Strong government performance on Overseas Aid

edanto

Irish Aid announced today that now that the numbers for last year are in, our contribution to overseas aid is now approx 0.54% of GDP, which is very, very respectable.

The government should be commended on maintaining a commitment to those less well off even as we face the prospect of harder times ahead ourselves.

http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/article.asp?article=1224

Still, though, I'm biased since I work in the sector. For people that aren't active in the nonprofit sector - would you consider the money we spend on overseas development to be a good thing or something that should drop down the priorities list?

spank_inferno

It is to be commended. This government since 1997 have spent a lot on foreigh aid.
I dont think it should ever be a low priority.

ninty9er

We had Conor Lenihan speak to a group of us on particular projects Ireland was involved in last year. I can honestly say that it is most certainly money well spent. That said, I don't think it should be rivalling the Defence budget.

If voted Aid Expenditure is due to be €914m this year and the Defence budget is €1,061m, there's a problem. Both need to be bigger. We don't have the biggest pot, but what we do have we spread very well.

DadaKopf

Ah yeah, sure aren't we great? Look at all this money we're giving. Everyone loves us, and here's another reason to cosy up to our friends and allies.

edanto

I'm surprised, I thought someone would have mentioned the ol' corruption problem, especially with Mugabe so prominent in the news. I don't know though, did Ireland ever give money to his government?

DadaKopf

Yeah, that's a pretty hot topic alright. Maybe people are more concerned about Pat Kenny.

But seriously, Ireland, as all aid donors, has mixed motives for providing ODA. It's always been a mix of altruism and realpolitik. Some go more to one end of the scale than the other. The Americans and Italians are pretty damn bad. We're good enough, alright. But when you look at the 'aid pyramid', it's just a subset of geopolitics. The World Bank sets the aid discourse, the OECD disseminates powerful countries' ideologies to governments. The US dominates the World Bank and IMF, setting the agenda of what gets disseminated. It's been like this since at least 1945.

This is the biggest scandal.

In the meantime, developing country governments twist ODA to their own ends, some good, some bad. But who gets to judge good and bad in this context?

gordon_gekko

DadaKopf wrote: »

Yeah, that's a pretty hot topic alright. Maybe people are more concerned about Pat Kenny.

But seriously, Ireland, as all aid donors, has mixed motives for providing ODA. It's always been a mix of altruism and realpolitik. Some go more to one end of the scale than the other. The Americans and Italians are pretty damn bad. We're good enough, alright. But when you look at the 'aid pyramid', it's just a subset of geopolitics. The World Bank sets the aid discourse, the OECD disseminates powerful countries' ideologies to governments. The US dominates the World Bank and IMF, setting the agenda of what gets disseminated. It's been like this since at least 1945.

This is the biggest scandal.

In the meantime, developing country governments twist ODA to their own ends, some good, some bad. But who gets to judge good and bad in this context?

its funny you mention that the usa and italy are poor at donating to 3rd world aid , americans believe they donate more than anyone, i guess you mean per head

djpbarry

gordon_gekko wrote: »

its funny you mention that the usa and italy are poor at donating to 3rd world aid , americans believe they donate more than anyone, i guess you mean per head

In real terms, the USA does give more Official Development Assistance than anyone else. But, expressed as a percentage of Gross National Income, the USA does not fare as well. Figures from OECD are available here.

It should also be remembered that a pretty big chunk of US overseas aid goes to Israel, a large percentage of which is tied military aid.

DadaKopf

gordon_gekko wrote: »

its funny you mention that the usa and italy are poor at donating to 3rd world aid , americans believe they donate more than anyone, i guess you mean per head

In absolute volumes, the US provides the most ODA. But as a percentage of GNP, American taxpayers donate the least. Ireland will be up around 0.53% of GNP by 2009, 5 times more than the USA.

This Action Aid report details the issue very well.

But this isn't what I was referring to. Both the US and Italy 'tie' their aid to specific foreign and trade policy objectives more than most other aid donors. For example, a few years ago, the US spent $48 billion in 'aid' to Africa, but half of that went to Egypt and Israel, to be spent on 'security'; the remaining half had to be divided up among rouughly 40 African countries.

Ireland has a very good record on 'tied' aid - we don't have any, depending on which definition you use. There is, however, growing concern about the emergence of the EU's aid-for-trade policy with the African, Carribbean and Pacific Countries. Through 'Economic Partnership Agreements', Ireland and our EU counterparts are seeking to prise open poor countries' markets even further in exchange for economic assistance. The first wave of liberalisation by the IMF in the 1980s and 1990s caused enough poverty.

djpbarry

DadaKopf wrote: »

There is, however, growing concern about the emergence of the EU's aid-for-trade policy with the African, Carribbean and Pacific Countries. Through 'Economic Partnership Agreements', Ireland and our EU counterparts are seeking to prise open poor countries' markets even further in exchange for economic assistance.

Oxfam are doing their utmost to make people aware of these EPA's:

http://www.oxfamireland.org/whatwedo/campaigns_advocacy/make_trade_fair/epas_2008_01.shtml

DadaKopf

Yeah, there's a big network of NGOs campaigning against them - the Trade Justice Ireland group involving Oxfam, Christian Aid, Trócaire, Comhlámh.

I don't hold out much hope for an endgame favouring the world's poor, though.

edanto

Is there any connection between EPAs and the efforts of farmers to stop the Mandelson proposals?
http://farmersjournal.ie/2008/0412/news/currentedition/

DadaKopf

There's an interaction, but I'm not sure how much. At the very least, Mandelson as Trade Commissioner is in charge of the EPAS negotiations, not DG Development.

European farmers are afraid it'll open the floodgates to cheap agricultural imports, while developing countries are worried about the same thing! Part of the NGO position is to see if it's possible to agree a solution which protects both sides through supporting non-competitive commodities in each region.

That's how I understand it, but I could be wrong.