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Introduction:

The challenges facing the Poor are many. The group of Poor suffer from not just low income, but likely also poor housing, lack of education, weak health, discrimination, few tools to make a better livelihood, misunderstandings and maybe fatalism and lack of hope in a better future.

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Therefore the struggle shoulder to shoulder is a multi-faceted protracted series of struggles. Every fight that has positive result adds something, brings new hope and builds capacity. As a professional in fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor you are going to:

&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Deepen your understanding of what such an action is and can be.

&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Train getting ideas for actions fit for the reality where you are working.

&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Practice describing actions and the steps they entail.

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In other tasks you look at the larger global issues surrounding the Poor and &ldquo;poverty alleviation&rdquo;, here you look at the small battles (actions) that the fight consists of.

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You might use the concepts of guerilla warfare to charactarize this. Guerilla warfare is a struggle where a small but dedicated group take on some large force in a fight that has broad support among many people.

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It is a principle of guerilla warfare to stay away from battles you cannot win, as that would just exhaust and discourage you and the people you are working with. Instead the guerilla fighter chooses the battles that can be won and focusses a lot of energy on decisively winning each of them and in this way gains strength and support for future fights. These were the tactics applied by the liberation movements fighting colonialism in Southern Africa.

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Transforming the world of the Poor is of course very different from fighting a colonial power, but some of the principles of guerilla fighting can shed light on the fighting with the Poor.&nbsp;

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The forces that have created the situation of the Poor are macro-economic realities in a globalized world where huge multi-national companies dominate production and strive to maximize profit often to the detriment of the Poor. A small guerilla group cannot change these global forces. As a long term goal it might want to reform the global economic system but that is not within its power, so there is no reason to waste energy on a futile fight.

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If we look at the &ldquo;poverty&rdquo; of just one group of Poor then we can define a struggle where you and a few others can make a difference that matters. Thus contributing to overcoming/reducing poverty through a series small local battles (actions).

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When defining the action you want to engage in, you must know not just the problems, weaknesses and challenges of the Poor but also the strength, energy, creativity, cultural values, social abilities and solidarity that you find within the group of Poor as well the local material opportunities such as available land, markets and government infrastructure. These qualities and opportunities have enabled the group of Poor to maintain basic human dignity and hope against many odds. They are a main advantage and force that you can and must build on and mobilize for the concrete action.

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If you see each action as a battle you have chosen because you have a very good chance for success, when you shoulder to shoulder with the group of Poor put maximum energy into the good fight, then it becomes feasible one step at the time to liberate the group Poor from sickness, lack of knowledge and the other scourges that accompany their lives. In the same way as the guerilla fighter was struggling through many small battles towards the goal of national liberation the fighter with the Poor takes on many actions that are winable.

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This does not mean that all actions will be a success. Some fail because they were not a good idea in the first place, some because they were not well planned, some because of other failures, but if you put energy and commitment into each fight you and the Poor will learn and become able to go forward towards a better life thus doing your part in creating a better world.

Directive:

This task is scheduled for 16 hours. 
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<ol>
	<li>Read the text about guerilla tactics &ndash; and consider how an action shoulder to shoulder with the Poor has similarities to fighting a guerilla war against an overwhelming enemy.</li>
	<li>Make a brain storm on ideas for actions to carry out shoulder to shoulder with the (group of) Poor. If possible do this in a trio of fellow students. An action can be a limited activity lasting 2-3 hours with a smaller group of Poor or it can be an extensive community action. Aim for a list of ideas of 200 actions. If you cannot come with quite that many, keep the list open and do some research so as to get new ideas. You might talk to people in the area, where you work or to project staff or search for ideas on the Internet. You may include activities you have done or have planned for but which have not yet been formulated and defined as actions thus using your own experience.</li>
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Try to create ideas for many different types of actions so that you produce a rich catalogue of ideas for future use. 
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<ol>
	<li>Review and organize your list of ideas in some categories. If there are repetitions or if some ideas are very unrealistic you remove them. So that you end with a list with titles of 100 ideas.</li>
	<li>Describe each of the ideas in a wording.</li>
	<li>Chose 20 actions/ideas that would fit very well for the area where you are working. Describe these in a series of steps or directives.</li>
	<li>Choose 1-3 of these (depending on the size and time). Then plan concretely, prepare and carry out. Analyze the problem you want to address, the strengths of the group of Poor and local opportunities. Afterwards make a short report of the action(s).</li>
	<li>Send to your teacher: the list in titles and wordings of 100 actions with the (group of) Poor, the 20 actions described with a directive and your action report.</li>
</ol>

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