---
product_id: 503717
title: "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself"
price: "KSh4442"
currency: KES
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reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/503717-when-helping-hurts-how-to-alleviate-poverty-without-hurting-poor
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---

# 4.6/5 from 2,471 reviews Global poverty insights & strategies Top #5 in Poverty & Social Work When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

**Price:** KSh4442
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Transform your perspective, transform lives.

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself
- **How much does it cost?** KSh4442 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.ke](https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/503717-when-helping-hurts-how-to-alleviate-poverty-without-hurting-poor)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Insightful Poverty Analysis:** Unpacks why traditional aid often fails and how to truly help.
- • **Long-Term Impact Strategies:** Focuses on sustainable development beyond quick relief efforts.
- • **Culturally Sensitive Approach:** Highlights the importance of understanding diverse perspectives of poverty.
- • **Biblical & Practical Framework:** Combines faith-based principles with actionable poverty alleviation steps.
- • **Highly Rated & Widely Acclaimed:** Trusted by thousands with a 4.6-star rating and bestseller status.

## Overview

When Helping Hurts is a critically acclaimed book that challenges conventional poverty aid by blending biblical principles with practical strategies. It emphasizes sustainable development over short-term relief, cultural sensitivity, and long-term commitment to truly alleviate poverty. With a 4.6-star rating from over 2,400 readers and top rankings in Poverty and Social Work categories, this book is essential for professionals and changemakers seeking impactful solutions.

## Description

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself [Corbett, Steve, Fikkert, Brian, Perkins, John, Platt, David] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

Review: Book Review: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Steve Corbett & Brian F - When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is a book I set my sites on some time ago but thinking it may be a load of tosh I put off reading it. That is, until I received a verbal recommendation from a trusted relative I then decided it was time to dig in. As it turns out it is not a load of rubbish but rather a well thought out analysis of how we as individual Christians, churches, and parachurch organizations have failed, often miserably, at assisting the poor and alleviating poverty and how to address these issues. From the back cover we learn what we can expect from the book Foundation Concepts – Who are the poor? Principles – Should we do relief, rehabilitation or development? Strategies – How can we help people here and abroad? And that is the thrust of the work. These three points are fleshed out by the authors. The book begins with a short history of how we, primarily North American Christians, got to where we are now. What happened between 1900 and 1930 that changed how we address poverty alleviation and why we are failing miserably at addressing it? Why is a Biblical world view important to the methodology of helping the poor? Next we find out what the poor think of our efforts to help them. Its entirely possible we fail as we have no clue how other cultures, even sub-cultures within our own culture, think emotionally and politically of their plight. Failure to recognize these distinctions cause our failures in assisting the poor and therefore our evangelism. From our North American point of view are we really helping the poor or just making ourselves feel better by thinking we have? Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, with God and each other, not in financial or material wealth. Only Jesus can fix that. In chapter 4 we begin to get into the real meat of the work. Help comes in three forms according to the authors: Relief, rehabilitation, and development. Failure to recognize these three and implement them as needed or in correct order can do more harm than good. Many churches and organizations, for example, start and stop with relief. That is, providing immediate help for a need. Though necessary it falls short of providing for the long term needs of the person or persons in need. The authors flesh this out clearly and define what steps, relief, rehabilitation, and development, to take at appropriate times. Of chapter 7 I took special note. Short term mission trips (STM) have always left me wondering how effective they can be. How can a group of people who blow into town for only a week or two expect to provide any long lasting good? Indeed, they can be helpful as the authors explain however they are often not for several reasons the authors lay out. If only relief is provided the STM is doomed to failure. Development is often what is needed and that can’t be done in a two week STM. In helping the poor we must be in it for the long haul by helping the local churches and organizations in the area as necessary. The authors continue and conclude with concrete strategies to help the poor in numerous ways and especially spiritually. The issue is often, "Finding armies of people to volunteer one Saturday to paint dilapidated houses is easy. Finding people to love the people who live in those houses is extremely difficult" (pg. 210). We must take the time to walk and love these folks for the long term. Are you ready? Am I ready? This is a justifiable read. The authors are intelligent and experienced. Expert analysis, true life accounts, and clear strategies are provided. I wholeheartedly commend When Helping Hurts .
Review: A heartfelt book, good teaching - I got this book for one of my classes with our local church. It is a very well written book, I highly recommend this book to anyone, it gives you additional perspective of lives, other lives than the one you are living now, if you think that you have it bad, it might be a good time to look around, this way you will appreciate the life you have and encourage to help others, in which in turn, they can and will also help you as well, in some other way that would and never could imagine.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #10,697 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Social Work (Books) #5 in Poverty #9 in Christian Social Issues (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,477) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 0.66 x 9 inches |
| Edition  | Third Edition, New |
| ISBN-10  | 0802409989 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0802409980 |
| Item Weight  | 1 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 288 pages |
| Publication date  | February 1, 2014 |
| Publisher  | Moody Publishers |

