Foreign aid is a noun meaning the economic, technical, or military aid given by one nation to another, for purposes of relief and rehabilitation, for economic stabilization, or for mutual defines. The definition states that the economic, technical and military relief provided to countries that are in need can measure foreign aid. Countries that need foreign aid economically are those countries, which have a low economic growth. With help from high economic growth countries such as MEDC’s (More economically developed countries) the USA, UK, Australia, Canada etc.countries receive * Giving the poor jobs.
* Making organizations e. g. fair-trade * Giving children an education * Provide starting amount of money to help start the growth of the economy With this MEDCs are providing the countries with foreign aid but by contrast, other people find foreign aid has negative impact on economic growth. Arguments have been made that high lived of aid erodes institutional quality; it increases rent seeking and corruption which therefore negatively affects growth.
In the world today, the United Nations (UN) has created a program, which is set to achieve specific goals in relation to Foreign Aid and accomplish these by 2015. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan established the UN Millennium Campaign in 2002 in order to support citizen participation in the achieving the Millennium Development Goals, adopted by 189 world leaders from rich and poor countries, as part of the Millennium Declaration, which was signed in 2000.
Since 2002 we have worked with UN partners and key global constituencies, such as civil society, parliamentarians, faith groups and youth to inspire people from around the world to take action for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Now the Campaign advocates for increased efforts to effectively promote greater support for the MDGs, as it is more critical than ever that they remain a priority in the political and public agenda. We work underlining their impact and that they continue to be a sound and worthwhile investment for all in the fight against global poverty.
Additionally, the UN Millennium Campaign is engaged in the post-2015 process. The Millennium development goals are; 1. End poverty and hunger -Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day; Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people; Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger 2. Universal Education – Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling 3.
Gender Equality – Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education, no later than 2015. 4. Child Health – Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the mortality rate of children under five 5. Combat HIV/AIDS – Halt and begin to reverse, by 2015, the spread of HIV/AIDS ; Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it; Halt and begin to reverse, by 2015, the incidence of malaria and other major diseases 6.
Maternal Health- Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio; Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health 7. Environmental Sustainability – Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources; Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss ; Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation; Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers 8.
Global Partnership – Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system; Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states; Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt; In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries; In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially ICTs.
Military aid is a topic, which is open to discussion, it has many different views at which countries or humans can talk about. The aim of military aid is to help allies or poor countries fight terrorism, counter-insurgencies or to help fight drug wars. The aid may be in the form of training, or even giving credits for foreign militaries to purchase weapons and equipment from the donor country. It is argued that strengthening military relationships can strengthen relationships between nations and military aid may be a way to achieve that.
Where the two nations are democracies, it is believed such relationships can be strengthened even further when the militaries of the respective nations are fully behind the principles of democracy. Over the years countries such as the US have increased their amount of foreign aid assistance. But, foreign aid most wealthy nations, is constantly being discussed for it has often counter productive ways, or how they are provided with an inefficient manner. As shown in the pie chart below the US military aid is mostly provided to Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan and Israel.
Each country that provides military aid have countries at which they provide more to than others. Questions on foreign aid do exist today asking and wondering whether the provided foreign aid is put to the correct use. Another question, which arises, is one of do foreign aids help donor countries more than recipients? The answer to this question can be debated for hundreds of years but still will carry both positive and negative answers. But, to put into a fact foreign aid programs have been criticized for profiting the donor country over the recipient country.
Even though foreign aid carries positive effects to programs it still ties itself to donor countries interests and stakes in the recipient country. By aiding a needed country, the beneficial country may act in its own interest. Possible beneficial ideas maybe to secure its borders, allies and access to raw materials or future markets. For example, a country can try to limit immigration from a poor neighboring country by providing aid. Therefore, it may aim to improve its image by aiding another country.
Furthermore, the economy of the beneficiary country can become fully dependent on imported aid goods, as aid can further damage a country’s weak economy. Imported goods may weaken the demand for locally produced goods, as they may not be able to compete with the quality and price of the imported goods. In the long term this can lead to a loss of skills in a country’s population being used to being given goods instead of producing them. So in respect, the donator may aim more or less openly for political influence in the aided country. For example, promoting its own ideological, religious or political views.
With this providing aid it can support incompetent and corrupt governments in a recipient country that on the other hand without the provision of foreign aid could fail to meet the basic needs of its citizens. With all these points above Foreign Aid still carries the most important arguments for and arguments against. They are as follows; Arguments for Foreign Aid – * Foreign aid is out duty to humanity – it is necessary to give back to developing nations. * Foreign aid will one day lead to equality in foreign trade – modern industrialized countries often rely on resources from Third World Countries.
* No nations exist in a vacuum – ignoring overseas insecurity, poverty and starvation results in inability, genocide and war; it can breed terrorism and spawn disease outbreaks that are capable of becoming widespread. * Aid is typically guided towards a goal that is typically meant to improve the economic, social or military capabilities of the receiving countries. * Humanitarian aid helps those in severe affected areas; either because of war or natural disaster receive some form of support while they try to get their lives back on track.
* Development aid supports those suffering from poverty and other structures on their lives to overcome these hardships and hopefully raise their changes of living a life that offers them the greatest potential. * Aid can also be a good way of forming strong relationships with other countries, curb terrorism and gain political will for global issues and deals but these are in the purest sense of aid not its purpose. Arguments against Foreign Aid – * Much aid money is given in the form of “tied aid” which, means the receiving country must spend the “gift” on buying products from the giving nation.
* Some foreign aid is given as military and weapons gifts, potentially fanning the flames of global wars instead of dealing with them * Costs the tax payer * May create a structure of dependency within the receiving country that in long term is unsustainable, either because it undercuts local markets or means that national budgets and governments never reach equilibrium of national revenues. * May make the receiving country more vulnerable to either terrorism or anti western sentiments (most aid is provided by the west.).
* Reduces the receiving country’s ability to produce the items they get (i. e. if they are sent food, then their farmers wont be able to sell their crops for higher prices) * The money we are giving isn’t to a charity or the actual person or groups themselves, we are feeding money to the governments of countries we are “aiding”. In conclusion, conflict of interests can arise when another provides aid to a country. A potential solution is letting a third party like United Nations handles the aid program. Much progress has been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Global poverty continues to decline, more children than ever are attending primary school, child deaths have dropped dramatically, access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded, and targeted investments in fighting malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis have saved millions. Even after 2015, efforts to achieve a world of prosperity, equity, freedom, dignity and peace will continue to be persistent. The United Nations together with governments are working to provide and make civil society and other partners to build on the motion generated by the Millennium Development Goals and carry on with an aspiring post-2015 development agenda.
With this civil society organizations from all over the world have also begun to engage in the post-2015 process, while universities and other research institutions, including think tanks (organizations that conduct research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology issues, and in the creative and cultural field. ) are particularly active. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has established a UN System Task Team to coordinate preparations for beyond 2015 and to support the work of the High-level Panel that the Secretary-General has appointed to advise him on the post-2015 agenda.
President Yudoyono of Indonesia, President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom are co-chairs of the 27-member Panel, made up of civil society, private sector and government leaders. The post-2015 agenda will reflect new development challenges and is linked to the outcome of “Rio+20” — the UN Conference on Sustainable Development — that took place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
References * http://www. endpoverty2015. org/about/ * http://www. globalissues. org/article/785/military-aid * http://www. un. org/millenniumgoals/ * http://www. un. org/millenniumgoals/beyond2015. shtml.