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2010 Global issues: development assistance, humanitarian aid, military aid, debt forgiveness, and control of international institutions such as the World Bank
This section of Hunger Notes includes
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Military aid and other elements of developed country influence and the political interests and issues behind them. This section will include ways in which developed countries try to influence the political and economic outcome of developing countries. This will include military 'aid' which, like development 'assistance' is not just aid in an altruistic sense, but typically involves self interest, possibly to a very high degree, on the part of the donor nation. It will also include use of other aspects such as legal structures, public opinion, and a significant level of control of international institutions. This section will also include developing country reaction to developed country efforts. It will not include the world trading structure which is covered in another Hunger Notes section, Global issues: trade, hunger and poverty.
As food prices soar, most developed countries ignore 2009 promise to fund food security initiative Howard Schneider Washington Post February 18, 2011
Obama makes case for foreign aid to poor nations Scott Wilson Washington Post September 22, 2010 Obama to announce new foreign aid policy Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post September 21, 2010
Every day Ster Mamboza, 37, covers 19 km on a bicycle over sand and gravel roads to the well at Machaze, in the southern Mozambican province of Manica, carrying two 20-litre plastic water containers and a two-month-old baby. It’s quite a balancing act. The better part of her day--up to six hours-- is spent fetching water from this well, the nearest safe source in the area. government figures show that in rural Mozambique only 30 percent have access to safe water. Mozambique (along with many other countries) has made scant progress in achieving the Millennium development goal for water. Photo: Andre Carueira/IRIN
UN foresees dramatic cuts in world poverty Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post September 21, 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals appear out of reach in Africa Robyn Dixon Los Angeles Times September 20, 2010
Global: G8 falls short on development aid IRIN News June 22, 2010
Development aid increases, but by much less than promised. In 2005 donors collectively promised to commit 0.56 percent of gross national income to aid by 2010, but reached just 0.31 percent in 2009. IRIN News April 27, 2010
Does international health aid reduce developing country government health spending? Yes Irin News April 12, 2010
Almost eight out of 10 people without access to both clean water and safe toilets live in rural areas; most are in Southern Asia. Photo: UNICEF Cambodia
Millions in Kenyan free primary education funds appear to have been stolen-- the World Bank and British government suspend funding for the program Afrique en ligne December 19, 2009 See Hunger Notes special report: Harmful economic systems
World leaders at UN summit vow to aid farmers in bid to help starving [though past record of assistance has been dismal] Richard Owen Times Online November 16, 2009 There has been a record of overall failure of governments to address world hunger. In spite of the 1995 World Food Summit commitment to reduce world hunger by half from 824 billion then to 412 billion by 2015, the number of hungry people has in fact increased to over 1 billion. Two recent studies address this failure: the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2009 by Fian International and others and Bridging the Divide by Oxfam. See Hunger Notes special report: Food is a human right--or is it?
Administration names agriculture official to run the United States Agency for International Development, ending long delay Mark Landler New York Times November 10, 2009
Slowed funding threatens AIDS fight, group says--recession, other factors causing international donors to pull back Karin Brulliard Washington Post November 5, 2009
Ending Africa's hunger: do the Gates Foundation efforts help or hurt? Raj Patel, Eric Holt-Gimenez & Annie Shattuck The Nation September 29, 2009
China spreads aid in Africa, with some catches (corruption, secrecy and long term indebtedness of the borrowing country) Sharon LaFraniere and John Grobler New York Times September 21, 2009
US halts aid over Honduras coup BBC News September 3, 2009
Leadership vacancy raises fears about USAID's future Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post August 5, 2009
G8 pledges to increase assistance to developing country agriculture BBC News July 10, 2009
G8 pressured to honor aid pledges--the global recession has helped reduce aid from wealthy nations even as it pushes millions more into poverty Howard LaFranchi Christian Science Monitor July 9, 2009 G8's promise to Africa is likely to be broken--pledge to double aid by 2010 far behind schedule Kathryn Hopkins The Guardian June 11, 2009
IMF voting shares: no plans for significant changes (high income countries run the IMF, with almost no voice for low income countries) Mark Weisbrot and Jake Johnston Center for Economic and Policy Research May 10, 2009
The G20 and Global Poverty Neil Watkins Jubilee USA April 8, 2009
Official report faults Iraq reconstruction, citing massive waste, bad planning Karen DeYoung Washington Post December 15, 2008
Report: US uses aid to promote non-humanitarian goals Colum Lynch Washington Post November 19, 2008 More information about the Humanitarian Response Index 2008
Basic analysis of United States foreign aid
U.S. Foreign Aid Explained Lane Vanderslice June 5, 2005
This article describes the four principal components of U.S. foreign aid:
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development assistance ($8.4 billion in 2005) to assist in the development of poor (and other) countries. The principal components assisting poor countries are the USAID Child Survival account, the USAID development assistance account, the State Departments Global HIV/AIDS initiative, the Millennium Challenge account, and contributions to multilateral development banks such as the World Bank. There are also two accounts assisting Eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union, most of which are higher income countries.
