Types of International Aid + Aid Donors

Question 1

What is aid?

Answer 1

• assistance, in form of grants + loans at below market rates, provided by a country or organisation to support needs of another

Question 2

What are the diff types of aid donors?

Answer 2

• official gov. aid (aka ODA) which includes bilateral + multilateral donors
• NGOs (non-governmental organisations) which include charities like Oxfam

Question 3

What is official gov. aid (Official Dev. Assistance - ODA)?

Answer 3

• financial aid provided by gov.s + international organisations, to promote eco + social dev. of dev. countries
• includes bilateral donors: direct assistance from 1 country to another, usually in form of money, goods or services
• includes multilateral donors: assistance provided by international organisations (e.g. UN, World Bank, IMF) which gather funds from multiple countries to provide aid to dev. nations

Question 4

What are Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)?

Answer 4

• non-profit organisations, operating independently from gov.s, which support dev. + humanitarian efforts

Question 5

What are the diff types of international aid?

Answer 5

• relief (humanitarian) aid
• development aid
• tied aid
• bilateral aid
• multilateral aid

Question 6

What is relief (humanitarian) aid?

Answer 6

• emergency assistance given in response to natural disasters, famines or conflicts, + so is often ST
• e.g. following Haiti EQ in 2010, which injured 300,000 ppl, relief aid provided emergency medical treatment, food + clean water to many injured ppl + ppl at risk of malnutrition + disease
  
  • however, this lead to Haiti’s over-reliance on aid, preventing it dev. LT systems to handle future disasters
  • also, much of aid was managed by international organisations + foreign gov.s, meaning Haitians had little control over distribution of aid or how projects were implemented

Question 7

What is development aid?

Answer 7

• LT assistance aimed at improving eco. + social dev. in a country, by applying infrastructure projects, improving healthcare + education, + dec. poverty
• e.g. WaterAid in Mali

Question 8

Describe WaterAid in Mali as a form of development aid.

Answer 8

• in Mali (located in W. Africa), 11M ppl still lack access to safe water bc privatised water industry frequently fails to provide services to poorest R + U areas
• so WaterAid (a NGO established in 1981) has aimed to provide clean water + sanitation services to communities in Mali, esp in R areas where water is scarce
• it’s achieving this by financing construction of water network in these areas, training + empowering locals to manage + maintain system + raise money needed to keep it operational
• this means in LT, communities are able to sustainably plan + build infrastructure, enabling them to dev. quicker

Question 9

What is tied aid?

Answer 9

• when donor country attaches conditions, often meaning receiving country has to spend aid on goods or services from donor country
• e.g. 2014: in order for Kenya to receive $1.5B from Japan, to help fund Standard Gauge Railway, Kenya had to use Japanese companies + Japanese-made equipment for construction

Question 10

What is bilateral aid?

Answer 10

• direct assistance from 1 country to another, usually in form of money, services or goods
• e.g. in 2003, UK gov. provided sig. aid to Kenya, to help support its Free Primary Education program by financing construction of schools, teacher training + supplying educational materials

Question 11

What is multilateral aid?

Answer 11

• assistance provided by international organisations (e.g. ADF, World Bank, IMF) which gather funds from multiple countries to provide aid to dev. nations
• e.g. ADF provided aid for a water, sanitation + waste management program in 11 regions of Chad, which improved sanitation + hygiene, + created 3,500 jobs