Thoughts On Aid

The Cost of Aid is a talk on this Al Jazeera Counting The Cost program. I felt compelled to write a piece off the mark to be followed by other in the future, God Willing.

From the Lords of Poverty to Moyo’s Dead Aid, the international aid is receiving a lot of criticism lately. One thing is clear from this video, though: that the talk of aid is not really about aid; it is about power.

A lot of international organizations argue that the emergency aid they deliver to a disadvantaged population is life-saving. While that is admirable, it also begs the question why they need to deliver such aid perpetually? The very definition of emergency is based on its temporariness, rather than permanence while aid has become a permanent mark in the development sphere of third world countries.

Another argument is that not all aid is emergency and that the development projects that aid provides will help the local population achieve the necessary underpinnings of development that the private sector would not be willing to provide, nor the public sector able to. Again admirable, but again it begs the question whose and what kind of development anyways?

The current development aid that is handed out to the third world is based on western conception of development that does not necessarily resonate with the particular country under discussion. Underwritten by principles of unfettered capitalism, aid, as well as debt, are part of a tool that make the rest of the world look like, at least economically, western. There is nothing wrong with resembling western as long as it helps the living conditions of the people concerned; the trouble is when that is not helping at all. Worse yet, when you do not choose which way you want to go but being imposed upon.

It has been widely questioned who the real beneficiaries of development aid are. It is a known fact that the bulk of the aid is siphoned off in corruption, another major chunk being taken back by benefactor country as a deliverer of aid, only a negligible amount actually hits the ground. Nothing compares to the fact that the beneficiary cannot decide their development project; it is all about what the donor is willing to finance.

Aid proved to be a fierce opponent to entrepreneurship (talk to Somali farmers about their view on food aid), creativity (we frequently adjust ourselves, not innovate the wheel even if it is not the way we wanted), accountability (according to Moyo, African leaders are not accountable simply because they do not depend on taxpayer money), and most important of all, self-sufficiency (in the land of free lunch, only a fool will earn his lunch).

It is not fair to blame all ills of the third world and, particularly, African countries squarely on aid. However, it is not helping much as well. The world owes a great deal to the intellectual prowess of the citizens of the underdeveloped countries to contribute to the economic thoughts and philosophies of the world, let alone stretching their hand to receive aid.