What are the different forms of aid given by more economically developed countries (MEDCs) to less economically developed countries (LEDCs)? Explain how useful the aid is and evaluate why some aid is more successful than other aid.

        There are three main categories of aid, which is given by MEDCs to LEDCs and they are:

Bilateral Aid

                 This aid is between two different countries.

                        “Help is ‘given’ directly by a rich ‘donor’ country to the ‘recipient’ country…” (The New Wider World- School Textbook)

the reason why the word given is in quotation marks s simply because there are usually conditions attached to the aid, such as the country may not allow the other country to trade with anyone else. So at times there are strings attached to giving and receiving aid.

Multilateral Aid

                        This is when the richer countries (more than two) give money to international organisations such as the World Bank. The organisations then redistribute money to the poorer countries. There should not be any political ties. The UN recommends that rich countries spend 0.7% of their GNP (Gross National Product) on Aid.

Voluntary Aid

                        This is when culinary organisations raise money from the public in rich countries and send it off to specific projects in poorer countries. There are NO political ties. These organisations are usually the first to provide food, clothing and shelter. There is an NGA, which has given aid to developing countries. NGA stands for Non-Government Agency. The name of this organisation is “Opportunity International UK”. I first heard of this by watching a video about the way in which the organisation helped many people in India and other countries, this was seen in class while studying the different forms of aid. This agency helps by providing poor people in their community with real livelihoods. They do this by providing business advice and small loans to people who want to make a living and provide for themselves and their families. Small businesses usually ran from home, are a good job creator in developing countries. The aid given by this organisation has a knock on effect. The money loaned by the businesses, it then allows the small business to employ other people. It then provides other people in the community to have money and better healthier lives.

        In Zimbabwe 1.3 million people out of a total of 10 million are employed in small businesses. Approximately half of Zimbabwe’s population is supported by this organisation. Another NGA is Oxfam. This organisation is doing a lot of things for LEDCs. At the moment they are helping the villagers of Manchamvwa in Zambia by providing irrigation kits to ensure water from the lake gets to the crops. Oxfam hopes that if the aid is successful it could bring long-term benefits to the people and help them to grow food all year round. The advantages of this are that people in the villages get fresh water and don’t have to travel miles for clean water. They will also live healthier lives and be able to grow their crops a lot better. This is long-term aid, however once the irrigation kits are completed the organisation will stop giving the aid. This could raise problems, as the villagers may not know how to maintain the kits. The only way in which to solve this problem will be to teach the people everything about the kits. (Global Eye and Oxfam Website)

        The DFID (Department For International Development) is a British Government Organisation, which helps many different countries, such as Ethiopia, South Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

        At the moment the British Government is helping the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia. They have tried to help by reducing the poverty. They are helping to focus o n the long-term crisis of food insecurity. Nearly 20% of EC (European Commission) support is funded by the UK. The EC has committed 23 million Euros for 57,000 metric tonnes of food aid. This aid of course is long-term. (Www.dfid.org.uk)

        In May 1997 a new DFID was created. In November 1997 the British government published a document, which was titled

        “Eliminating World Poverty: A challenge for the 21st Century”

These are two of their bullet points in their documents:

“We have a moral duty to help the poor and needy, and to try to create a more just world.”

“It’s all in our interest. Global warming, polluted oceans, disappearing forests, shortage of fresh water, more and more mouths to fee and not enough land on which to grow food, these things affect us al, rich or poor, wherever we live.”

These two points show why the government should be concerned about international development. (Global Eye)

         An example of given successful is the education in Tanzania. Unfortunately, Tanzania is amongst the world’s poorest countries. Over a third of Tanzanian children have never been to school. The parents, struggle to pay for the fees and also the necessary items. Being a HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country), the government spend up to four times more on debt repayments than on education, however the government has now announced that the money should be spent on schooling and all fees for primary education should be abolished. These changes have been made as there is some aid coming through. The UK, being Tanzania’s largest Bilateral Donor is giving an amazing £45 Million a year. This aid has no conditions applied to it. So far the aid the very successful as an extra million Tanzanian children are into school with better education and better facilities. (Global Eye)

        I feel that this aid is very successful as it was aimed and focused on one project. In this case education. I believe that things are only accomplished if they are done slowly and in stages. The reason of this being successful aid is because they have focused on one thing at a time instead of taking 3 or 4 different problems all at once.

An example of unsuccessful aid is this. South Africa is in need of over 1 million tonnes of food aid very urgently. Fortunately the US can supply half of what is needed but this is only GM food. The United States say that it is only GM Maize that they can afford to give, the Americans say that there is nothing wrong with that as they have been eating Genetically Modified food for years. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN’s food and Agricultural Organisation say that it is quite safe. For some countries in Africa it is not a problem, however for Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Lesotno only want the GM maize if it is milled before it is given out. The reasons for this is that in the Southern parts of Africa it is feared that US maize is only given in seeds, being GM maize the farmers fear that when they plant the genes from the GM seeds will cross-over to conventional plants. This is not the only problem. Not one country in South Africa has the facilities to detect GM crop and have no real knowledge of biotechnology and even bio safety. Unfortunately the US grain companies refuse to mill it they say because of the cost and also that it will delay the relief effort. (The Guardian Newspaper)

         The reason why this aid was unsuccessful is because they didn’t meet the specific needs of the countries. The developing country needed food, however they needed food that they were used to. The United States were only prepared to give GM seeds but to some of these people it would only cause more problems. The country needs to supply the food that is really needed because otherwise it may throw the LEDC in to deeper debt. I feel that the only way in which to give successful aid is through the best research and meeting the specific needs of the country.

Doing this coursework has allowed me to expand my knowledge on the world and how things are dealt with; I have developed skills in researching and analysing. At times finding what I needed was very difficult, such as unsuccessful aid, however in the end, it was found.

Overall this coursework was very interesting and I have enjoyed working on it