Page 38 - ChildArt_2021.Q1_Global Creative Leaders

38 CHILDART GLOBAL CREATIVE LEADERS
ERADICATING
POVERTY
An anthropologist visiting Africa to study social
behavior proposed a game to a group of children.
He put a basket of fruit beneath a tree. He then
gathered a group of children from the village. He
drew a line in the dirt and said to them, “When I
say go, run to the tree. Whoever gets there first will
win the basket of fruit.” When given the signal to
start, the children all took each other’s hands and
ran together. They then sat together and enjoyed
the fruit. Surprised, the anthropologist asked the
children why they did not want to win for themselves.
They responded, “How can one of us be happy if all
the rest are sad.”
In the words of Desmond Tutu, “We think of
ourselves far too frequently as just individuals,
separated from one another, whereas you are
connected and what you do affects the whole
World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for
the whole of humanity.”
Imagine if giving up something small could help
someone all the way across the world. This is
something that Paul Niehaus did imagine. Paul is
the co-founder and chairman of GiveDirectly, an
organization that has found a way to deliver cash
directly to the world’s poorest people. Creatively
approaching an age-old problem can produce
life-changing results. Paul has been recognized
DR. PAUL NIEHAUS ERADICATING POVERTY
DR. PAUL NIEHAUS
CO-FOUNDER
GIVEDIRECTLY
PROFESSOR
UC SAN DIEGO
as one of Foreign Policy’s leading 100 Global
Thinkers, and GiveDirectly as one of the ten
most innovative companies in finance.
Paul’s childhood began, maybe, a lot like your own.
He spent time outdoors riding bikes and building
backyard forts with his brother and friends. He was
homeschooled through eighth grade, which gave
him the freedom to work at his own pace and to
explore things he was excited about, but also taught
him responsibility—there were days that he had
to keep working much later than the usual three
o’clock end-of-school. Along with bikes and forts,
and friends and freedom, there were books. From
books, Paul learned about economics, poverty, and
faraway places.
Upon heading off to college, Paul recounts, “I had a
very simple model. I wanted to help people and do
good, and I knew that I loved math, so I was looking
at things at the intersection.” This pointed him in
the direction of economics. As he learned more
about international development and foreign aid, he
realized that many things being done to solve the
problem of poverty weren’t working well. “We are
on this planet with eight billion other people who all
have their own stories. They’re trying many things.
Often they succeed, sometimes they fail. Thinking
about where we fit into that and about what we can
JAN-MAR 2021 39
do to support and add to, as opposed to feeling the other people have before. You can give your brain
opportunities to make those connections. That
need to control or be the hero in every story is a
great way to think about our world.”
means filling your brain with all sorts of interesting
Paul set about to find new solutions to eradicate information so that you can be thoughtful about
what you’re reading and who you talk to and where
poverty. He needed to creatively figure out how
to make space for others to experience progress you go. Don’t worry if you read a book and don’t
immediately have a great idea, or you meet someone
on their own, and how to make the most direct and don’t know where to take that relationship. It’s
connections between those who can help and those data. You’re putting it into your brain and letting it
who are in need. With his partners, Michael Faye, percolate. Give your brain time to look at things and
Rohit Wanchoo, and Jeremy Shapiro, Paul learned come up with connections. Come back to it every
that people living in poverty use cash in impactful once in a while. Get enough sleep. Your brain is
ways that others may not have thought of. better when you’re rested, and your brain does a lot
Here is an example: When GiveDirectly first began of its work while you’re asleep. That’s the process.
to send money to people in Africa, many families Trust the process.”
used the money to replace the thatched roof of their
house with a tin roof. “We wanted to figure out why Paul’s leadership and creative thought have spread
far and wide, into the homes and lives of people
this was such a popular choice. We learned there thousands of miles from Boston where he spent
were many reasons. If you have a metal roof you
can collect clean drinking water instead of having his childhood and San Diego where he lives and
lectures at the university. He encourages young
to walk to the water; also, you’re less likely to have people to embrace what is unique about each
bugs in your roof; and finally, you don’t have to person. “I think that when you’re young it feels
replace the roof every year, so you save money. It very important to fit in and be accepted. Because
turns out to be a good investment. For us, this really
embodied this idea that the people we are sending I was homeschooled, I felt weird and different and
money to know so much about their lives, their I worked hard to be accepted. I think everybody
communities, their homes, and their goals that we goes through that to some extent. As you get older
don’t. When we give them the choice of what to do you start to care less about that. You start to
with the money, we gain access to all these ideas appreciate being different in your own special
that have never occurred to us.” way because we are all weird and different, and
that’s great. I think that’s when you can do some
Paul knows that oftentimes things you interpret one of your most creative work.”
way may not be what they seem. He recommends And perhaps that’s also when you will become the
listening to a lot of people, reading a lot, and thinking next person to discover new connections that will
a lot. “I think that creativity is making connections— make the world a better place.
seeing things in a way that is different from the way
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