Issues around the provision of aid to less developed regions of the world has been quite prominent in current affairs lately. Turbulent financial circumstances within donor nations has prompted sectors of the public to query if the needs of their own countries should not come first. The future of projects like The build school in Africa have a important place in this debate.
Amongst the criticisms are that money often does not reach the people it is intended to help. The reasons this may happen differ widely between the type and nature of the charity, the country where it operates and external factors.
For many the concerns revolve around corruption. Donors become reluctant to support a charity when there is a risk that resources may be misappropriated. Reports of foodstuffs intended for needy victims being sold on black markets for the personal gain of corrupt officials have been substantiated. Dealings with cash are prone to go wrong due to greedy acts of fraud and theft by corrupt officials. The sufferings of an impoverished nation stand in severe contrast to the opulent lifestyles enjoyed by many of their so called leaders.
Providing aid in territories where warfare and internal conflict is taking place presents its own set of difficulties. It is not uncommon for material aid to simply disappear, only to reappear later in the hands of one party who might well use it as a bargaining mechanism against another. A disaster such as an earthquake, flood or a hurricane may also negatively affect how well help can be provided.
Many of those who have been donating for a lengthy period, start to ask why the conditions of those supposedly being helped do not seem to be improving. There is a famous saying that may indicate why. It describes the difference between assisting people by merely providing them with fish to eat with the long term benefits of teaching them to fish for themselves. This second option is rooted in educating people, an approach felt by many as the only way of breaking the vicious aid cycle.
Admittedly, education is not going to replace traditional aid packages overnight. There will still be a need for nutritional support during times of drought and famine. The great work done through inoculation campaigns and emergency health care teams, still have some way to go and may never be completely withdrawn.
Yet if the aim is to develop people to the point of self sufficiency, of determining their own destinies, then the educational route must be the answer. Yet little attention is given to this pursuit an funding for armies often exceeds that of educational works. Such military funding regularly serves only to support what would otherwise be a crumbling despotic or dictatorial system. No emphasis is given by these systems to creating nation building leaders in technology, business, medicine, agriculture and of course most vitally, teaching.
There is no quick or easy fix to these problems and the solution is certainly far off in the distant future, but the solution lies undoubtedly in the many tiers of education. This is the only means by which enlightenment, vision and inspiration will occur and why The build school in Africa initiative is so vital.
Amongst the criticisms are that money often does not reach the people it is intended to help. The reasons this may happen differ widely between the type and nature of the charity, the country where it operates and external factors.
For many the concerns revolve around corruption. Donors become reluctant to support a charity when there is a risk that resources may be misappropriated. Reports of foodstuffs intended for needy victims being sold on black markets for the personal gain of corrupt officials have been substantiated. Dealings with cash are prone to go wrong due to greedy acts of fraud and theft by corrupt officials. The sufferings of an impoverished nation stand in severe contrast to the opulent lifestyles enjoyed by many of their so called leaders.
Providing aid in territories where warfare and internal conflict is taking place presents its own set of difficulties. It is not uncommon for material aid to simply disappear, only to reappear later in the hands of one party who might well use it as a bargaining mechanism against another. A disaster such as an earthquake, flood or a hurricane may also negatively affect how well help can be provided.
Many of those who have been donating for a lengthy period, start to ask why the conditions of those supposedly being helped do not seem to be improving. There is a famous saying that may indicate why. It describes the difference between assisting people by merely providing them with fish to eat with the long term benefits of teaching them to fish for themselves. This second option is rooted in educating people, an approach felt by many as the only way of breaking the vicious aid cycle.
Admittedly, education is not going to replace traditional aid packages overnight. There will still be a need for nutritional support during times of drought and famine. The great work done through inoculation campaigns and emergency health care teams, still have some way to go and may never be completely withdrawn.
Yet if the aim is to develop people to the point of self sufficiency, of determining their own destinies, then the educational route must be the answer. Yet little attention is given to this pursuit an funding for armies often exceeds that of educational works. Such military funding regularly serves only to support what would otherwise be a crumbling despotic or dictatorial system. No emphasis is given by these systems to creating nation building leaders in technology, business, medicine, agriculture and of course most vitally, teaching.
There is no quick or easy fix to these problems and the solution is certainly far off in the distant future, but the solution lies undoubtedly in the many tiers of education. This is the only means by which enlightenment, vision and inspiration will occur and why The build school in Africa initiative is so vital.
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