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humanitarian assistance ($2.3 billion in 2005) goes to those very much in need, because they are in a natural or man-made disaster (such as war) or because they are refugees.
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military and security assistance ($7.8 billion in 2005) provides assistance to U.S. allies, principally through financing military purchases by these countries or making budget support payments to their governments.
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narcotics control initiatives ($1.0 billion) to assist countries in eradicating drugs and providing alternative employment. Assistance to country police forces is also made.
Official Development Assistance. How much are developed countries contributing to developing countries? What is official development assistance--what is counted and what is not?
Half of total assistance, $9.7 billion in 2005, is development and humanitarian assistance that goes to poor countries. (Some development and humanitarian assistance goes to countries that are not classified as poor, such as many countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.)
Official development assistance (ODA) measures how much each developed country gives to developing countries, both in terms of United States dollars and as a percentage of each countries gross national product. The United States gives the largest amount of development assistance, but it only gives .17 of one percent of its gross national income (GNI), substantially below the average country contribution of .41 of one percent of GNI, and far below the agreed upon target of .7 percent (in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit). For more information see How much are developed countries contributing to developing countries??
Official development assistance (ODA) is slightly broader than development assistance to developing countries--the $9.7 billion mentioned above. It is difficult to find a good explanation of what exactly ODA is and what it counts. Hunger Notes provides two: What is official development assistance? (based on information from the United States Agency for International Development) and a fuller explanation, "Foreign aid: understanding data used to compare donors" (six page pdf file) by Larry Nowells, a researcher with the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. This article was originally done for Congress.
Humanitarian assistance including food aid
Special report: is aid doing Haiti more harm than good? Simon Denver Reuters October 25, 2010
Protracted conflicts boosting world refugee totals, UN says Reuters New York Times October 4, 2010
European Union countries will give all food aid by buying food in or near the country in need of emergency food assistance, not by purchasing food in European countries IRIN News April 2, 2010 New York Times April 6, 2010
UN officials criticize US restrictions on Somalia aid Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post February 18, 2010 US delays Somalia aid, fearing it is feeding terrorists. Meanwhile, one in five Somali children waste away from malnutrition Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times October 2, 2009
The aid sector: richer, more professional and better coordinated, but slow to learn, still top-down and poor at thinking ahead. Photo: Sophia Paris/UN PHOTO
International humanitarian emergency aid system gets a 'B-minus' IRIN News February 8, 2010 See report: The State of the Humanitarian System (76 page PDF file) Study considers the future of humanitarian aid IRIN News February 12, 2010 See report: Humanitarian Horizons: A Practitioners' Guide to the Future. Also see the Humanitarian Response Index 2009
The World Food Program has been feeding people in Lesotho since 1965, yet the tiny mountain kingdom is still not much closer to achieving food self-sufficiency IRIN News November 6, 2009
Obama moves ahead with Africom Daniel Volman Africa Security Research Project January 29, 2010 Also see the Congressional Research Service report, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa (pdf file)
The United States spent $75 billion over the past year to finance worldwide intelligence operations (by contrast, funding for the State Department and foreign aid was $33 billion) Walter Pincus Washington Post September 17, 2009
US role as top arms supplier grows as it increases its share to more than two-thirds of all arms deals Thom Shanker New York Times September 6, 2009
Haiti gets $1.2 billion debt
cancellation after long wait EURODAD July 3, 2009
2009 Development Assistance Page Global Page Hunger Notes Home Page