Judy Woodruff:

The foreign aid dispensed every year by the U.S. amounts to about 1 percent of the total federal budget, but that tiny percentage is often a giant political target.

In recent weeks, some in the Trump White House tried again to stop some foreign aid funding, before the president stopped the effort. The criticism? It's a waste of money and doesn't work.

But, in Ethiopia, some economists recently sought to test different anti-poverty programs.

And, as Fred de Sam Lazaro reports, finding out what works makes it easier to find out how to help.

Tedros Kesete and Taame Tesfaye have a daunting job, tracking down hundreds of the poorest people in Ethiopia. They're looking for specific individuals who took part in an anti-poverty program more than five years ago, all this in an area with few street addresses and even fewer street signs.