Poverty Porn Is Alive and Well — And It’s Time We Killed It Off

As the nonprofit sector undergoes profound transformation, there’s one stubborn relic we urgently need to discard: poverty porn.

For decades, many of us working across Africa and the Global South have found ourselves in rooms — with donors, foundations, philanthropists — where we’ve had to tell sob stories to be heard. Where budgets only get approved if you lead with suffering. Where success is measured by how pitiful your narrative sounds, not by the strength of your strategy or the promise of your partnerships.

This is the poverty porn trap.

It strips communities of dignity. It flattens people’s lives into simplistic narratives of pain. It reinforces harmful stereotypes and continues to frame Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia as broken places waiting to be saved.

But here’s the truth: the Global South does not have a monopoly on suffering. Poverty, exclusion, and injustice exist in every corner of the world. What differs is how it is narrated — and whose dignity is preserved in the telling.

Over time, we’ve learnt that true partnership is not built on pity, but on potential.

At New Global Markets (NGM), we’ve been part of models that challenge the old way of doing things. We’ve witnessed what happens when communities are seen not as passive recipients, but as co-creators. When their assets, ideas, and lived experience take centre stage — not just their vulnerabilities.

For example, we’ve worked with a nonprofit in Kenya who are not just “beneficiaries” but entrepreneurs, artisans, and knowledge holders. When supported through fair trade, decent infrastructure, and flexible capital, they thrive — not because they are desperate, but because they showed strength and set the terms of engagement around partnership, not charity.

Let’s raise funds through narratives of possibility, not pain. Let’s showcase the creativity, intelligence, and ingenuity that lives in the very communities donors want to support.

Yes, challenges exist. But we must never forget — and must always remind others — that local communities often hold the most practical solutions to those challenges. What they need is investment, not pity. Respect, not rescue.