Foreign Aid Financing

I have worked for several international non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan. I have first-hand knowledge and experience of the issues and problems facing foreign aid to poor and developing nations. Thus, the documentary reinforced the notion that the international community, in a larger context, faces almost similar challenges in its policies of humanitarian and developmental assistance to poor and developing nations around the world. The documentary demonstrates a broad range of challenges, but I will only highlight the ones I considered to be important.
The foreign aid is not channeled through a unified system based a strategy developed on realistic understanding of problems on the ground. Each individual donor and the NGOs set their own plans and policies for the budget they earmarked to spend in Africa. Aid organizations prioritize donors' political and commercial interests over recipient’s needs. For instance, the U.S. Congress decides how, where, why, and who should spend the US aid money to Africa. The decision makers are out of touch with realities on the ground in Africa. Majority of the aid money is spend on short-term and quick impact projects, like food hand-outs. This does not alleviate poverty nor leads to incentives for entrepreneurship among poverty stricken …show more content…
It is well shown in the documentary. The aid has not helped end poverty, it rather helps the vicious cycle of poverty to continue. The only positive and instrumental project the documentary covered was the microfinance projects. Where members of communities used the loan money to start up small businesses. Also, the documentary indirectly showed how most aid money does not actually go to the poorest who would need it the most. Large amount of money seems to be spent on administrative expenses. The logistical and administrative costs of the aid organizations dramatically decrease the actual amount of aid money the recipients