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International aid & sustainable development.

Aid is basically a form of help given from one country to another; or one person to another, or from a charity (often called Non-Government Organisations or NGOs) to a country or region. It is most likely that you will have given aid at some point in your life! Aid can be given in the short term for emergencies, like during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, when money poured into South East Asia to help the victims and the sick. Development aid is longer term, and seeks to help people in poorer countries raise their standard of living. Below is a table summarising the different types of aid;

 

Type of aid

What it is

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Medical assistance

During emergencies rich nations and charities like the Red Cross or Medecin sans frontiers can provide medical assistance to the affected country. This could take the form of qualified staff or medicines.



Emergency aid in Haiti and Kenya

People

Richer nations or charities might choose to send qualified people top help in poorer nations. In the short term during emergencies qualified medical staff and trained pilots and the army can be of great assistance. In the longer term teachers, engineers, consultants can all play a role in advising and train in people within a poorer nation, to help its long term development.

Money

Money is often sent to LEDCs, for investment in projects and the local people. The UK sent £45million in aid to Tanzania to be spent on education.

Large scale projects

MEDCs can invest in large scale development projects, such as building roads, dams and factories. The idea behind these projects is that they act as a growth point for development, allowing industry and farming to develop and raise massive profits.



Intermediate technology

This type of technology is designed to improve on current technology within LEDC countries and to be manageable for local people to use. There is no point in sending machinery and technology into an area if the people can get no use of it because it is too complicated.

Equipment

Large scale equipment can also be provided in aid to LEDCs. Equipment such as tractors, irrigation equipment and earth movers have all been provided in the past.

 

Aid can also be tied or untied. Tied aid is when the country giving the aid expects something in return for the aid - the host country may have to trade more with the donor country for example. Untied aid is where the receiving country does not have to give anything in return.

An evaluation of the types of aid

Type of aid

Donor countries

Recipient countries

Advantages

Disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

Short term aid

People will give freely in a disaster – this gives them a feel good factor

It costs money and uses up technical expertise and technology in the short term.  This means that a donor countries resources are lost to the recipient country for a short period of time

 

It costs the tax payer in the donor country money

Short term aid gives help which can save lives immediately

 

Short term aid can develop into long term aid after a disaster, as people in MEDCs realise how poor people are in the affected zone.

Reduces the receiving country's ability to produce the items they get from us (i.e. if we send them short term food aid, then their farmers won’t be able to sell their crops
for higher prices)

Long term aid

Companies and individuals find satisfying and well paid work overseas

 

Trade may continue into the future after the initial stimulus of aid

 

It engenders good will towards the donor country and enhances its International reputation

 

Aid can also be a good way of forming strong relationships with other countries; curb terrorism and gain political will for global issues and deals but these are in the purest sense of aid not its purpose.

 

It can boost employment in large industries in the donor countries – in arms manufacturers and construction industries particularly.

It costs the tax payer of the donor countries – often those citizens wonder why their money is going to foreign countries.

 

 

New industries can develop which improves peoples chances of getting skills and long term employment

 

It can lead to improvements in long term farming methods – introducing new crops and better land management practises

 

Trade with the donor country may continue into the future

 

Schools, hospitals, roads, dams and other infrastructure projects improve the lives of many people and will last for a long time

Some foreign aid is given as military and weapons gifts, potentially fanning the flames of global wars instead of dealing with them

 

Tied aid can make the recipient countries reliant on the donor country

 

The senior posts created by the aid are often given to foreigners as local people do not have the necessary skills for those jobs

 

The funding for big projects is often just for the construction (e.g. of a hospital) but may not cover the long term maintenance costs for the recipient country

 

Local people can lose their land to large projects such as dams

Top-down aid

It feels controlled for the donor country as it is coordinated by the actual government or International Organisations such as the UK

 

It allows for LARGE SCALE planning over large areas without having to worry about every Individuals needs

Large scale projects can use up huge amounts of money that donor countries may feel are wasted

 

Corruption and the theft of aid has happened in the past, this makes donor countries less likely to give money to big top down projects

Projects aim to solve large scale problems in  a recipient country so are well coordinated and backed by money

 

Large scale projects such as dams and superhighways improve the national infrastructure for the majority of people

Big projects are capital intensive and poor countries may have to add more money to the aid given to ensure that the projects are completed.

 

Large scale projects are often part of TIED aid, where the LEDC has to either pay back loans or allow richer countries access to its resources.

 

Projects often less sustainable, consuming large amounts of time, land and resources

Bottom up aid

More individuals in Donor countries are likely to give to Bottom up aid as it is organised by charities and gives a feel good factor

 

Many bottom up charities have a direct link between the individual donor and the recipient – through sponsorship, letter writing and websites

 

 

Lots of the money collected in richer donor nations by charities gets swallowed up by advertising and collection costs, and therefore never reaches the destination recipient country.

NGOs work with the recipient communities, gathering their ideas before starting projects

 

Local people are involved in Bottom up aid and projects are democratic

 

Less money is lost to corruption

 

Projects tend to be more sustainable

Less reliable, in times of recession people give less to charities.

 

Often lacks coordination, with many charities competing in the same areas, so is therefore inefficient in delivering whole sale change to countries and regions

 

   
     
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