Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Think about the best thing that could happen to you as a producer,Ìýfilm-maker or television executive. Winning an Oscar? Shaking handsÌýwith Robert Redford? Hearing films with which you've been involvedÌýcalled works of genius? Wrong. The best is , the most ambitious attempt to date toÌýask why, in the 21st Century, a billion people still live in poverty.

WHY POVERTY? now involves dozens of people throughout the world - broadcasters, people helping out with the press and well wishers, butÌýit began four years ago as the work of three people – Mette Hoffmann Meyer, theÌýHead of Documentaries at Danish Broadcaster DR, Don Edkins who has run the operationÌýfrom Cape Town, and myself. We've worked together from beginning toÌýend. Much of what we have done has been unpaid, out of reasonableÌýhours. We've burnt carbon, we've cajoled, we asked for more favoursÌýthan we can recall. There were slammed doors, but many opened ones.

It has been more than worth it. We have huge pride in the remarkableÌýeight documentary films that make up the season. At the launch at the ,Ìýwhen 500-odd people filled a vast conference hall, a panel from all over the world chaired by FergalÌýKeane discussed the films for close to two hours. These films weren'tÌýjust TV shows, the subjects they covered were of life and deathÌýimportance. They did matter, terrifically so.

The work has been gruelling, and we've often fought our way from oneÌýcrisis to another, but the boldness of our film-makers and theÌýambition of the project has made all that effort meaningful. Most ofÌýall I have to thank my co-labourers for sustaining their ownÌýcommitment - and making sure mine didn't flag.Ìý

WHY POVERTY? isn't a brand or a trademark. It's a simple idea. On orÌýaround November 25th, over 500 million viewers served by some 72 participatingÌýbroadcasters, will watch these films about such subjects as the way in whichÌýwomen are held back from economic development, and what happens whenÌýthey break loose; what it meant to be poor in the Neolithic Age;Ìýwhether Bono and Geldof did indeed ; how poor,Ìýyoung Chinese are screwed by their education system; and howÌýmultinationals in Africa find ways of not paying taxes.

They are well-crafted, perceptive documentary films. And they will have a lifeÌýafter broadcast. They will be used for educational purposes. They willÌýexist in different lengths for wildly different audiences – asÌýdownloads on mobile phones, in village screenings in Africa,Ìýclassrooms in the UK, and university seminars in the US.

So how did WHY POVERTY? happen – and how did the Ö÷²¥´óÐã find our place atÌýthe heart of so ambitious a project? Go back a decade and you find aÌýgroup of broadcasters clubbing together to make films about AIDS inÌýSouthern Africa. The films were shown throughout stricken countries,Ìýand in richer countries too.

And now go to 2007, and the showing of 40-oddÌýbroadcasters showed ten films about the paradoxes of global democracy.ÌýWe hear that the films are screened at the UN by Ban Ki Moon. FUTURA,Ìýa Brazilian educational network sends them to over 1,000 villages inÌýspecially created 'democracy suitcases.' And the most popular film,Ìý, which depicts the vote-buying that goes on whenÌýChinese nine year olds elect their class prefect, becomes a bootleg hit inÌýnon-democratic China.

WHY POVERTY? has taken close to four years. We have worked closely withÌýcolleagues (among others too numerous to name) at The Open University,ÌýDutch broadcaster VPRO, ITVS in the USA, SVT Sweden, NHK Japan and ZDF in Germany.ÌýIn Copenhagen, , was created to provide the broadcast partnersÌýwith a way to work together and commission the films.

The eight broadcast films are made for and funded by broadcasters. (the first - 'Four Born Every Minute' - is the subject of the audio slideshow above).ÌýThere's a website () and thirty shorts, which will beÌýused on the internet, and for educational purposes. It's been moreÌýthan a roller-coaster ride.ÌýTwo weeks ago we signed a contract with Turkish broadcasting,Ìýand we're about to conclude a deal in India. The films will be shownÌýin Moldova – Moldova? Yes, I kid you not – Indonesia, PalestineÌýand Israel. The only two countries in which the films will not beÌýshown are Russia and China. However, we talkedÌýto a Chinese broadcaster, who said there was a chance that they couldÌýbe shown. Maybe not the Chinese film, which was too controversial, butÌýthe others… well, who knows?

Now that it's nearly finished we can say that it's been among theÌýwildest experiences of our professional lives. WHY POVERTY? upsets ourÌýpreconceptions about 'the poor.' WHY POVERTY? tells us thatÌýthe lives of poor people are eventful, engrossing, sometimes heroic.ÌýThey are, like the rest of us, only poorer. Somehow we have to seeÌýpoor people as individuals. We have to do this without losingÌýsight of the fact that poverty is something real, afflicting theÌýplanet.

There's no magic bullet when it comes to abolishing poverty. TheÌýconcept of aid from rich to poor is coming to seem dated. No singleÌý'solution' indeed exists, and a new generation of experts are tellingÌýus we must look at many factors in combination – better government,Ìýfairer trade policies, clever initiatives designed to enhance theÌýpotential of individuals. We can end poverty if we wish. This is whatÌýWHY POVERTY? has to say. You don't have to be poor to get this simple,Ìýimportant message. Maybe WHY POVERTY? will help spread it around theÌýworld.

Nick Fraser is the Chairman of Steps International and Editor of .Ìý

The films will broadcast on Ö÷²¥´óÐã One from Monday 19th November and on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four from Sunday 25th November.

For more information on the programmes visit the . An audio slideshow about the first documentary in the series is available via the Media Centre website.