Can Foreign Aid Reduce Poverty
Introduction Many third world countries are faced by the challenges of poverty and unproductivity of land. The survival of the people who live in such nations depends mostly on aid from developed countries.
There is a fact about the developed countries that needs to be addressed before the aid is delivered to the poverty stricken nations. The developed countries have gained that title due to the fact that they are way too ahead in terms of technology and industrialization. The returns they get from both domestic and foreign trade are redirected on further investment. Incase other nations faced by catastrophes; these returns are used to cover those in need of help. The intervention by these developed nations is a form of quick measures to calming situations down.
Back at home, it is funny how the citizens from such nations struggle to make ends meet. Once foreign help is delivered to the nations that are faced by natural, human, or climatic catastrophes the people living in those countries assume that the aid comes from very rich countries. The truth of the matter of foreign aid is that once help is delivered from a certain country be it in form of money orfood there are strings attached. If one country demands for help from another, there are possibilities that the national debt of that nation grows. On the other hand, if the help is in form of a donation through the international organizations it is likely that the help addressed the issue at hand and not the future. Going back to the issue of foreign aid and reduction of poverty; two crucial elements come to play.
These include the issue being addressed and the type of aid being delivered.Foreign aid is mostly volunteered to suffering nations by developed nations. In other times, organizations and NGOs take responsibility to raise money that can be used to provide for the suffering lot. By assessing the nature of the issue that is being addressed, it can be told whether the form of aid aids in reducing poverty. Looking at the situation at the horn of Africa, the type of help that is being delivered to the starving communities in that region is food and medical supplies. Looking closely at the matter and others similar to that, it will be found out that foreign aid is not a form of borrowed capital but rather a last option.
Foreign Aid cannot reduce poverty due to five reasons associated with the probllems and the nature of help. First, foreign aid is delivered to rescue and not to prevent; second, it is given when the situation is almost escalating out of proportion; third, nations or parties that require foreign aid are marginalized and the living conditions don’t allow for any form of secondary benefit from the aid; fourth, starvation and disease outbreaks are mostly the problems requiring foreign aid to address the issue quickly; and finally, the nature of aid cannot be invested neither can it be used while other resources are redirected to other activities. The above reasons make foreign aid seem like some form of’ nutritional therapy’ whose importance is lengthening the period of survival as one witnesses the problems.The US and other nations have been donating relief food and vaccination to African nations and some Asian nations as well for a long time. However, it the aid is form of funds the situation changes from aid to assistance that requires repaying as times advances. Foreign aid does not come to the poor in form of basic needs but rather basic rescue.
It would be otherwise if foreign aid was in form of compulsory jobs for the poor or mandatory quality education (Hass, Hirds & Mcbratney, 2010).
