Swedish film-maker Bosse Lindquist investigates whether charity work done by celebrities such as Bono and Bob Geldof has helped or hindered Africa’s poor Photograph: White House/BBC
Brian Hill's film takes a look at infant mortality around the world and highlights the disparities that exist between and within three very different countries: the US, Cambodia and Sierra Leone
Photograph: Brian Hill/Century Films Ltd/BBC
By exposing the extreme contrast between two starkly different Park Avenues in New York, acclaimed documentary film-maker Alex Gibney (Enron, Client 9) argues that the wealthiest Americans have rigged the system in their favour, making it much harder for people to rise out of poverty Photograph: Ronan Killeen/Democracy Pictures/BBC
In this film by Mona Eldaief and Jehane Noujaim, a mother of four from a remote Jordanian village is given an opportunity to train as a solar engineer at India’s Barefoot College, along with 27 other women from poor communities around the world, but she faces opposition at home Photograph: Plus Pictures/BBC
In spite of its vast copper resources, Zambia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. This documentary by Danish film-maker Christoffer Guldbrandsen shows how multinational corporations are exploiting Africa’s mineral wealth and giving very little in return Photograph: Lars Skree/Guldbrandsen Films/BBC
Chinese film-maker Weijun Chen exposes a scam at the heart of China’s education system that is worsening the plight of impoverished rural families and increasing the economic gap between city and countryside. Chen’s film asks whether education really can help people out of poverty
Photograph: Chunlin Cheng/Steps International/BBC
As millions of acres of farmland in Africa are being bought up by corporations and foreign governments, co-directors Hugo Berkeley and Osvalde Lewat investigate a large-scale agricultural development project in Mali that promises to enrich the impoverished local community, but at the expense of an ancient way of life Photograph: Andrey Diarra/Normal Life Pictures/BBC
Director Ben Lewis animates the history of poverty from the stone age to the present day and asks why, despite progress over time, there is still acute inequality in the world today Photograph: Fons Schiedon/Submarine/BBC
