A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity

Choose one local and one national organization that address the same issue(s). (They should be different organizations—not just a local affiliate of a national group.) Write an essay comparing and contrasting them. What are the strengths and weaknesses in their approaches and outcomes?

Analyze an example of a charity’s marketing based on the information in Chapter 12 (particularly pages 190-98). This can be a piece of direct mail, a print advertisement, a video, etc. Pay attention to the amount of text, the content, images, sound, layout, or anything else relevant. Does it appeal to logic or emotions? In your view, when does an emotional appeal become “poverty porn”?

The authors point to the healing that can take place for victims of trauma when they reach out to help others in similar circumstances. Are they more effective compared to those who have no direct experience with the issue? Or is being removed from an issue more effective by allowing for a more detached and rational perspective? What does the literature on development work and/or psychology say?