For Rachel Zelon, working in countries across the world has shown the potential for making a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged men, women, and children. But organizations like hers are often working against the system when they do not have commitment from national leaders to support anti-poverty efforts. Because without structures to support healthcare, transport, education local efforts are often doomed to underperform on their potential.

"Some of the countries that were most successful in eradicating hunger – ok, hunger is a little different from poverty, obviously – there was tremendous investment in the agricultural sector within those countries," she says in her Pathfinders monovlog.

"Countries like China and Vietnam really advanced tremendously. Why? Because they had buy-in at the very, very highest levels of government. 

"What we find on the local level when we work every day, if you will, in the trenches, is that if we don't have certain infrastructure in place, if there are no educational facilities, if there are no healthcare facilities, if there are not good public works and roads and access to electricity, and in today's world, access to technology, people are incredibly limited in how they can advance."

You can contribute to the work of Hunger Relief International via its website HRIcares.org, or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

This monovlog is part of the Pathfinders series from front-line experts describing their work finding routes out of poverty. You can find more of CGTN's coverage of the issue at www.cgtn.com/innovationactionchange