There's been a great deal of discussion over the last year about policies like cash transfers and basic income — potential solutions to poverty that basically involve local governments giving people the money they lack.
Bill Gates has another idea: Give the poor a flock of chickens.
"It's the classic thing of teaching someone how to fish," Gates told reporters at a recent event for a new program called Coop Dreams. "Now, if you don't live near water, then it's pretty hard to fish. But the parable could've been stated in terms of giving somebody a chicken."
In a June 8 post on his Gates Notes blog, the philanthropist announced his partnership with Heifer International, a charity focused on donating livestock to poor families around the world.
Together, the two organizations will deliver chickens to countries in need as a way to lift their citizens out of poverty. Gates says his initial donation will be 100,000 chickens.
According to Gates, the biggest downside of giving poor people cash handouts is that it's fleeting. It's not an investment that families can use to increase their income over time. And if a government wants to keep people uplifted, it needs to dip back into the well for more funds.
And in his recent blog post, Gates points out that within a three-month period, just five hens and one rooster can produce 40 chicks. "Eventually, with a sale price of $5 per chicken — which is typical in West Africa — [a farmer] can earn more than $1,000 a year," Gates writes, "versus the extreme-poverty line of about $700 a year."
For donors, the cost to achieve that outcome is small. Heifer International estimates that a $20 monthly donation can finance 12 flocks of chickens, or roughly 100 chickens, by the end of the year. Over time (and with the right business training) the flock can grow, yielding more income for families and greater buying power. Once their flock is large enough, for instance, they can buy bigger livestock like goats and cows.
"It's a very uplifting thing," Gates says.
Whether chickens can beat a system of straight cash handouts, in which people get a monthly check to cover expenses like food and shelter, will actually get put to the test in the coming months.
The charity GiveDirectly announced back in April that it will launch the largest and most robust basic income experiment in East Africa sometime in late 2016 or early 2017. Over a period of 10 to 15 years, GiveDirectly will provide approximately 6,000 people in poverty with a steady income on top of their normal wage, no strings attached.
Both Coop Dreams and GiveDirectly's project involve cultivating self-sufficiency. They take people in poverty and give them the resources to make choices that help themselves in the long run: fixing their homes, feeding their children, paying for education, investing in other sources of income.
For Gates, however, the chickens win out.
"These chickens are multiplying on an ongoing basis," he explained, "so there's no investment that has a return percentage anything like being able to breed chickens."
