowledge, training, and opportunities for the poor. Contributors speak a combined 20 languages, and they include Rwandan president Paul Kagama, American Express VP David Rabkin, and Malik Fal, who heads Microsoft's Business Marketing and Operations Group, which spans 49 African countries. Contributors share their personal journeys of working in abject conditions, along with their tribulations and successes in implementing enterprise solutions to poverty. In short, this work is a global and holistic approach to a perennial problem, and the message is clarion clear: governments, businesses, and churches must align, collaborate, and innovate to combat destitution. Overall, this eclectic and challenging title is recommended for both students and lay readers.-C. Brian Smith, Arlington Heights Memorial Lib., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.