5.2 Flashcards
what aid is Needed after sudden disasters?
Emergency/ short-term aid.
What is Conditional/ tied aid
- When one country donates money or resources to another (bilateral) but with conditions attached (in the MEDC’s favour) – e.g. Pergau Dam project in Malaysia à increases a developing country’s costs by 15% (inappropriate for development)
Describe Charitable aid
- Funded by donations from the public through NGOs (e.g. Oxfam)
Describe Long-term/ development aid.
Providing local communities with education and skills for sustainable development
Describe Multilateral aid.
- Given through international organisations rather than one specific country (e.g. World Bank)
Advantages of aid for donor countries
- The country may receive a returned favour/ loan (conditional/tied aid accounts for 40% of donations from OECD countries)
- Humanitarian
- Strengthened political ties
- Lifts extreme poverty (half a million)
Advantages of aid for recipient countries
- Saves lives à in turn will produce productive agents for the economy (base of production), otherwise people become a burden on economy
- Tied aid can counter inefficient corrupt officials (e.g. military spending and extravagant projects – palaces and parliamentary buildings)
- Sustainable development projects
- Increased foreign investment
- Foreign exchange pays for imports
- Housing and infrastructure can be rebuilt (ports, airports, roads, energy supply)
- Medical raining, medicines and equipment can improve health and standards of living
- Clean water and sanitation
- Agricultural aid = increased food production and increased quality and quantity. Stability to maintain an agricultural base à healthy and working human population resource
- Investment in jobs and industrial development = jobs and improved transport infrastructure
- Develop natural resources and power supplies
Additional income for government
disadvantages of aid for donor countries
- Tied aid is not always repaid
- No trade deal – aid is not economically viable
Disadvantages of aid for recipient countries
- Increases dependency of LEDCs on donor countries (especially with conditional aid if it is in the form of a loan)
- Can cause political or economic pressure
- In corrupt governments local politicians may use aid for their own means/ political gain
- Smaller farmers may not benefit from agricultural aid
- Inflation may arise from food/ water aid (distortion of structure of prices and incentives)
- Wasted on grandiose projects to raise the profile of political regimes
- Infrastructure improvements may benefit employers more than employees
- Projects run by foreign companies/ a proportion of resources/profits may be sent abroad (leakage)
Encourages the growth of a larger than necessary public sector
What is short term emergency aid?
Short-term assistance to reduce immediate threats to life: food, clothes, medical supplies and shelter, help refugees fleeing from natural or human disasters (e.g. Nov 2007 Bangladesh storm) (NGOs direct to those in need)
(Sudan 2008
Sichuan, China 2008 earthquake disaster zones)
Describe Cyclone Nargis Myanmar.
Storm surge killed 140,000 people destroyed 450,000 homes and damaged 350,000 others (77-85% of housing destroyed), 2.4m severely affected. Humanitarian assistance: food, shelter, clean water and medical supplies. Myanmar government (political reasons) refused aid – 10 helicopters from UN World Food Programme and US warships refused permission to land and unload). Half of those severely affected did not receive humanitarian aid. Rebuild damaged infrastructure – roads, bridges, schools and hospitals and restore livelihoods. Repair of 2000km2 damaged rice fields by salinization.
Describe Long term development aid
Grants and loans, debt cancellation and technical assistance (large-scale construction projects to improve infrastructure – energy supply/ transport). Effects trickle down and improve the lives of everyone.
Tied aid benefits the donor more than the recipient in economic terms, aid on large capital intensive projects may worsen the conditions of the poorest people, the strengthening of political ties of bilateral aid may increase dependency and hinder democracy, may delay the introduction of reforms
àSmaller-scale projects (fund local schemes – well construction, primary education, health care and the provision of micro-finance)
Long term development aid
(Uganda and Zambia) City Community Challenge
– reduce urban poverty. HIV prevalence is around 25%, poor housing, crime, poverty, no household sanitation, few clinics, scarce formal employment (informal sector & casual labour) - $2m from UK’s Department for International Development. Small grants and loans for community-managed improvements in urban slums = greater commitment and active involvement (retailing, fish-farming, charcoal making, broom making, water supply, carpentry). Aim to build low-cost housing and provide practical skills – bricklaying and plastering. 14-classroom primary school for homeless street children.
