Foreign Aid For Africa From The International Community

There have been many studies taking place over foreign aid and sub-Saharan Africa since foreign aid initially began after World War 2. Many authors today have begun to ask the question, “Is Africa Different?” (Asiedu 2002). The Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in the past decade has grown exponentially to 61 percent from the previous 24 percent in 1990. Africa, while seeing a significant increase in amount of investment, still has not seen anywhere near the level of investment that other

Riddell, Roger C. 2007. Does Foreign Aid Really Work? 1st ed. OXFORD: Oxford University Press, USA.

The JSTOR Review by Kristian Hoelscher on the book Dead Aid elaborates how Moyo “half-right” in her critique of foreign aid nonetheless Hoelscher mentions how “her review is unfortunately shallow and lacking nuance” in the areas of acknowledging the successes of aid in Africa. Additionally, another review of JSTOR by S.U. Fwatshak reiterated how “aid could not have been the fundamental reason why Africa poor… African’s problem are rooted in a mosaic of a factors (157).” These two reviews provided to be good sources to shed light on the issues of foreign aid and to counter-balance the Moyo’s critique on aid. Lastly, the book is quite short with only one-hundred and eighty-three pages therefore it seemed so like some concepts needed to be elaborated more but were not. On the other hand, the reason I choose this as a source because it does a suitable job in showing the history of aid, speaking on aid effectiveness, and exemplifying the stagnant economic growth (e.g. ten percent Africans are living in poverty in the 1970s compared to seventy-percent now (Moyo 33)). While, I wished the book concentrated more in a section of Africa, such as Sub-Saharan, it was an insightful and factual

This paper assess the positive and negative effects that peace and war, respectively, have on the distribution of foreign aid in the developing country Sierra Leone. Next I will analyze the specific actions that the leadership of the selected Sierra Leone has taken, through the use of its foreign aid from donor nations and international lending institutions, to relieve the severe problems caused by warfare. Lastly I will discuss whether or not the extension of foreign aid has successfully reduced poverty and the incidence of warfare in Sierra Leone.

The large cash injection would then create a “greasing the gears effect” and allow for the jumpstart of economic development. Between the years of 1948 and 1952 the U.S. granted $13 billion to revamp the European economy (Dambisa, 2009: 35). This particular method achieved great success in post-World War II Europe and was known as the Marshall Plan. Due to its effective and unquestionable success in this era, the model was applied to economic development in Africa with the confidence that the same outstanding results would ensue. However, the application of the Marshall Plan to Africa is problematic for three reasons. One, the Marshall Plan had a rigid duration period of five years while, the concessional loans and grants to Africa over the last 50 years have been unending (Dambisa, 2009: 36). Two, European institutions were already in place to receive the aid efficiently and effectively. In Africa, however, these same institutions are either non-existent or grossly ineffective due to corruption (Dambisa, 2009: 37). The vast amounts of corruption have been heavily documented. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997, for example, stole an equivalent of U.S. 5 billion dollars from his people (Dambisa, 2009: 48). However, even the less corrupt rulers of many African countries had few options as to what to invest the aid money on. Consequently, the bulk concessional aid goes directly into consumption without a variety of investment outlets. This process does not solve the problem but instead, allows for the cycle to continue. Lastly, three, the money from the Marshal had specific targets to repair physical infrastructure such as, roads, communications, sewage, factories, and electric systems (Dambisa, 2009: 37) In Africa today, the scope of the

In came into vogue that economic theory could benefit Third World countries, so humanitarians began to evaluate the best ways to help Africa through the markets [Barnett 100]. Furthermore, leaps were made in bolstering the efficiency of aid efforts, and it was discovered that the most effective systems were conglomerations of the state and NGOs [Barnett 107-108]. This may suggest that humanitarian efforts were transformed into vehicles for disseminating governmental and economic agendas, but conversely, aid organizations wished to increase their impact by cooperating with governments and the markets. Humanitarians were growing to appreciate the codependence of these avenues and that “everything was connected to everything else,” so they leveraged this new insight to the Africans’ benefit [Barnett

Some people speak against U.S foreign aid being sent to Africa for humanitarian reasons. Others speak out in favor of such actions. All of us have seen the news tickers with vital headlines about “people being devastated by droughts in Zimbabwe and unhygienic water in Sudan”, but what is their government doing about it. Personally, I’ve asked myself several founded inquiries about where is this foreign aid going to and what are some of the achievements being made. I’ve acquired over time well-built knowledge in relation to the United Nations and the work they perform globally to promote stability and development. I will be bringing in several valid arguments to get to the bottom of this controversial subject of

Hey, so today we are going to be talking about globalization and foreign aid. More specifically about how foreign aid continues to hinder development. So the first thing that we have to do is Define development and foreign aid with two definitions separate from each other.

