Foreign Aid

It is no mystery that today we live in a society in which some are less privileged than others. It is clear and apparent to us everyday when we see the homeless and the diseased. On an international scale, however, it is also an issue as we find countries with lower standards of living and conditions of suffering and turmoil. We see these situations on the news and hear of “developed” countries offering aid to assist and fix some of the issues facing these nations. It is important to realize, however, that while this seems an action of goodwill it is often ineffective and has in some cases worsened the situations for these nations. Problems that plague the aid administration for example, include corrupt politicians who mishandle funding, worsening debt situations, and a lack of control over plan execution as a result of no overseeing authority being granted to the aid givers. The best way to defeat these obstacles would be first to offer aid in the form of grants, eliminating debt factors, secondly offering step based aid programs where further aid is given based on results, and thirdly credible threats should be advocated regarding further funding in order to deter corrupt governments.

Foreign Aid is defined as a situation in which one nation helps another nation through donations, usually of monetary value, meaning cash. Perhaps the largest type

of foreign aid falls in the category of “Development assistance” where the prime objective is to improve to the economic infrastructure and to help reach development goals. The goals can be, for example, quite simply to expand the agricultural sector in order to feed the population, or a more complex goal can be to make improvements in the industrial sector to power up the fledging economy. In general, aid is given in an attempt to bring a nation to meet certain standards, which the first world classifies as developed. However this may sound like simple procedure but, outlying factors and conditions within a receiving country can greatly complicate matters, rendering the aid wasteful. This is particularly the case for many African nations where corrupt governments loom, hampering aid givers and economic progress. Although this situation seems depressing, it is possible to improve it and ensure that an advancing and onward motion is accomplished and maintained.

The aid sector has expanded greatly over the last few years, having risen by one third, currently standing at 78.6 billion dollars. It is actually expected to get even bigger with analysts predicting that it will reach the 125 billion dollar mark by the year 2010. It is sad, however, because with the way that this aid is being distributed it is quite frankly going to dire waste. Over the past fifty years one trillion dollars has been donated to the African continent alone and the progress achieved is appalling. Despite that large amount of money, African nations remain largely dependent

on foreign aid, clearly shown by the fact that in the twenty year period between 1975 and 1995 the

average amount of aid as part of government spending was found to be at fifty percent. This means that half of the money that governments are spending in these countries are coming from abroad, which is a staggering statistic because it shows how unbelievably dependent

on foreign aid these countries have become, despite large donations that have already been made.

Grant based aid is assistance of a gift like nature, because it is a monetary distribution with essentially no strings attached, meaning no payback required at all at any given time. This benefits developing nations with low budgets because it means that they can put the money to use where it is needed without worrying about returning it. In the past aid has been given to countries in a tied form where lower developed countries are tied to first world nations through debt as a result of demands for returning their money . This worsens situations greatly because countries can no longer use money for their own issues but must instead concentrate on taking their revenue and giving it back with an interest charged to them. With a grant system countries can hold on to their money they make along with aid that they are given and it is an obvious fact that the more money you have the more developments you can accomplish. However this adjustment alone is not sufficient.

Indeed, a grant system will help countries a lot but with the existence of corrupt governments there is still no guarantee that the money will go to good and

ethical use. Politicians often dip their hands in their country’s limited treasuries. This new influx of money from abroad will simply further expand their desire to steal, and often there are no consequences for their criminal actions . As a result