The Pros & Cons of Aid in DRC
Geography: KS3, topic 4.3.5
Costs and Benefits of Aid in the DRC
In 2018, the DRC received $550 million in emergency aid from the EU, UN and the Netherlands.
Benefits of aid
- Top-down aid can be spent on infrastructure projects to help build a better future for the Congolese people.
- In 2006, China funded and built the N'Djili Sino-Congolese Friendship Hospital in the DRC.
- Aid that is spent on food and clean water can save lives.
Costs of aid
- In nations with corrupt governments, aid handed over as money to the government can be embezzled by corrupt officials.
- China supports the DRC's armed forces and some Chinese aid is spent on the army and weapons. However, indirectly, by stopping a civil war and maintaining security, this allows the DRC to grow in the long-run.
- Chinese troops are based in the town of Kamina in the DRC.
- It seems that a lot of the aid to Congo is 'tied aid'.
Test yourself on The Pros & Cons of Aid in DRC
What kind of aid does China's aid to the DRC appear to be?
Which of the following, funded by aid to the DRC, did not directly benefit civilians?