Aid initiatives go wrong for many reasons but a common and surprising one is that poor people often donampamp8217t want the kind of aid that is offered. This book explores why this happens and how it can be prevented. Richard Atkinson outlines important mistakes that the designers of development programmes often make illustrating these with examples from the field and analysing what it is that outsiders get wrong when designing for poor communities.What does aid look like when it is designed from the perspective of the poorest The second section of the book explores this question introducing a number of design principles including how to create solutions that make use of communal ties work around discrimination appreciate the importance of aesthetics and can be learned through experience.