Misuse of International Aid Deepens Cycle of Poverty, Global Forum is Told
Sep 8th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsIn addition to corruption, representatives of donor and recipient nations say complex bureaucracies and fragmentation of efforts hinder delivery
ACCRA, Ghana
Officials attending a conference on foreign aid in Accra, Ghana, were told that the misuse of donated money keeps nations mired in poverty.
Anticorruption watchdog Transparency International warned that corruption would continue to hurt antipoverty programs if immediate steps are not taken to increase transparency, accountability, and active participation by citizens in recipient and donor countries, according to a report from the Daily Monitor of Kampala, Uganda.
About $100 billion in aid flows from rich countries to poor ones each year. Critics charge that in addition to much of it being siphoned off by graft, aid is also wasted because efforts are poorly coordinated, fragmented, and hung up in bureaucratic delays, according to reports from the Voice of America and the Economist.
An analysis from Reuters correspondent Kwasi Kpodo, reporting from Accra, notes that concerns about the persistent squandering of funds, especially in the weaker nations in Africa, are at the center of a debate over who should maintain control. Recipient countries typically insist that the aid must follow their own development strategies, according to the report.
Britain’s international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, is proposing a global initiative aimed at preventing the misuse of aid, according to the U.K. Guardian. Alexander wants donor countries as well as recipients to keep better track of cash flow.
Sources: Guardian, Sep. 4 — Economist, Sep. 4 — Voice of America, Sep. 3 — Kampala Daily Monitor, Sep. 3 — Reuters, Sep. 2.
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