In 2005 in Niger, four month-old Sani Momaini is severely malnourished. More and better aid could cut poverty and save children’s lives.
UNICEF/ HQ05-1040/Radhika Chalasani
International aid or development assistance is when one country helps another country through some form of grants or loans, such as money, equipment, food or medicines. International aid is often given to countries that have a special need caused by poverty, war or natural disasters.
Evidence shows that the right kind of international aid can successfully reduce child poverty. (The right kind of aid means giving countries the stuff they need when they actually need it, making sure it gets to the people who need it most, and not asking for favours or imposing conditions in return.) For example, aid has reduced polio infections to their lowest level ever and the UK Government has shown that aid amounting to 1 per cent of a receiving country’s Gross Domestic Product (the total value of the goods and services produced in a year) can lead to a 1.2 per cent drop in poverty and child mortality.
Progress report: must do better
In 1970, the richest countries in the world promised to give 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Income (the money the country earns each year) to overseas aid. Today only five of the world’s richest countries have kept this promise – Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden are now giving at least 0.7 per cent in aid. France, Ireland, Finland, Spain and Belgium have all set a clear timetable for reaching the target. The UK says it plans to reach the target by 2013.
In 2005, world leaders faced massive public pressure to Make Poverty History. The European Union Member States agreed to double their aid spending over the next 5 years, reaching 0.51% of their GNI by 2010. The G8 promised US$ 50 billion in aid per year by 2010. But it’s still not enough to rid the world of poverty.
The eighth Millennium Development Goal says rich countries must provide more and better aid to developing countries. Without this, the Millennium Development Goals won’t be achievable. For aid to be better, it needs to focus on poor people’s needs. This means more aid being spent on areas such as basic health care and education. Aid should support poor countries’ and communities’ own plans and paths out of poverty. Better aid must be free from damaging economic conditions. For example, a lot of aid from rich countries come with the condition that the country that gets the aid must buy goods from suppliers in the donor country.
In 2007, governments spent $1339 billion on arms; $300 billion each year is spent by rich countries to support domestic agricultural producers but only an additional $70 billion per year in additional aid is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.