from the Chronicle Herald By STEVE BRUCECanada has fallen behind too many other nations in providing aid to developing countries, Frank McKenna says."I would like to see us stop punching below our weight," the former Liberal premier of New Brunswick and Canadian ambassador to the United States told a Halifax dinner Wednesday night.Mr. McKenna said Canada dedicates only 0.28 per cent of its budget to helping developing countries."That’s half of what we gave in the early 1990s," he said at a benefit dinner for the Coady International Institute in Antigonish."More, much more, has been given by everybody from Norway to Sweden to Finland to Denmark to Ireland to Switzerland to Luxembourg to Austria, Spain, Australia, Spain — do you get the picture?"A lot of countries in the world give...
from Reuters Africa By David LewisACCRA (Reuters) - Europe should stop pressuring the world's poorest states to sign individual trade deals and allow more time for African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) nations to agree a common negotiating platform, ACP members said on Friday.A declaration by leaders of the 79-nation ACP group meeting at a summit in Ghana will call on Friday for undisrupted trade access to the European Union market, said Mauritius's Foreign Affairs Minister Arvin Boolell, citing a draft of the document.The ACP group, which represents 300 million people and includes some of the world's least developed nations, has been struggling to maintain a united front in the face of pressure from Brussels to sign Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).The EU says the accords are needed to...
from Business Daily Africa Written by Yash Tandon The OECD-inspired and promoted Accra Action Agenda (AAA) on “aid effectiveness” was concluded on September 4 2008 as a “consensus” document by almost 1,200 delegates from about 100-odd countries and intergovernmental organisations (IGOs).There was also a side event of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) attended by some 600 delegates from 325 CSOs from 88 countries.What did Accra achieve?What the Accra conference achieved was to draw attention to the unwieldiness of aid as an instrument of development.According to the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development), donors sent 15,000 missions to 54 recipient countries in 2007. In Tanzania alone the local aid bureaucracy produced 2,400 quarterly reports to...
from Walta Info The United Kingdom will spend over £6 billion ($10 billion) in official development assistance in Africa by 2010, the UK government announced on Tuesday.By 2010, UK will have spent cumulatively an additional £12.5 billion over half of which will be spent in Africa, the government said in a report sent to APA.The announcement was made in connection with the UN general assembly meeting to be held next week in New York where the millennium development goals (MDGs) and climate change will dominate the meeting.The UK government also said it is currently spending £400 million to tackle the rising food price increase and in agriculture research in the developing countries including Africa."Almost 90 % of UK bilateral assistance is spent in low-income countries. We are on...
from the Press Association Billions of pounds in emergency aid money will be wasted if it continues to be spent in the wrong way, according to a new report.Aid agency Care International is calling for an overhaul of the system where "aid is too late and too short-term".Their report also says aid is too focused on saving lives and should concentrate more on protecting people's livelihoods, with investment in food production and reducing the risk of disaster.The report, Living on the edge of emergency: Paying the price of inaction, comes ahead of next week's UN summit on tackling global poverty. The event in New York will assess progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which promised to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.The reports says by that time £100 billion will have...
from FOX News Mark Henderson, Science EditorWestern do-gooders are impoverishing Africa by promoting traditional farming at the expense of modern scientific agriculture, according to Britain's former chief scientist.Anti-science attitudes among aid agencies, poverty campaigners and green activists are denying the continent access to technology that could improve millions of lives, Professor Sir David King will say today.Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Europe and America are turning African countries against sophisticated farming methods, including GM crops, in favour of indigenous and organic approaches that cannot deliver the continent's much needed “green revolution”, he believes.Speaking before a keynote lecture tonight to the British Association for the Advancement of...
from ISN Underneath the high prices, there is the longer term failure of development policy as imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.for Diplomatic CourierFor years, even decades, they have been sounding the alarm on what the international community has only recently recognized as a food crisis. But the crisis, they say, is not new. In fact, it has been decades in the making. And they would know: they are farmers. Hailing from Iowan cornfields to the Niger delta, attuned to the earth's subtle signs and currents in the atmosphere, they have been urging us to listen too.Now, as grain prices surge to unprecedented levels and food riots flash across the evening news broadcast, the world is starting to take notice. Dena Hoff, Vice President of the National Family Farm...
