Random thought, when thinking of cash transfers my mind sometimes jumps to George W. Bush's "Just send them cash" speech in response to the earthquakes in Haiti. It comes across as kind, pragmatic and urgent, and at the same time appreciative of people having the idea to do other things, like sending clothes or food. 

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man some cash, and he will teach himself how to fish.

Alternatively

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man some cash, empower him for a lifetime.

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man some cash, make his best dreams come true

Give a man some cash, put his wisdom before yours

Poverty is not having the means to climb out of poverty. 

You can explain ladders to a man in a hole all you want, but until you give him one, he cannot climb out. 

We give, therefore they can.

I'm actually surprised you guys want to kill the "teach a man to fish" proverb. 

The key message of the proverb seems to be that we should be increasing the capabilities of those in hardship so they can lift themselves out of hardship and be self-sufficient. I never read it as advocating for teaching skills specifically.

Furthermore my understanding is that increasing the capabilities of those in hardship so they can lift themselves out of hardship and be self-sufficient is GiveDirectly's goal. You guys don't want to give money to the same people for the rest of time do you?

Not a submission to the contest, but years ago I supported an NGO in Kenya working with the Luo community. 

The NGO was called Teach A Man To Fish.

The Luo are famously good at fishing. 

The local Luo people didn't complain about the apparent condescension of working with an NGO called Teach A Man To Fish when they were actually very good at fishing.

Why?

They wanted the money they could get from the NGO!

Ok, my best idea is to highlight a Marxist theory of labor vs. capital at the small scale. I know this sounds very high brow but I think a distillation of it could work?

Give someone a loaf, they can eat it.
Teach them to bake, they can join the labor market and work hard to feed themselves.
Give them money for an oven, they can own the means of production.

A man in a hole needs a ladder, not climbing skills?

It´s no direct "kill", still:

Dear Lord, I know some billion people are hard working yet still can´t afford enough food or water. Please, please, please: Let this be a problem, which can be easily solved by a good teacher. I don´t want poverty to be a money-problem. I mean, if that´d be the case, I would still keep my money, I wouldn´t change my behaviour, but I´d feel bad about it. So nothing would change, except me feeling bad. As you are a good lord, you sure don´t want that, right? - Oh, and please: These people are waiting for this good teacher for some decades now. Would you ask Santa if he could give him a lift? 

Give cash. Cos not everyone wants to eat fish.

I just want to write that I really appreciate how you've set this up.

I see a lot of EA essay contests that offer large cash prizes for the best essay. This strikes me as insane for a movement founded and based upon the principle that we should fund only the best interventions based on RCTs and good evidence. Where is the good evidence that essays are a cost-effective way of improving the world? Where is the justification for these huge cash prizes?

Winning a video call seems far more appropriate, in line with the potential work done / value created, and selects for submissions from people who care enough about GD (and are aligned enough) that they're actually interested in such a prize.

Not everyone wants fish. GiveDirectly

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime - if he can afford a fishing rod.

"A fishing rod is no use in the fields; seeds are no use at sea. But with cash, the fisher can buy a rod and the farmer can buy seeds."

Thansk for this. Right now, I just wanted to remark that I loved the prize here.
There've been many contests in the EAsphere awarding awesome financial prizes... while for many people here, I guess that being doing something great (and then receiving props for it) is incentive enough.
(Perhaps you should call this "innovative proverb maker of the year"

Mock submission:

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll have to buy all of the lures, tackle, and rods you taught him how to use.  #capitalism #25%offyour1storder #overfishing

Submitted my real suggestions through the form...

"Some poor people have plenty of fish. No poor people have plenty of money."

Here are some attempts:

1. "Apt is a tool that fits all hands." (Emphasizes the wisdom of avoiding overly targeted interventions.) Or perhaps, "Apt is the ladder that anyone can stand on."
2. "A seed well planted sprouts a forest." (Emphasizes that money is an investment, not a short-term benefit.)
3. "Within the owl's tree is what only the owl can see." (Emphasizes that recipients have special knowledge about what's good for them.)

A rough formula for generating these might be this:

1. Figure out the specific message/insight you want to convey. (The contest instructions l

Something along the lines of.... "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Give a woman some cash, and she'll pay for her kids' education and their fishing rods."

But, like, snappier.

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give him money and he can buy a fishing boat.

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give him money for a fishing net or a nice plow, that'll help more.

They know what they need. They just need some money for it.
 

Whoever lacks a dollar knows best how to use the next one.

Maybe simply add a question, like for a school essay:

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” If this were true, how many decades ago do you think would extreme poverty ended worldwide?

I already know how to fish, but I’m not quitting my job, because I want money. Do you want to take your salary in fish?

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

Forget fish. Just send cash.

#1

Popular myth says "teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime".

But 200+ studies say "give a poor man cash, lift him out of poverty".

Let's stick to the research.

#2 

Teach a man to fish, feed him for a year (maybe).

Give a poor man cash, lift him out of poverty.

Give directly to empower rather than to be in power

Give a man a fish, it may rot in transport. Teach a man to fish, he may have other more practical skills already. Give a man cash and he can buy whatever is most useful for himself and his family.

(The idea is to highlight key benefits of cash in a way that also maps plausibly onto the fishing example. I'm sure the wording and examples here could be improved; suggestions welcome!)

Yet, despite our efforts, the myth remains. 

How do you evaluate whether or not the myth "remains"?

Teach a man to fish, they'll still starve in the jungle.

Money begets money

Or, and this is a bit more of a slogan:

If you want your money invested wisely, find the person who needs it the most.

Whatever you give a man know that you are just a tiny bit of his life. He is struggling with giants. Try to be the most helpful tiny bit you can, but manage expectations.

https://www.givedirectly.org/research-at-give-directly/
 

Using Givewell research it's not exactly easy to come up with a snappy proverb. 

But I thought using a rhyming approach, you could build one. Preface a snappy rhyme with a factual sentence.

Example sentence:

People don't spend our transfers on booze or cigs. They spend it on food, assets and to improve their earnings. 
 

Add on 1, 2 or 3:

1. Direct cash transfer is the right answer.
2. Don't be weird and funny, just send them the money.
3. Sending them money will make their life sunny. (not too happy with that one)

Instead of: "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime," I suggest:"Give a woman access to a farming ecosystem that supplies affordable, high quality produce"