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Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 10.5.1
Variations of Development Aid
Some development aid is focused on improving both human rights and human welfare but other development aid has very negative environmental and cultural impacts.
Variations
- Development aid can vary in scale:
- From installing a village well to constructing a large-scale irrigation project.
- It can vary financially:
- From a small charitable gift to loans by national governments to a global appeal raising millions of pounds
- It can vary in timescale:
- From short-term e.g. emergency aid, to long-term e.g. disease eradication programmes.
- It varys in the mix of aid providers:
- From local charities to major IGO and NGO players.
Oxfam
- Founded in the UK to deal with the hunger and starvation that existed during WW2.
- Oxfam coordinates development work aimed at lifting people out of poverty and improving health (safe water and sanitation).
- It assists those affected by conflicts and natural disasters.
- It campaigns on a range of issues, from women’s rights to the resolution of conflicts.
Interventions in Haiti
Before the 2010 earthquakes, Haiti received lots of aid with minimal success and received even more after the earthquake.
Financial aid
- Huge sums of financial aid (over US$5 billion) were donated between 1990 and 2009 from the USA, Canada and the EU – with minimal success.
- After the earthquake in 2010, more aid money was sent – a total of US$12 billion.
Emergency earthquake aid
- Half a million people still live in temporary shelters with inadequate sanitation.
- Aid and emergency help was poorly-organised, with many inexperienced staff.
- Aid pledges were unfulfilled and corruption soaked up large sums of money.
- IGOs and NGOs ‘got in each other’s way’ and competed on the ground.
- Some of the aid was ‘tied’ – charities had to provide materials and workers from donor countries rather than from Haiti itself.
Test yourself on Forms
What charity was founded in the UK to deal with the hunger and starvation that existed during WW2?
How much aid money was sent to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake?
How much money was donated between 1990 and 2009 to Haiti by the USA, Canada and the EU?