## Images

![When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91MLghEvyNL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Book Review: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Steve Corbett & Brian F
*by R***E on July 26, 2018*

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is a book I set my sites on some time ago but thinking it may be a load of tosh I put off reading it. That is, until I received a verbal recommendation from a trusted relative I then decided it was time to dig in. As it turns out it is not a load of rubbish but rather a well thought out analysis of how we as individual Christians, churches, and parachurch organizations have failed, often miserably, at assisting the poor and alleviating poverty and how to address these issues. From the back cover we learn what we can expect from the book Foundation Concepts – Who are the poor? Principles – Should we do relief, rehabilitation or development? Strategies – How can we help people here and abroad? And that is the thrust of the work. These three points are fleshed out by the authors. The book begins with a short history of how we, primarily North American Christians, got to where we are now. What happened between 1900 and 1930 that changed how we address poverty alleviation and why we are failing miserably at addressing it? Why is a Biblical world view important to the methodology of helping the poor? Next we find out what the poor think of our efforts to help them. Its entirely possible we fail as we have no clue how other cultures, even sub-cultures within our own culture, think emotionally and politically of their plight. Failure to recognize these distinctions cause our failures in assisting the poor and therefore our evangelism. From our North American point of view are we really helping the poor or just making ourselves feel better by thinking we have? Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, with God and each other, not in financial or material wealth. Only Jesus can fix that. In chapter 4 we begin to get into the real meat of the work. Help comes in three forms according to the authors: Relief, rehabilitation, and development. Failure to recognize these three and implement them as needed or in correct order can do more harm than good. Many churches and organizations, for example, start and stop with relief. That is, providing immediate help for a need. Though necessary it falls short of providing for the long term needs of the person or persons in need. The authors flesh this out clearly and define what steps, relief, rehabilitation, and development, to take at appropriate times. Of chapter 7 I took special note. Short term mission trips (STM) have always left me wondering how effective they can be. How can a group of people who blow into town for only a week or two expect to provide any long lasting good? Indeed, they can be helpful as the authors explain however they are often not for several reasons the authors lay out. If only relief is provided the STM is doomed to failure. Development is often what is needed and that can’t be done in a two week STM. In helping the poor we must be in it for the long haul by helping the local churches and organizations in the area as necessary. The authors continue and conclude with concrete strategies to help the poor in numerous ways and especially spiritually. The issue is often, "Finding armies of people to volunteer one Saturday to paint dilapidated houses is easy. Finding people to love the people who live in those houses is extremely difficult" (pg. 210). We must take the time to walk and love these folks for the long term. Are you ready? Am I ready? This is a justifiable read. The authors are intelligent and experienced. Expert analysis, true life accounts, and clear strategies are provided. I wholeheartedly commend When Helping Hurts .

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A heartfelt book, good teaching
*by T***S on May 14, 2025*

I got this book for one of my classes with our local church. It is a very well written book, I highly recommend this book to anyone, it gives you additional perspective of lives, other lives than the one you are living now, if you think that you have it bad, it might be a good time to look around, this way you will appreciate the life you have and encourage to help others, in which in turn, they can and will also help you as well, in some other way that would and never could imagine.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Are you truly helping?
*by C***Y on October 13, 2025*

Great book for anyone in social services. What we think might help my actually be hurting. A great book to evaluate effectiveness of programs. We constantly ask ourselves if we are helping or hurting because of what we learned in this book.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-16*