from the Los Angeles Times Another story on the United Nations report on international aid. This is similar to an earlier story where the UN blasts wealthy countries on decreasing aid. The UN says that cut backs in aid have put the Millennium Development Goals in jeopardy - KaleUNITED NATIONS -- Development aid from the United States and other wealthy countries has declined since the middle of this decade, jeopardizing the ambitious U.N. goal they had embraced for reducing poverty by 2015, according to a report issued Thursday.The report card on the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations' 15-year global anti-poverty plan, cites improvement in easing the debt burdens of the world's neediest countries, but says pledges to help them with stepped-up aid and lower trade barriers...
from Reuters By Louis CharbonneauUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The world's wealthiest countries are reneging on promises to boost development aid, threatening U.N. targets for drastically reducing poverty by 2015, according to a new U.N. report released on Thursday.The report on progress on the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) said there has been improvement in providing debt relief to the world's poorest countries but not when it came to fulfilling trade and development commitments.Donors will need to increase their development assistance by $18 billion a year between now and 2010 if aid is to reach the level of $50 billion per year as agreed at the 2005 Group of Eight (G8) summit in Gleneagles, the report said.But even this would only bring development aid up to half the...
from the Guardian by Larry Elliott, Britain's international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, will today announce a global initiative aimed at preventing the misuse of western aid to developing countries through bribery, corruption and waste.In a plan backed by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the European commission, Britain intends to make it easier for people in poor countries to track how aid budgets are being spent.The UK wants donor countries to provide full and detailed information of all the financial assistance provided to each country; details of individual projects and their aims; and reliable information on future aid flows so that developing countries can plan ahead.Alexander will unveil the initiative at an international conference on aid...
from IRIN News An US based NGO has issued a report that critiques US policy. Refugees International explains how those policies effect their efforts in Africa. - KaleDAKAR - Imbalances between US spending on defence, diplomacy and development are affecting the USA’s ability to stabilise fragile and conflict-prone African countries, the US-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Refugees International concludes in a new report.“The headline is that at the moment [US] policies are out of whack,” said Refugees International President Ken Bacon. “That is affecting our ability to act effectively and coherently in Africa and to carry out the war on terrorism in a coherent, long-term and effective way.”According to the report, as well as short-changing foreign aid, the US government...
from the Associated Press via Google By ANITA POWELL – 1 hour agoAWASH MELKASA, Ethiopia (AP) — Hussein Ibrahim walked solemnly past tidy rows of bright green cabbages, vines bursting with tomatoes and trees weighed down with plump avocados.This modern, thriving farm — a rarity in drought-ravaged Ethiopia — filled Hussein with envy. Like so many other farmers across the Horn of Africa, he has no hope for his own crops this year."We are behind all the other people in the world," said Hussein, who tends his land in southern Ethiopia the way his ancestors did hundreds of years ago — with rain, if it comes; and oxen, as long as they're healthy.To break out of endless cycles of drought, poverty and hunger, experts say, Africa desperately needs to modernize its age-old farming...
from the Economist From The Economist print editionHow reliably aid is given can be even more important than how much is givenDEVELOPMENT aid can be as fickle as fashion. Remember those white Make Poverty History wristbands, which briefly made compassion chic in the run-up to the Gleneagles summit in 2005? Memories of the pledge made by G8 leaders there to double annual aid to Africa by 2010 also seem to have faded with time. According to the OECD, on current spending trends annual aid will fall $14 billion short of the $50 billion African target—not a statistic to savour as today’s G8 leaders tucked into their eight-course banquet on the Japanese island of Hokkaido on July 7th. Once again, they vowed to honour their aid commitments to Africa, but they are not legally binding nor are...
from My Joy Online Ghana’s development partners on Monday announced a 1.7 billion dollar support for the year 2008 to accelerate implementation of programmes under the country’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II.The declaration came at the end of the 15th Ghana Consultative Group Meeting of government officials, development experts, partners and civil society organizations in Accra.Ghana has in recent years witnessed a consistent increase in donor funding, reaching a level of 1.2 billion dollars last year.Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, Head of EU Delegation in Ghana, said the increased support was the joint effort of donors to align their contributions to the development aspirations of Ghana.“We have constantly engaged in the last few years in a progressive alignment of...
from the National Business Review, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealanders have a "clear expectation" that Pacific Island nations will take up the development challenge and do the work needed to lift their citizens out of poverty.He announced today a Pacific Development Strategy that will deliver $2 billion in aid over eight years."This allows us to make a sustainable impact on improving health and education in the Pacific, to address infrastructure gaps and promote economic growth and to improve governance and leadership," he said."No one is saying this is going to be easy, nor that New Zealand has all the answers. The challenge is immense, complex and, most of all, long term."Mr Peters said there was a need to encourage policies and practices which fostered...
