Beyond poverty

<big>Beyond Poverty</big> is a non-profit organization working in developing nations to help empower communities to holistically address the barriers impeding their escape from poverty. By empowering local leaders to be the agents of sustainable transformation within their own community, Beyond Poverty maintains the dignity of those their work benefits. Founded in 2009, Beyond Poverty seeks a greater awareness of sustainable development practices within the community of development nonprofits.
Beginnings
Stephen Dupuis and Matthew Turner started the 501(c)(3)Non-profit Defythirst in 2009. After several successful water projects in Ecuador and Ghana, they saw that the populations they served with clean water continued to struggle with other burdens of poverty and shifted focus, renaming the nonprofit Beyond Poverty and approaching development in a sustainable and holistic manner. Stephen Dupuis has a degree in Media and Communications from Valdosta State University. Matthew Turner has a Master of Public Health degree in Community Health and Development from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a degree in Microbiology from the University of Georgia.

Methods
Beyond Poverty utilizes a holistic approach to community development mixed with public health initiatives rather than focusing on a single development sector. This is based in the view of poverty as a complex issue resulting from many interacting factors, therefore requiring a complex approach to reduce. Development research shows that combining multiple sectors of development with health initiatives is the most effective method
In addition to the holistic approach, Beyond Poverty utilizes a community ownership approach to project design, giving local leaders full control over projects. This approach is more effective and leads to more sustained impact than traditional community development approaches that leave project design and management in the hands of nonprofits, churches, NGOs, or government institutions.

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