Giving Compass' Take:

• Paul Collier presents a vision for achieving a more equitable world by lifting up the "bottom billion" people in poor and failing countries. 

• What role can individual funders play in this massive global vision? What would your contribution to this cause look like? 

• Read about reframing extreme poverty. 

Around the world right now, one billion people are trapped in poor or failing countries. How can we help them? Economist Paul Collier lays out a bold, compassionate plan for closing the gap between rich and poor.

What I'm going to offer you is a recipe, a combination of the two forces that changed the world for good, which is the alliance of compassion and enlightened self-interest. Compassion, because a billion people are living in societies that have not offered credible hope. That is a human tragedy. Enlightened self-interest, because if that economic divergence continues for another 40 years, combined with social integration globally, it will build a nightmare for our children. We need compassion to get ourselves started, and enlightened self-interest to get ourselves serious. That's the alliance that changes the world.

Read the full article about the bottom billion by Paul Collier at TED.