from IPS News By David CroninBRUSSELS, Jun 21 (IPS) - European Union governments have resolved to ensure that international objectives on reducing extreme poverty are realised, but have backed away from devising concrete plans for increasing the amount of aid that they give to poor countries.During a summit in Brussels Jun. 19-20, the EU's presidents and prime ministers agreed an 'agenda for action' against poverty. The summit reiterated their commitment to devoting 0.56 percent of their collective national income to development aid by 2010, rising to 0.7 percent by 2015. As a result, aid should double to 66 billion euros (103 billion dollars) within the next two years, with half of the increase going to Africa.The leaders also said that all of the EU's 27 governments are "encouraged to...
from the New Statesman by Duncan GreenPrivatisation, free trade and market forces . . . the rich world insists poor states play by our rules. But they don't work. Time to let countries determine their own destinies?The global food price crisis is exposing frightening levels of vulnerability in poor nations around the world. Yet these are countries into which the rich world, for half a century or more, has diverted hundreds of billions of dollars of humanitarian aid in pursuit of the high ideal of ending poverty. It is a good moment to take stock and ask what went wrong.Compare two of the most vulnerable economies, Haiti and Botswana. In Haiti, spiralling food prices have in recent months prompted widespread rioting, claiming the lives of six people and forcing the resignation of the...
from All Africa Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)By Tito DragoMadridSpain's development aid to Africa has increased significantly since socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office in March 2004.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the African World Heritage Fund has signed a memorandum of understanding that includes one million euros (1.5 million dollars) in aid, making Spain the second largest donor to the Fund after South Africa.The head of the Spanish Development Cooperation Agency (AECID), Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, told IPS that his country "has adopted an integrated aid policy," developed from scratch since 2004. Before then, international aid was lower in quantity and quality, "and was even at the service of interests that were not confined to...
For many people, visits to the field represent a chance to meet the beneficiaries of our programs and really get a feel for the difference which we’re making. Unfortunately I’ve chosen the wrong sector for this. Working in supply chain management means that a field trip only involves going to another office, in a remote [...]...
from the CBC Canada, U.S. already committing extra money to AfghanistanAfghanistan's president appealed for more than $50 billion in new aid for the country while attending an international donors conference Thursday in Paris, promising the money will be spent on reconstruction and not frittered away through corruption.The appeal for new money was in a strategic development plan that Hamid Karzai presented to the conference, saying Afghanistan would achieve peace and stability by 2020 if it got the needed aid."Afghanistan needs large amounts of aid but precisely how aid is spent is just as important," Karzai said, referring to donors' worries about graft and thievery by government officials.UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon also warned about the debilitating impact of corruption on...
from Al Jazeera By Aunohita Mojumdar in KabulAs the Afghan government and the international donor community meet in Paris on June 12 to decide the future nature of assistance to the war-ravaged nation, NGOs and rights groups are urging that the needs of ordinary citizens come first.Some $15 billion has been spent on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan since the US-led coalition deposed the Taliban and set up a democratic-influenced government in 2000.But international aid groups believe donor priorities continue to overlook the needs of the people.Oxfam, the international development agency which has maintained a long-term commitment and experience in Afghanistan, is critical of both the quantity and quality of aid that has been disbursed in the country."So far international aid to...
from the GuardianJames Orr and agenciesThe Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was detained again today as the government banned all foreign aid agencies from operating in the country where millions are close to starvation.The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and his campaign convoy was stopped at a roadblock and ordered to follow officers to a police station.Reporters with the convoy heard police say that the planned rallies were illegal. Tsvangirai was ordered to go to Esigodini, a town about 30 miles south-east of Bulawayo.It was the second time in recent days Tsvangirai has been detained and prevented from holding rallies in the run up to an election run-off later this month.The ban on foreign aid agencies was announced by the government, which accused...
from All AfricaUN Integrated Regional Information NetworksNEWS4 June 2008Posted to the web 4 June 2008JohannesburgThe implementation of a food distribution scheme for 100,000 people has stalled after the Zimbabwean government suspended CARE International's operations for alleged "political activity".CARE works to alleviate poverty and promote community health, with a particular focus on empowering women, and is one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Zimbabwe. On 28 May it was ordered to suspend its operations, pending a government investigation into its activities.In a statement CARE said it was "committed to providing independent, impartial, apolitical relief and development assistance on the basis of need, to improve sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable...
