Two interesting articles about aid

[fpb]

I think the impulse to help is natural and inevitable, but there is at least something to be said against institutionalizing it. I did have severe instinctive objections to the establishment circus that African aid has become in recent weeks, and these articles supply reasons to suspect it.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363604,00.html
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html
We may not buy everything they say, but at least they are worth thinking about.

Comments

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

A few thoughts
1. I don't live much by huge events like Live 8; they shouldn't be too easily discarded - with all their pomp and what's not - 'cause they channel some people good wills and boost them up: "we can do something" attitude. When criticizing such events it's important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Important thing is, what happens with money afterward. In Poland, similar charity action turned out to be a yearly event, with donations collected used for hospital equipment. Right, say the critics, they do the job the state is collecting taxes for. But - and that's the most important point - the foundation established to manage the funds is probably the most costs-effective NGO in Poland; completely transparent, hiring no more than a dozen persons on a regular basis (mind you, their cash flow is huge) and using up no more than 5% of funds for its owns purposes (usually a foundation is regarded good if its costs are below 20%; there are many sham fundations which just fend for themselves, using up 80% and more).

2. As a former recipient of the aid, I must say that is crucial, who's on the receiving end. At the beginning of our transformation, there were quite large funds for ecological aid, against which our scientists quickly rebelled. Simply because they were used for "experts' visits" (y'know three day round trip costing several thousand bucks and we'll advise on everything). Because people here more-or-less knew what they wanted, they - at least to the extent - managed to get rid of the experts and instead used the money for badly needed equipment .

3. Simple debt-canceling leads to false expectancies. Debt conversion makes sense, IMO. The deal is: you don't have to pay us back, but spend the money on yourself, in the areas we name. I was a witness of process of getting money from EcoFund, which works like this, and boy, it was a hard paper-hassle. One couldn't really walk away with lots of cash. They also demanded results. Such actions make sense, 'cause, as the interviewed politician said, it's the locals who're doing the job (and it's biochemist doing biochemistry not driving foreign experts around).

4. Could somebody, please, start with a bit of research? If the locals were cultivating millet for millennia, maybe the soil and climate is good for millet? So maybe what they need is some better hoes and possibly introducing some old-but-reliable technologies (underground watering has been around for 2000 years, still works efficiently and requires only a hoe and know-how to built) and not genetically improved corn?

5. Last but not least, long time ago sb said that if the internal agricultural aid in USA and UE has been halved, no aid would be needed to Africa whatsoever. They could make their living on food exports and still have enough for themselves. The reality is of course not so simple, but it says a lot :(

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

And some answers for the critics, from the same source:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,363890,00.html

The most important thing there, I think, it's turning towards work with local NGOs. They're most likely to know what's all about and besides if we want democracy there, grassroot movement is necessary, and NGOs are important factor in it.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

Forcing others to help you do something you want to do that they may or may not think is a good idea is not really helping. To me, it's more like helping yourself to something that isn't yours, namely other people.

What is it about giving a man a fish as opposed to teaching him to fish?

Oh, I forgot. Church and State separation. My bad. [/facetiousness]