Oct

20

Development TV

Filed Under Charities, Poverty, World 

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Image by adrenalin via Flickr

Imagine a TV show based on reducing poverty in the developing world. People need to see the problems others are facing (some news channels do a good job of this) but perhaps even more important is that people see that something can be done about it.

I find it quite amazing that there isn’t a TV show about reducing poverty. Perhaps there is in other countries but New Zealand certainly doesn’t seem to have anything like this. There are a few advertising campaigns and a few depressing documentaries but very little focused on action and progress. Imagine a weekly show that includes stories at the personal, community and national level with a balance of information between what is going well and what will work better in future.

A while ago when watching “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, I thought this is kind of cool but what if they helped the people in greatest need? Probably going for a more reasonable quality of life rather than trying to give them the lifestyle of millionaires.  This could be called “Extreme Makeover: Village Edition”.

Is there already a TV show about reducing poverty in your country? Do you think this is a good idea? Let me know in the comments.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Development TV”

  1. Scott Kustes - Modern Forager on October 20th, 2008 5:08 pm

    Interesting idea. Obviously this needs to be fleshed out further to really have merit to discuss, but I’d be interested in hearing more. Course, I don’t watch TV, so I wouldn’t see the show. =)

    I guess the flip side is why should we be concerned with poor in other countries when we’re not doing much to help the poor in our own country?

    Cheers
    Scott Kustes
    Modern Forager

  2. admin on October 20th, 2008 6:25 pm

    Scott,

    Yes, this idea needs a lot more fleshing out, just a thought at this stage - I’m just interested to see what other people think about it and to hear their ideas.

    I agree there are a lot of poor people in “wealthy” countries and we should be doing more to help them as well. Perhaps a localised version of the show.

  3. Ashwin on October 20th, 2008 8:39 pm

    Some general ideas for some reality shows

    1. “Supersize” Me…Whoever “gains” the most weight during a gruelling 8 week period wins a year supply of groceries for his community

    2. “Survivor”…outlast other members in your tribe by beating HIV, Malaria, and other deadly dieases.

    3. The Amazing “Race”…not so much a race around the world, but provided a set of items for a tribe (bricks, concrete, tools) and see who can utilise them the best in making whatever the heck they want (house, shed, jacuzi)

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