Describe the Practical Action shelter project – sustainable development
Provide education and skills to communities in order to build better quality housing using their own labour, local resources and traditional techniques (prevent shanty town developments)
Describe OEDC – Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation
Africa is the biggest receiver of aid (2003) with Mozambique receiving the ODA in terms of their GDP (60%). Today: Israel
Norway provides the most aid (in terms of their GDP) – 0.87%
Describe the wold bank.
Financing construction and development of national infrastructure (dams and roads)
Supported with funding and technical assistance to increase output, productivity and sustainable economic growth
Targets smaller geographical areas and smaller projects – raise incomes of peasant farmers; increasing food production, improving education, water supply and health care
Describe NGO’s
Directing aid towards sustainable development – target the poorest communities using appropriate technology and involving local people in decision making (write off Third World debt and fairly share the benefits
Describe an example of NGO’s.
E.g. UK to Bangladesh (with multilateral aid of the World Bank, Japan and the Asian Development Bank):
Aim: stable, prosperous and moderate Muslim democracy
- Lift more than half a million people out of extreme poverty
- Raise more than 20,000 flood-prone homesteads on Char islands
- Construct 14,00 new classrooms and recruit 12,000 new teachers
- Provide basic education to 4.5m children through a non-government programme
- Ensure 14 million urban dwellers have access to basic health services
- Enable more than 100,000 farmers to gain improved access to markets
- Build better governance
- Reduce extreme poverty and vulnerability to climate change, eliminate seasonal hunger
- Increase jobs and incomes through private sector development
- Improve the availability and quality of basic social services for the poor
Describe UN millennium goals (anti-poverty).
millennium goals (anti-poverty). $1bn debt cancelled for the 18 most indebted countries (debt relief)
- End hunger and extreme poverty
- Universal education à halved rate of no primary eucation
- Gender equality
- Child health à under five mortality rate reduced by 40%
- Maternal health
- Combat HIV, AIDS, Malaria and TB
- Environmental sustainability
- Global partnership
Describe the East Africa Crisis Appeal (EMERGENCY)
East Africa Crisis Appeal (EMERGENCY)
- Severe, widespread drought (desertification in Sahel region) = food insecurity
- Health problems: endemic problem of malaria and clean water
- Education problems: few skills
Aid,
Multiple NGOs involved: orchestrated campaigns to reduce corruption
Describe the East Africa Crisis Appeal (EMERGENCY)
- Humanitarian aid will not resolve the food crisis – systems must be put in place to increase economic output for independent sustainable growth
- Food aid suppresses the market
- Money did not assist the majority of those suffering – lack of trained staff with knowledge of previous projects à more preventative measures required
- Collective failure to respond effectively
Describe the Japan earthquake (emergancy)
Japan earthquake (EMERGENCY)
2011 – magnitude 9 earthquake created a tsunami
16,000 dead, $3bn damage
Cooling system failure at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant à nuclear meltdown à radioactive material into seawater
Describe aid to the Japan earthquake.
- Japan = very prepared for natural disaster à requested specific aid (search & rescue team). Did not require major international fundraising effort
- 91 countries offered aid
- China: humanitarian aid, emergency materials from Shanghai days afterwards (2000 blankets, 900 tents, 200 emergency lights)
- Rescue and relief teams (UK)
- Maldivves: 86,400 cans of tuna
- British Red Cross appeal to help the Japanese Red Cross (mobilised 80 national disaster response teams and medical personnel)
- NGOs and charities (e.g. Oxfam) have branches in Japan à money was channelled directly Japanese organisations
US provided cooling equipment and a fire truck to deal with high levels of radioactivity – monitor radioactivity. France – robots to help with monitoring
Describe the impact of the Japan earthquake.
