Politics of Aid

Why give aid/ types of aid /UK Aid/ UN agencies

Problems facing Africa in 2007 More than 1.2 billion people still live in extreme

poverty today: one in every five of the world's citizens. Over 850 million people in the world are chronically hungry - a number that is now on the rise after a decade of improvement. More than five million children die of causes directly related to malnutrition every year.

Three quarters of those living in extreme poverty, about 900 million people, live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.

Effects of unsafe water and poor sanitation on African countries

Health When unsafe water is combined with poor hygiene the conditions for ill health are perfect.

Diarrhoea is one of the biggest killers of under fives in Africa because of this. Diarrhea is reduced by 65% if good hygiene, fresh water and proper sanitation are available.

Millions of school days are lost each year as pupils are just too sick to attend school. This constant health risk has devastating effects in the economy and education of African countries.

Education It much more likely children will attend school if water is available within 15 minutes rather than

one hour's walk. The amount of time collecting water for cooking and cleaning does not leave enough time for education.

In Tanzania and Ghana, teachers are also reported to be much less likely to apply for jobs in areas of poor sanitation and water supply.

Effect on women. Women bear the brunt of bringing fresh water miles to the family. The average weight of water

women carry is the same as a full suitcase a family would carry on holiday. The walk to water is often as far as an hour and as women already have problems accessing the education system their school attendance drops further. The UN believes that one of the key ways of raising development in Africa is to increase the numbers of girls attending school.

AIDS as a major problem AIDS is now the number one killer in many countries

Africa The UN estimates it will kill more than 1/3 of young

people in certain countries in Africa 1 in 3 adults are living with AIDS in Zimbabwe; 1 in 5 in

Zambia; 1 in 7 in Malawi and 1 in 8 in Mozambique. Almost 76% of the 15-24 year olds infected are women. These figures become even more shocking when

according to Christian Aid in some parts of Malawi like Blantyre and Salima the numbers living with AIDS is as high as 38%.

The most economically and reproductively active age group aged 15-49 are worst affected.

Effects of AIDS AIDS has a huge impact on food production as people are unable to work on the land. FAO

estimates that about ¼ of those working in agriculture in Zimbabwe fell ill or died in a 5 year period. The people of Southern Africa think that the main reason why recent food shortages have hit them harder is because of the increase in AIDS .

Estimates suggest that 7 million agricultural workers across Southern Africa have died because of AIDS in the last 20 years. If current trends continue then another 16 million will die by 2020.

As family members become infected they are less able to work the land. As a result the amount of land used to grow crops reduces and easier to grow crops with lower values are planted. As older members die experience is lost and not passed on to younger members.

As women have a dual responsibility of caring and farming they find that they cannot cope with both as family members fall ill, and land becomes abandoned.

Children in families affected by AIDS are less likely to attend school. In Zimbabwe last year the average amount spent per family on funerals was over $100 in a

country where average wage is $340 per year. The cost to the economy of people being off work ill or looking after family members or attending funerals is crippling.

Reasons for problems in Africa: Civil War in Comgo

3 million people were killed between 1998-2003 and despite a peace being agreed in 2003 mini conflicts and aftershocks continue in this unstable land. The conflict started when tiny Rwanda invaded in pursuit of rebels from their own land.

Civil war makes it extremely difficult for a nation to function effectively Not only is food production and distribution hampered but farmers desert land , cities become overcrowded and the normal everyday factors that stimulate economic and social development like healthcare and education are neglected.

Roaming soldiers now find food by roaming from village to village and there are many atrocities involving innocents who get in the way.

Many farmers are too scared to live normal lives and leave villages before dark every night and walk for 90 minutes to the town of Walungu, where they sleep in the street. Every morning, they get up and walk all the way back to the fields. This wastes precious time and energy they need for growing food. It is impossible for them to grow enough food to survive.

Reasons for problems: Debt In the 1970s, many African countries were encouraged to

take out loans from rich banks in the North ą Europe and North America. However, this money was not always used to meet the needs of the people. When interest rates increased, countries had to pay back even more which obviously resulted in a fall in expenditure on areas like education, health care and transport.

Africa's over $200 billion debt burden is seen by many as the single biggest obstacle to the continent's development

Debt The United Nations estimates that 19,000 children now die

each day in the developing world because of debt. Some countries are concerned that they may never be able to pay back their loans. For every £1 that countries like the Sudan have borrowed, they have to pay back £13 because of interest and default payments.

About 80% of the debt is to rich country governments and organizations like the World Bank and IMF. African countries spend almost $14 billion annually on debt service, diverting resources from HIV/AIDS programs, education and other important needs

Countries end up using any spare money to pay back debt. In some cases, countries have to use 20% of national income to pay back debt. It is estimated that Sudan’s debt is in excess of £15 billion.

Work of G8 Summit on reducing debt

In July 2005, the Group of Eight (G-8) rich countries announced a deal on debt cancellation for 14 of the poorest countries in Africa.

The World Bank and IMF approved this debt package in September 2005.

Uganda will have 79% of its debt cancelled, and has begun to experience the benefits of debt relief.

