Five Central Questions Regarding Present Foreign Aid Policy

Is it possible to establish meaningful aid programs with little or no knowledge of the peoples and society involved? Western aid programs are frequently started with little or no such knowledge of the involved country’s history or culture . This does not deter Western nations and / or organisations in any way. Furthermore there is an implicit assumption that Western values and norms are universal, applicable anytime, anywhere.

Should countries in the Southern hemisphere neccessarily develop to be like countries in North America, Europe or Japan? I have worked in the Peace Corps and was struck by the one sidedness of the communication. There are values and norms in non-Western countries which we in the West could certainly benefit from but which are not communicated in any meaningful way back to the donor organisations / nations.

Are the ethics of aid sound or fraught with self-interest? It is interesting to observe, as has been done in the academic litterature, how donors give priority to issues and values in the donor countries and not those in the recipient countries. The contacts and networks established in the recipient countries are subsequenltly used to pursue other goals, be they religious, strategic or economic.

How would Western nations react to having self finterest groups with substantial financing from abroad? NGOs (Non Government Organisations) have been the primary channel through which Westeren foreign aid has been channelled since the 1980’s. NGO’s appear from nowhere in recipient countries with little or no local representation. They prosper or perish at the mercy of the donor nations.

Does Foriegn Aid widen the poverty gap rather than norrow it? The system as it functions today gives us the perception of donor nations as ”good” or ”kind” and the recipient nations as being ”needy”. This is an interesting but skewed view of the world. Continued aid does not seem to help alleviate poverty. Perhaps the major effect of Foreign Aid is to enhace and entrench a vision of a dichotomised world of the West (rich) and the South (poor).