Good Fortune

About the Project

Good Fortune is a feature documentary that explores how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the communities they are designed to benefit. Through intimate portraits of individuals living in the poorest area of Kenya, the film presents a unique perspective on human rights violations and environmental destruction carried out in the name of progress. The film follows the lives of four individuals as they stand up to international development institutions that are threatening to destroy their homes and livelihoods.

In the rural countryside, Jackson's farm is being flooded by an American investor who claims to be stimulating the local economy. On neighboring Lake Victoria, Rose and Oketch battle World Bank environmental policies to subsist on the rapidly deteriorating fish stocks. On the outskirts of Nairobi, Silva's home and business in Africa's largest squatter community are being demolished as part of a United Nations attempt at "slum-upgrading".

Good Fortune provides a platform for the beneficiaries of aid to speak directly to Western audiences, proposing their own solutions to develop their communities. The film generates an inclusive dialogue on foreign aid and encourages a more sustainable and equitable future for Africa.

The Fledgling Fund Impact

The Fledgling Fund is pleased to support Good Fortune because we believe it tells a side of development that is often unheard. While we know that the international development field is diverse and that there are so many projects that are making a real difference, this important film tells about the projects that have gone wrong in some way or not taken local voices into account in a substantive manner. Good Fortune is inspiring new debate and dialogue about the field that can often be drowned out by the urgency of poverty.