For example, the Government has put money released by debt relief into education with the result that the school enrolment rate has doubled.

Aid

Africa receives about a third of the total aid given by governments around the world,

Much of this has conditions attached, meaning governments must implement certain policies to receive the aid or must spend the money on goods and services from the donor country.

There was a sharp drop in rich countries' relative spending on aid in the late 1990s.

The Make Poverty History campaign urged the G8 to raise an extra $50bn more in aid per year and to enforce earlier pledges for developed countries to give 0.7% of their annual GDP in aid.

Describe the political factors developed countries take into account before giving aid to African countries

 Social factors May be based upon education levels e.g. literacy levels Birth rates, death rates and general levels of health Other humanitarian reasons during times of famine and during

emergencies 8 Millennium goals are based around improving education,

health and poverty

Examples in action of this type of aid are British government gave training to Kenyan shopkeepers on

symptoms of malaria to help give customers best advice.

The UK government gives Aid for the following reasons

More than a billion people, one in five of the world's population, live in extreme poverty. This means they live on less than 65p a day. Ten million children die before their fifth birthday, most of them from preventable diseases. More than 113 million children do not go to school.

In a world of growing wealth, such levels of human suffering and wasted potential are not only morally wrong, they are also against our own interests. We are becoming much closer to people in faraway countries. We trade more and more with people around the world.

Many of the problems which affect us, war and conflict, international crime, refugees, the trade in illegal drugs and the spread of diseases like HIV and AIDS, are caused or made worse by poverty in developing countries. Getting rid of poverty will make for a better world for everybody.

Economic factors

Level of poverty in countries – 40% of all British government aid goes to the poorest parts of Africa known as sub Saharan Africa which includes Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia

How likely is it that the country receiving aid will be able to pay it back if it is a loan? E.g. many Third world and African countries like Sudan are calling for all debts to be cancelled. The G8 conference decided this would be a good idea

Britain may decide that problems in Britain mean that our problems have to be solved first before aid can be given to Africa. This might happen if there is high unemployment in the UK or our economy is a bad way

The chance that the aid project might be tied and would be boomerang aid may influence a country when giving aid. Even though Britain no longer ties its aid Christian Aid claimed that a British aid project to improve water supplies raised water prices in Ghana because of the conditions attached to the project

 Does the receiving country have any special raw material which might be useful to the donor country which can be manufactured and sold for high prices?

Political factors

Would giving aid make the donor look good in the eyes of the world?  Would giving aid improve the image of the Party in power at home?  Is the receiver a country at war ? if so which side gets it which side

does not? Sudan got limited aid during its civil war  Is the country getting aid a democratic country or a dictatorship e.g.

Iraq has many social and economic problems but because of its government receives no aid – Britain stopped giving aid to Zimbabwe recently

 Has the country getting aid got a special tie with the giving country Eg. Britain gives lots of our aid to countries that used to be in the

British empire and are still on friendly terms with us e.g Uganda gets 56 million pounds from Britain

Explain why some people in African countries feel that the aid given does not meet the needs of the people

Bad aid is often not aimed at the poorest section of society.

Bad aid involves big projects that help the richest in the country but do not trickle down to the poorest.

Bad Aid often does not help the country because the aid is given with strings attached- Tied Aid; even since Britain has ended tied aid it has been criticised for attaching conditions to a water aid project in Ghana.

Food Aid is often bad aid Spoils quickly Bulky to transport Difficult for poor countries to distribute it effectively Badly managed food distribution can push down

agricultural prices and undermine local areas ability to feed itself

Can disastrously affect diet of local people meaning - reliance on expensive luxury foods which have to be imported as opposed to locally grown nutritious cheap foodstuffs

The bulk of food aid is not used in emergencies and is more a means of getting rid of excess European food than helping the poor. For example the EU gives dumps cheap dairy products in Africa .

More problems with aid

Country allocation Often the wrong countries are targeted

for food aid For example despite Ethiopia being hit

by famine in recent years more food aid went to less needy nations like Egypt

European countries have power over some African countries. In what ways can European countries benefit from links with poorer African countries

Tied Aid – While the UK has ended tied aid many countries still give aid to benefit their own businesses rather than countries in Africa. E.g. The UK was criticised recently for still putting ties on its aid to Ghana over the building of a new water plant.

Crops and materials ; We are all interdependent and the UK benefits from unfair trade deals which give us lots of cheap foods. We want goods to be as cheap as possible e.g. coffee or strawberries and African farmers are forced to accept low prices to ensure this happens – see next slide eon free trade for further ways rich countries use poor countries to help them.

Free Trade has been blamed for causing problems in Africa

Free Trade means that all the things that you make to sell will not be helped by subsidies or protected by taxes being put on foreign competition

Free trade has been imposed on African countries by European nations and the USA.

Free trade means an end to African countries helping their own farmers and businesses by giving their own producers money to help keep their prices down or putting taxes on the competition to keep their prices high.

Case Study: Ghana

Ghana has really struggle because of free trade.

In particular their chicken production has fallen from 95% Ghanaian to just 11% Ghanaian in the last 10 years.

This is because European nations have begun dumping cheap frozen chickens and forcing African farmers out of business. Before free trade this would not have happened.

