Help those in need to plan how they will proceed.

• Do not make these decisions for the local people--the insiders. Give them the information they need, then let them take the initiative.
• Do not destroy their dignity and initiative by controlling the project from the outside.
• Find the leaders among them, if any, and help them to plan and share their vision with their own people.
• Use appropriate technology (within their grasp, both economically and educationally, that builds upon what they already know and do well).
• Aim for low tech, low capital, labor intensive projects that will show immediate, although small, successes.

Avoid people who 'love the milk but hate the cow.' They merely want to get what they can from you for themselves, feigning friendship and concern, or exaggerating their own needs, to manipulate you.

• For example, simply give poor peasants powdered milk for their malnourished children, and they'll probably use it to fatten their hogs.
• Teach them instead, about vitamins and show them how to plant a small, inexpensive garden, or to raise small animals for a constant source of protein. Then they'll probably respond in a positive way because they are doing something for their own families instead of seeking a handout.

Find in 1 Timothy 5, guidelines for dealing with people in need.

Find in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 more guidelines for dealing with poverty.

For helping people to deal with their own needs: Serving the Poor, Ted Yamamori

For inner city work: Cry of the Urban Poor, Viv Grigg (MARC)

For low capital, labor intensive, low tech projects that the poor will take up, Appropriate Technology, P. D. Dunn.

Hold discussions with groups of local persons who (a) have been approved by local leaders, (b) are competent to discuss the subject, and (c) represent the concerned social groups.

• Learn from them what they are willing to do for themselves.
• Make no promises unless they also promise to do their part.
• Learn from both local and outside experts the kinds of solutions that are both affordable and sustainable by the local people.