- Active intervention required to stabilise the Fukushima site – 200,000 people evacuated, some cannot return to homes, economic downturn
Descrieb aid from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL)
- Healthcare
- Education
- Drought-Tolerant Maize for Africa – help farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Mali etc) increase productivity by 30% for up to 40 million farmers by 2016 à stimulus for growth
- Assist in the US’s education (programmes to ensure more people obtain university degrees)
- Grants to combat malaria (transmission-blocking vaccines)
- Surveillance tools to reduce transmission of malaria
Describe the impact of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL)
- 13 African countries supported with 10-34% rise in productivity (could generate up to $1.5bn), supporting 40 million people
- >2 million smallholder farmers are benefitting
- Surplus can be sold at local markets = money for education, domestic needs, healthcare, quality of water, food security (reduced poverty and hunger – long-term benefits from the multiplier effect)
- Adapt to climate change
- Prevents a loss of productivity (which currently costs billions – 207m sufferers)
- Gender equality – gap in access to technology between men and women has closed (contribute to child survival and nutrition)
- Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: 70% employment and 30% GDP (twice as effective as non-agricultural GDP growth)
- Regional inequality – amongst farmers using DTM and those who don’t
Describe aid from the Grameen Bank (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL)
Grameen Bank (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL)
- Banking system based on accountability, mutual trust, participation and creativity
- Quicken communication to increase productivity for increased trade (telephone lines and increased network coverage)
- Provides credit to the poorest in Bangladesh
- No collateral
- Reasonable and appropriate conditions
Describe the impacts of the grameen bank.
- 8 million borrowers and 2500 branches covering 81,000 villages (covers 97% of Bangladeshi villages) – the poor can now receive loans, whereas previously they could not due to their poverty (not deemed as bankable)
- 97% women
- Catalyst for the development of socio-economic conditions
- Positive impact identified by the World Bank
- The World Bank empowers authorities, however the Grameen Bank empowers citizens
Describe the Lighting Africa Project (Barack Obama) (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL) aid.
Lighting Africa Project (Barack Obama) (LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTAL)
- Trade not aid = fundamental point (building capacity)
- Double access to electricity across Sub-Saharan Africa using renewable source
- Add 30,000 MW by 2030
Describe the impacts of the Lighting africa project
- Generated 2000 MW
- Energy businesses operating in Africa say the programme has increased investor confidence
What are the positives of aid?
- Focussed on target groups and problems – improving the poorest in society to reduce the development gap
- Flexibility allows a range of benefits suitable to different situations (e.g. emergency short term aid can be through relief, education or advice)
- Fulfils moral obligations and engenders global goodwill
- Can stimulate trade (create jobs)
- Sustainable at the local level (appropriate technology and sustainable development projects have huge impacts on the standard of living)
What are the positives of trade?
- Profit-driven (less-efficient) and its benefits are often confined to elite groups (e.g. governments)
- International cooperation is promoted in the long term (flow of money and goods)
- Multiplier effects (Friedmann model) – establishment of industry will generate tax income for the government and wages can be spent in the local economy
- Employment
- TNCs provide technology and training (which are transferable)
- Maintains dignity – allows a country to work their way out of poverty
What are the negatives of aid?
- Can increase dependency (limits willingness for sustainable development)
- Aid budgets can be cut (in tougher economic times for donor countries or in political disagreements)
- Unsustainable and inappropriate – corruption
- Difficult to coordinate and manage – many sources (countries, charities and international organisations [UN]) – each may have their own agenda
What are the negatives of trade?
- Free trade can be risky to vulnerable economies – LEDCs have fragile economies – small amounts of products with high price variability
- Protectionism and trade blocs create barriers to trade
- Can be viewed as neo-colonialism (exploiting natural resources and labour for their own advantage)
- Companies want to source the lowest cost producers of goods often at the expense of the environment