When addressing the issue on whether or not foreign aid can reduce poverty, I would say yes, foreign aid can have positive implications on reducing poverty levels. Foreign aid has the potential to bring substantial relief to countries who are impoverished. The yes argument references the World Health Organization and Rotary; the two are impactful organizations provide aid for countries in poverty. I have first-hand experience with Rotary and their efforts to help foreign countries. Currently, I am partnered with them as a leader on an annual conference they hold for high school students. In our meetings, we discuss the different ways to make an impact and how Rotary International is always involved in solving a problem that includes poverty.

Africa has been the largest recipient of American financial aid for many years now and is thus up for examination as to whether this money is being used efficiently. Foreign aid is a humanitarian necessity in developing countries because it eliminates immediate suffering, helps to prevent this suffering in the long run through administration of medical, hygienic and educational essentials, and gives countries the capacity to have a stance in the international market through economic growth. There is clear evidence of why the USA and others should continue providing financial aid to developing regions in Africa.

Humanitarian aid to Africa works to address critical issues facing underprivileged communities. Ghana receives the humanitarian aid that helps provide the quality of healthcare and nutrition for children in need by partnering with the rural villages to implement sustainable solutions for the community growth. Although Ghana has made great strides with its low cost health insurance policies for both the rural and urban communities, preventable diseases such as malaria, cholera, respiratory infections and diarrhea are among the many illness causes of death, particularly the young

A recent national poll published in The Guardian revealed that the average adult Australian respondent believes that over 13% of the Australian federal budget is spent on foreign aid overseas . When asked what percentage of the budget should go to foreign aid, the average response proposed around 10.34% . This was clearly a gross overestimate considering that foreign aid makes up only 0.9% of the federal budget . This result suggests that the average Australian, despite having an inaccurate sense of the realities, would still propose a reduction in the amount that Australia contributes to foreign aid.

It is even proven that aid going into the country is unaccounted for. The entire plot of the book is predicated on how foreign loans bypass the people of Africa and go straight to bank accounts of the countries politically powerful individuals and firms. But it seems clear to me that the problem doesn’t lie in the funding, but rather the fundamentals of the politics in that country, and that is not our burden. We merely provide the means, but have no control over its distribution. The debt is just a matter of getting back what’s ours, which is a reasonable request. There are institutions out there similar to the IMF and the world bank that can step in and take control if the scenario seems completely bleak. Debt-fueled capital flight may very well be the issue the countries are facing, but I will keep reiterating the idea that it is not our fault. We provide loans and bank accounts, not ‘safe havens’ and dirty money. I completely support the statement made by the authors about a corrupt system and a need for change, but the fingers are pointed at the wrong people.

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been poured into Sub-Saharan Africa over the past century in an effort to propel development, Africa remains by far the poorest continent in the world. Failure has arisen from the problematic nature of the administration of the aid. Traditionally, aid has come in the form of military aid, and large international financial transactions. Although these forms of aid have overall failing track records, targeted developmental assistance has been historically successful. In order to pull Africa out of poverty, the international community should focus on targeted developmental assistance.

Over the last 50 years, the world has struggled to maintain an economic balance and stability, while flourishing countries try to maintain a steady income to support its people and relations with other countries. Therefore, when a continent like Africa fails to maintain a stable government and economy, super powers such as America decide to intervene with its relations. Africa has great potential to become another pillar of the world’s economic structure with its mass amounts of uncultivated land. Unfortunately, corruption and irresponsible governments hinder that progress. Foreign aid while helpful should be limited to a yearly amount because it allows the government to repudiate responsibility and gives room for corruption; it creates a