Bread Blog

Foreign Aid Reform: Making Real Changes for Those Who Need it Most

After watching the debate that I outlined in my previous post, I spent some time reflecting about its implications to the work Bread is doing. I found that both sides brought up important points in defense of foreign aid reform (many of which Bread already uses). On one side of the issue is the sheer, abject poverty that exists in the developing world. There is no question in my mind that, in order to give those who are in that kind of poverty a chance to improve their lives and the state of their country, aid needs to be given; moreover, it needs to occur on a government level, since only governments can mobilize the kinds of funds necessary to significantly improve lives.

However, the methods through which aid is allocated need to become more efficient and effective. An improvement in this area requires two paths: a uniform direction and strategy for our government’s foreign assistance, in order to ensure that the aid gets to where it is going more efficiently and a change in the perception of Africa and its needs. The first point I believe can be addressed with legislative action and a change in our government’s foreign aid assistance, but the second requires an immense input by the general population and a change in people’s mindsets. We need a realization that Africa cannot rely on aid alone for ever. Job training and agricultural development need to take center stage in order to create real change in people’s lives as opposed to a constant stream of money and goods. Finally, and most importantly, the populations of all the developing nations need to stop simply feeling sorry for Africa. Instead of treating Africa like a street child simply begging for scraps, the world powers need to take movements towards legitimate equal partnerships with African nations. Only through mobilizing the people into changing the national image of Africa as a beggar, to Africa as a young, but potentially brilliant, entrepreneur in need of an opportunity, can real changes be made. 

It is in this area that a organization such as Bread for the World can make all the difference. It has the resources to educate the general population, the structure to connect the people to those who make the decisions, and the calling to accomplish it all.

I find that these sentiments are very well supported by Paul Collier’s closing remarks in the Munk Debate, which I paraphrase: In order to create change the governments need to get serious. Look at the Marshall Plan, in that situation the government got serious and change was made. However democratic governments act at the will of the people, so the people get the type of aid that they deserve. If they want politicians kissing babies and showing how sorry they feel for the people of Africa, that is what they are going to get. In order to make real change, people need to get informed, and motivate their governments to do what needs to be done and bring legitimate change to the developing world.

Learn how you can get involved with foreign aid reform by visiting Bread's action center.

The Munk Debate on Foreign Aid

 

Monday night, Munk Debates held an incredibly interesting debate on the effectiveness of foreign aid, in response to the growing allegations from many scholars that aid in fact amplifies the problems of the developing world. The debate took place between four leading voices in the discussions on poverty reduction and foreign aid: Dambisa Moyo, Hernando de Soto, Stephen Lewis, and Paul Collier. While the debate was formally set up to be Moyo and de Soto against Lewis and Collier, in reality it emerged to be an ideological debate between Moyo and Lewis, with Collier bridging a sort of middle ground, and de Soto on everyone’s side but advocating a different approach to the argument.

The debate was well run and civil (for the most part), which allowed each of the participants to develop their argument and respond effectively to their opponents. Lewis outlined the amazing victories of aid, such as decreasing child mortality and the HIV/AIDS death rate, building schools, decreasing hunger, reducing malaria, vaccinating children, and providing education. He also preemptively addressed Moyo's argument by pointing out that in the last 10 years aid has become more focused and active among the people rather than just being handed out to the government, increasing its effectiveness and advancing towards the goal of decreasing poverty. Hernando de Soto’s remarks gratefully thanked all of those who advocate for aid and selflessly give so much to developing nations, but stated that that is not enough. Capital needs to be raised by introducing property rights and protecting business deals, as well as helping the poor.

Collier entered the debate stating simply that aid is a useful tool, but not the only one. Aid should be used in conjunction with improvements in other areas (security, trade, and governance) in order to bring the “Bottom Billion” up to converge with the rest of society. Furthermore, aid needs to be targeted and conditioned to the accountability of the governance of a particular nation. Finally, Dambisa Moyo outlined her argument on the evils of aid, stating that Africa is poorer now than it was 40 years ago despite $1 trillion of aid. Moreover, aid has decreased growth, fueled corruption, encouraged inflation and debt, killed entrepreneurship, and destroyed the export market. She ended by stating that her argument was not for immediate, direct removal of aid, but rather a weaning off of it, for no other nation in the world has ever risen out of poverty with an indeterminate amount of aid.

This debate was particularly interesting because both sides were arguing very similar ideals, just in different ways. While it is most likely true that Moyo would not oppose to complete removal of aid, she does argue for a weaning and a transition, something Lewis agrees with simply on a different time scale. Furthermore, they all agreed that the situation in Africa is not sustainable, aid cannot be indeterminate and it must be done in addition to other techniques. Aid should also be targeted towards increasing sustainability through encouraging entrepreneurship and infrastructural development. Finally, the African leaders must take ownership of their own development, accountability for their actions, and leadership in their affairs in order for their nations to emerge from poverty.

- Kaj Pedersen is an intern with the Pasadena Office of Bread for the World.  He is a student at Claremont McKenna College.

The Disapppearing Wages

In the midst of our U.S. (and global) economic crisis, much of the recent discussion in the media has focused on job losses and saving jobs and not as much on whether those who are employed are getting a fair wage.  And in those instances where wages are mentioned, the discussion turns to asking workers to accept a pay cut in order to save jobs or save a company.  While saving and creating jobs should certainly remain a priority for our country's leaders, the issue of just wages and a fair minimum wage should not be ignored. 

And there are many good people who are not letting us forget about this issue of fair wages, including Kim Bobo, director of the Interfaith Worker Justice network.  Kim, who served as Bread for the World's director of organizing from 1976 to 1986, recently published her new book Wage Theft In America: Why Millions in America Are Not Getting Paid - And What We Can Do About It.

Here's is paragraph from the promo of the book:

In what has been described as "the crime wave that no one talks about," wages are stolen from millions of workers in the United States every year.  Between two and three million workers are paid less than the minimum wage.  More than three million are misclassified by their employees as independent contractors when they are really employees, allowing employers to shirk their share of payroll taxes and to illegally deny workers overtime pay. Even the Economic Policy Foundation, a business-funded think tank, estimated that companies annually steal 19 billion dollars in unpaid overtime.

Read the rest of the description of the book

If you want to learn more about this book, Kim has scheduled a book tour in the following cities:

Nov. 19-20 New York, NY
Nov. 21-23 Columbus, GA (SOA Vigil)
Nov. 25 Washington, DC
Dec. 1-3 New York, NY / Montclair, NJ
Jan. 21, 2009 Twin Cities, MN
Jan 28-29 Boston, MA
Jan 30-31 Phoenix, AZ
Feb 6 New York, NY

Click here for exact locations

Order a copy

Kim also authored another great book Lives Matter: A Handbook on Christian Organizing, which is based partly on her experiences at Bread for the World

And if you want to know about the great things she has accomplished since her days at Bread for the World, here is her bio on Wikipedia.

(And she is on Facebook, in case you want to befriend her).