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The benefits of foreign aid
The benefits of foreign aid
Foreign aid and international relations
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INTRODUCTION Foreign aid is the transfer of goods, capital or services from one country to another directly or indirectly through international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and many others. It is meant to offer some benefits or help to the recipient country and it comes in several forms for example; military, emergency humanitarian or economic aid. It is aimed at providing help in terms of crisis or disaster. This is the concept of Foreign Aid, The benefits of Foreign Aid have recently been under severe security. It is argued that a large portion of foreign aid flowing from developed to developing countries is wasted and only increase poor institutional levels. Foreign Aid in Africa Under fire Aid …show more content…
In recent years the donor community has become more stringent about fiscal discipline and good policies, which has led to freezing of donor funds to governments that do not conform with aid conditionalities. The Kenyan government has experienced such aid cuts in the past. 1.1 Definition The standard definition of foreign aid comes from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which defines foreign aid (or the equivalent term, foreign assistance) as financial flows, technical assistance, and commodities that are designed to promote economic development and welfare as their main …show more content…
Reduction in resources and few alternatives in Africa were in bad shape where as their incumbents during that period were forced to concive political rights to their opponents”. Ahmed 2012”Argued that the value of foreign aid to fund patronage systems can lead to autacrats to craft foreign policy which is hard to meet its goal. If such a view is correct then and should have helped the leaders to fend off democracy in Africa, but other scholars asset that foreign aid was(and is) a catalyst for democratic
The duties and responsibilities of the fire department are most importantly responding to fires and other emergencies that involve the assistance from the department such as vehicle accidents, flooding, emergency rescue, and first aid response. When it comes to a fire departments duties and responsibilities when it comes to mutual aid agreements it is to coordinate planning, multiply the response resources available to any one jurisdiction, ensure timely arrival of aid, arrange for specialized resources, and minimize administrative conflict and litigation post-response.
International Aid operates in almost every corner of the globe, is part of the transfer of billions of dollars of assistance through countless organizations, charities, and funds; and involves the efforts of hundreds of thousands of dedicated workers and affects billions of people. . This paper will provide a historical summary of how aid has grown and developed in stages, from a humanitarian concept first applied in the 19th century to established international policy and law following the Second World War and later the Cold War. We will review the impact of the wave of newly independent nations in the 1940’s and 1950’s and the rise of multinational aid organizations in the 1970’s and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) in the 1980’s. We will conclude by detailing recent emerging trends in aid through the 1990’s into the present day.
The United States is one of the leading suppliers of Foreign Aid in the world, and even though the US gives billions, European countries give aid money to the same countries, this causes many areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to be almost fully dependent on foreign aid. This means that without aid from other countries, they would not be able to support themselves at all. Foreign aid is meant to help countries that are struggling with civil unrest, disease, or natural disasters, it is not meant to help keep the country out of debt, but that is where more and more of the US and The EU’s foreign aid budget is going. The question is, does all this money actually go where it is intended? It should be going towards the government and to help the people, but in many cases, the countries government does not have the resources to properly track the flow of money. The countries in most cases have poor infrastructure and corrupt or oppressive leaders, not always at a national level, but in the towns and cities. So this means there is almost no way to oversee the flow of foreign aid through the country, all we can see is that their situations aren't getting any better and the countries are still impoverished. If this is the case, where are the millions of dollars going? Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq receive the most money from American foreign aid and European aid, yet they are still under oppressive governmental rule and there is still an extreme difference between the rich and poor. Garrett Harding’s theory of “Lifeboat Ethics” exemplifies how not giving aid to others will allow the strongest of society to thrive, while teaching the impoverished to help themselves. He believes that giving aid to poor countries will only make ...
...e senseless and heartless government, which ruthlessly destroys the peaceful atmosphere in the villages. Africa will only reach its potential when everybody realizes the importance of preserving the cultural traditions.
Cooper, Mary H. “Reassessing Foreign Aid.” CQ Researcher 27 Sept. 1996: 841-64. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
Jensen, N. "Resource Wealth and Political Regimes in Africa." Comparative Political Studies 37.7 (2004): 816-41. Print.
Kosack, S. and Tobin, J (2006) “Funding Self-Sustaining Development: The Role of Aid, FDI and Government in Economic Success”, International Organisation, 60 (1): 205-243.
... political institutions is key to the success of a nation, using existing sources of foreign aid to facilitate the development of these would be most beneficial.
...nce, they wanted to prove themselves. Super powers and international organizations gave them a limited amount of time to become successful before they swept back in to make decisions. Because the African countries could not create a steady economy in such a short amount of time, they had to accept assistance from Western powers. These Western powers gained a lot of unfair benefits from these relationships and bettered their super power state. No matter how hard the African countries would try, the Western powers continued to have ultimate power and serious aids during this decolonization period. African leaders have tried very hard to lessen the influence of Western powers and the broader international community but they’ve never been completely successful because they continuously needed support in state building, economic development, and public health initiatives.
The catalytic factors which brought this phenomenon to life in Africa are imprinted in the history of African states. Following the attainment of political independence by many African countries in the 1960s, there were expectations that Africa would develop and achieve political and economic stability. The exhilaration that independence brought had barely settled when the hope for these expectations started to fade. Since their existence as independent states most African countries have grappled with visionless leadership from authoritarian regimes, characterised by flagrant abuse of democratic values, fundamental human rights, the rule of law, equality and political legitimacy. As a result, citizens have been exposed to pitiable conditions brought into being by rising poverty which eventually leads to a cycle of armed ethnic conflicts and civil wars among other crises .
Charlick, R. (2000) "Popular participation and Local Government Reforms" Africa Notes, New York: Cornell University, (April) pp1-5
Poor countries have been receiving aid from the international community for over a century now. While such aid is supposed to be considered an act of kindness from the donor nations or international bodies, it has led to over dependence among the developing countries. They have adopted the habit of estimating and including international aid in their national budgets to reduce their balance of trade deficits. It is believed that foreign aid is necessary for poor nations in order to break the cycle of poverty that ties their citizens in low productivity zones and so their economy will not be weak. However, some critics view the extension of aid to poor countries as means of keeping the nations in economic slumber so that they can wake up from only by devising ways of furthering self-sustainability. Because of these two schools of thought concerning the topic, debate has arisen on which side is more rational and factual than the other. The non-sustainable nature of international aid, however, leaves the question of what may happen in the event that foreign aid is unavailable for the poor nations. After thorough consideration on the effects of the assistance to poor countries, it is sufficient to state that giving international aid to the poor nations is more disadvantageous than beneficial to the nations. This point is argued through an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of giving international aid to the poor countries with appropriate examples drawn from various regions of the world to prove the stance.
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
Bangladesh has been working to improve its country because it is one of the poorest ones in the world (Islam, 1992). It is one the world’s most densely populated countries with 161 million people. Forty-three percent of the people there still live there and it till has one of the highest prevalence of child malnutrition in the world at 41% (Bangladesh, n.d.)). Foreign aid has been given to the country to try and help get them out of poverty. From the period of 1971 to 2012, Bangladesh received about $56.5 billion in foreign aid (Hossain, 2014). The annual flow ranges from $1.0 billion to $1.5 billion (Quibria, 2010). The United States contributes about 6.29% of the foreign assistance to Bangladesh as bilateral donors (Hossain, 2014).