Good aid/ Successful aid

Aimed at the poorest in society. Involves local people in helping

themselves Lasts a long time

Examples

Case study of good aid: Oxfam Oxfam is a highly regarded Non Governmental Organisation NGO Typical of Oxfam’s work is its programme in war-torn Angola. There were believed to be around 4 million displaced people in Angola

at the end of the war. When they returned home to their village, the fields and homes were destroyed.

Oxfam has four teams on the ground in different parts of Angola. They are supported by a mobile unit which can respond to fresh emergencies.

The first part of Oxfam’s work has been immediate on the ground interventions to provide clean water, sanitation and offer public health advice.

Built and repaired wells sanitation (latrines) in the four provinces it is based.

Started public health education programmes to create sustainable and healthy water supplies.

Started an adult literacy scheme.

Describe in detail the ways in which the aid policies of the UN have helped meet the needs of some African countries (2005)

FAO / WFP The world's largest food aid Organisation and is

responsible for the distribution of 1/3 of the world's food aid.- 2.2 million tonnes

WFP is controlled by the FAO ( parent body) Has projects in 84 countries In 2003, WFP development projects benefited 16.2

million peopleIn 2005 is an action orientated agency geared to saving lives in famine hit nations

Example of FAO/WFP in action

Food-For-Work projectsWorkers are paid not with money but with food rations to build vital new infrastructure that will increase the food security of households or communities

Angola

Some 170 demobilised Unita soldiers & villagers from Andulo helped rebuild this bridge over the Cutato River in return for WFP food aid.

UNICEF UNICEF preventing HIV The main overarching role of UNICEF in this area is education.

The biggest single way to stop the transmission of the disease is by telling people how it happens and wants to stop it.

Case Study Rwanda UNICEF works with local communities to provide HIV-positive

women with antiretroviral drugs and safe delivery practices. Kicukiro Health Centre in Kigali, Rwanda, UNICEF provides counselling, antiretroviral drugs and provides

advice on infant feeding for any woman who needs it. • The major criticisms of UNICEF and all the other UN organizations are

that too little is changing. Despite the good intentions and many examples of good practice, the Millennium goals will not be achieved in the timescale set.

UNESCO

School in a suitcase n Rwanda was organised by UNESCO and basically involved vital school equipment being shipped out to Rwanda where a horrible civil war had just finished.

These suitcases included basic things like rubbers, pencils and scrabble games.

Over 6000 were sent and teachers trained to use them

WHO Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases

Targets: By 2015 to have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS. By 2015 to have halted and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

WHO gives advice on the best ways to tackle huge diseases across Africa.Successes WHO cites a decline in HIV/AIDS infection rates in such high-prevalence countries as Uganda and

Zimbabwe. Responsible for organising free distribution of mosquito nets in Malaria hot spots across EthiopiaFailures Overall though, AIDS is on the increase. 60% of people with AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The disease is rapidly spreading across Asia, although education campaigns have been

successful in Latin America, showing progress can be made. An estimated $2.9 billion is needed every year to combat malaria. Malaria remains a massive killer

in Africa, especially combined with the impact of AIDS. World Health Organisation (WHO) has set TB-control goals for 2005 to detect 70% of new

infectious (smear positive) cases worldwide, to successfully treat 85% of all cases detected, and to halve TB prevalence and death rates.

Overall, TB is in decline, but, again, in Sub-Saharan Africa, TB, along with AIDS is on the increase.

Work of DFID Bilateral aid is when any form of aid is giving to one

country from one country that needs aid DFID gave over 4billion pounds in aid to developing

countries in 2006 India, Bangladesh and Sudan received the largest amounts

of DFID bilateral aid. DFID’s bilateral assistance to sub-Saharan Africa £1,097m

in 2005/06 DFID’s humanitarian assistance in 2005/06 totalled £550m, £411m was spent bilaterally and £140m multilaterally. The largest recipients of bilateral humanitarian assistance

were Sudan (£98m), Democratic Republic of Congo (£52m) and Pakistan (£39m).

The Eight Millennium Development Goals of

DFID:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other

diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development

DFID Projects In Africa

Tanzania A UK-government sponsored initiative has created

a successful tea business in Tanzania's poor Southern Uplands - benefiting thousands of smallholders who grow tea in the region.

In the initiative - masterminded by DFID - management of two tea-growing estates were handed over to Tanzanian Tea Packers (Tatepa). 

Thanks to this work, the smallholders receive a fair price for the tea they sell to Tatepa - while the agreement with Cafedirect means that their market is assured and they receive regular wages with which to plan with.

Effect of G8 summit

Britain was heavily involved in the G8 summit on Africa in July 2005.

The summit agreed:- $50bn (£28.8bn) Africa aid boost and

debt-cancellation deal

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) was set up in 1996 to reduce the debt of the poorest countries

Poor countries are eligible for the scheme

They also have to agree to follow certain policies of good governance as defined by the World Bank and the IMF.

Once these are established the country is at "decision point" and the amount of debt relief is established.

Fourteen African HIPC countries will have their debts totally written off under a new plan drawn up by G8