--How to give aid effectively and make a real difference

 

When I was living in the States in the ‘60’s, I went to visit some friends in a farming community. Yes, it was a real community where people helped one another and they knew each other’s names!

While there, my friend’s father was building a barn. He didn’t have contractors and architects or paid carpenters come in: he had his neighbours helping him as he had helped them in the past. I can’t remember how fast they put it up but it was finished before I left. After the barn was built they had a shared meal. 

Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen anymore. Big farming companies have taken over and they have no need of the surrounding communities. They are taking resources away from them and putting little back.

When given aid, communities not only should be given help but they should have a say in how that help is given.

The targets for the aid given by rich countries like the US and Great Britain should meet the needs of the local community: schools, hospitals, water supplies, medicine, agriculture, and education for people to manage best their own resources.

I believe most people would agree with these targets , but achieving them is the difficulty. I have recently attended a meeting in Swanwick, Derbyshire of the National Justice and Peace group, which comes together every year to discuss just these types of problems. On meeting some of the   delegates this year I asked them what they thought was the best way to get aid to the people.

One idea came from a nun from Uganda. Her name is Sr. Rose Michael Namawejje of the Little Sisters of St. Francis. She has a Master of Science in Public Health and a Master in Business Administration. She was Administrator in St. Francis Hospital , in Uganda from 1999 –2003 coordinated rural health care services of Bikira hospital, Uganda ( 1994-1996).  At the moment she is a development project Coordinator for six dioceses in Uganda.

She writes: “My experience with foreign  Aid, as l told you  when we were in the conference, is that the Government bodies really are not doing well, especially in developing countries compared to NGOs and Church bodies.  The major problems are corruption, lack of transparency and misallocation of funds.  The Church bodies work with the spirit of helping people. NGOs such as, Action Aid in Uganda have done a good job in the field of education. The Catholic Church in Uganda does a lot of good work and is more organised, because it sets up the departments to implement the projects and has to see that the projects are working effectively and efficiently.

Time and again I asked the people in the conference what is that best way to get aid to the people and the answer was the NGOs and the churches. In addition everyone agrees that the money sent must be monitored. And this is very difficult if given to corrupt governments.

 

Aid is often given with the thought of increasing GNP of the country. Development should never be measured solely by how much money in generates but by also, if not more importantly, by the way quality of life of the people is improved.

 

There is another kind of aid that is lacking for developing countries and that is advocacy: advice on how to stop exploitation from multinational companies such as some mining companies who not only do not support the local people but destroy their environment with impunity.  In addition they pay little and for awhile no taxes! This way local people could have more power to fight for their rights. A worldwide culture of financial secrecy allows tax-dodging firms to rob poor countries of more than $160bn a year according to Christian Aid.

I haven’t used the word ‘sustainable’ but all development aid should be just that: aid that supports the local environment and even builds it up. This could be simply seen it terms of community. Good aid helps sustain and build up local communities. This is exactly what most NGO’s and churches do. Not perfectly but far better than corrupt governments.

This is why I would suggest that the developed countries channel their aid money to organizations already working successfully in the country.

It’s not just me, The World Bank, for example, is happy to have partnerships with faith-based NGOs on a development agenda it has already set since these NGOs provide the most efficient delivery of services.

 

Let’s not give up because it’s difficult. Aid can be given affectively to communities in need.