from the International Herald Tribune By Carol C. AdelmanThe big story of the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar's delta region and the earthquake that devastated China's Sichuan Province in May is not only how the Chinese government outperformed the Burmese military junta in responding to natural disaster. It is also how private citizens, companies, charities and religious organizations from many countries have emerged as a frontline force in helping victims of such tragedies, even within government-dominated states.In the case of China, donations from American corporations alone totaled $90 million, compared to a modest $3.1 million in U.S. government aid. Private giving from British corporations and private citizens to help the more than 368,000 injured and 5 million homeless victims of...
from All AfricaInter Press Service (Johannesburg)NEWS28 May 2008Posted to the web 29 May 2008By Ramesh JauraYokohama, JapanJapan is receiving kudos for what UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro has called the country's "strong commitment to Africa's development."But praise for Japan at the fourth round of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) that kicked off Wednesday in Japan's port city Yokohama near Tokyo did not come without a touch of criticism, particularly from Zimbabwe.The admiration is for the fact that Japan, the world's second largest economy, initiated the 'TICAD process' in 1993, when focus on Africa's concerns was drifting. As Migiro points out, TICAD that is held every five years "helped rally Africa's development partners in a...
from the Voice of America By Anjana Pasricha India has sent relief and pledged assistance to two neighboring countries recently struck by natural disasters: Burma and China. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi on India's efforts to project itself as a responsible regional power.When a cyclone devastated Burma, earlier this month, Indian navy ships and aircraft began ferrying relief supplies to its neighbor in less than 24 hours.The foreign ministry says two Indian medical teams are treating 1,500 patients a day in the disaster area.Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh assured a recent pledging conference in Rangoon that India will assist the country in reconstruction work.India has also reached out to another neighbor, China, which is coping with the aftermath of a massive earthquake. New...
from The AustralianFOREIGN aid gets a substantive boost to $3.7 billion in 2008-09 fast tracking progress to meet the UN's so called Millennium Development Goals while notching a $500m increase in aid on the previous year. The aid budget provides $1.3 billion of new initiatives over four years.The main focus will fall on poverty alleviation and regional security building efforts and sees a recommitment by the Rudd Government to the United Nations left in the cold by the former coalition but a pledge now backed by a $200m partnership investment with UN agencies over four years.The aid increase compares with last year's total of $3.2b and is in line with the Rudd Government's key pre-election pledge to increase Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.5 percent of Gross National Income...
from Embassy MagazineA CIDA plan to increase funding for agriculture development programs is collecting dust on a bookshelf, while the world faces starvation.By Jeff DavisDespite the government's decision last week to step up its spending on food aid in response to the burgeoning global food crisis, experts are hungry for a more meaty response to a shortage they saw coming long ago.Opposition politicians are also calling on the government to more than double funding for agriculture projects in the developing world, something they say should have been done long ago.Last week, CIDA Minister Bev Oda announced that "the government's response to the world food crisis" was the donation of an additional $50 million to this year's food aid budget. This, the minister said, represents an increase...
from Leadership Nigeria Total aid for trade disbursements from individual donors, international organisations and regional development banks which hit $15.4 billion in 2004 may increase to $25 billion by 2010, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said.According to the latest edition of 'developments', an international magazine that focuses on the development of Africa, the director general of WTO, Pascal Lamy, said that "together with our partner countries and other institutions, we aim to raise this figure to $25 billion in 2010".Lamy further said, "we are establishing enhanced monitoring and evaluation mechanisms so that countries pledging funds for trade capacity are held to account".According to the WTO boss, "We know, that openness can unlock wealth creation which, when...
from the Institute for War and Peace ReportingAnalysts consider how foreign aid should be administered in the event of Mugabe being ousted.By Erica Beinlich in London (AR No. 167, 14-Apr-08)If opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai emerges as the eventual winner of the drawn out battle for the Zimbabwean presidency, international donors will be ready to pour aid into the economically-ruined country.But some experts warn donors to proceed with caution, arguing that merely throwing money at the country may do little to promote long-term economic stability.“You’ve got to be very careful injecting huge sums of money into an economy,” said Geoff Hill, a respected Zimbabwe analyst.“It’s like giving a four-course dinner to someone who hasn’t eaten for a month. It’s going to damage...