The Broker

Is development aid nonsense? panelists discussion

July 05, 2010

The Transnational Institute recently held a debate about the future of Dutch development cooperation. Opinions amongst political parties vary depending on their political orientation but no one seems to be asking the countries in the South about their needs. Video footage is now available from the event which aimed to bring Southern voices into the debate. A panel from some of the rising countries of the South discussed how Dutch aid could usefully contribute to more sustainable development.

See videos from the event here

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Is development aid useless/harming?

Development Aid sucks?

The answer is yes, but…!

On the one hand it´s still the “Westerns” who come to developing coutries and show the people how to do just about anything. The worst are these 17 – 19 year old high school graduates who think that the African people need their immense knowledge, so they go to some village, preferable somewhere in South Africa and teach, cause thats what they are “trained” for.

Its quite arrogant to believe that people in developing countries need “us” to improve their lifes, when it is “us” who made and still make their life so “crappy” in the first place.

The best thing would be to stop unfair trade, exploitation of commodities, destruction of nature, arms dealing, corruption, and so on. Then we would not need development aid at all.

But as long as we conduct “business as usual” developing countries need development aid to ease the effects of our economic power.

So a get a job in Africa or somewhere poor.

http://www.aidboard.com
Nicolas Conte | July 04, 2011 | Respond