Quote
“Don’t only give your care, but give your heart as well.” Mother Teresa
News
Drought in the horn of Africa is causing a mass exodus of families and communities from their homes and lands in a desperate attempt to avoid starvation. The response to East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years has been generous; the World Food Programme reported a surge in donations this week, and the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal in UK has just passed £30 million in private donations.
“Don’t only give your care, but give your heart as well.” Mother Teresa
News
Drought in the horn of Africa is causing a mass exodus of families and communities from their homes and lands in a desperate attempt to avoid starvation. The response to East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years has been generous; the World Food Programme reported a surge in donations this week, and the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal in UK has just passed £30 million in private donations.
Against this backdrop, there has been controversy in Britain over the size of the government’s aid budget. Since 1997 successive Labour and Conservative governments have been pursuing the UN target of giving 0.7% of GDP in aid. David Cameron is under fire for increasing the aid budget at a time when almost every other government department is required to make the largest spending cuts in decades.
Detractors argue that much official aid is badly spent, and since the cold war ended, there has been a growing commitment to overcome the corruption, waste and excessive bureaucracy that have blighted aid programmes. The new concept of ‘smart aid’ focuses on transparency and delivering results for the poor, demanding better accountability to both taxpayers in rich countries and to the poor in low income countries.
Western aid is deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of compassion and solidarity with the poor. This kind of giving increases the wellbeing of donors as well as recipients – but it hinges on the degree of connection between the giver and receiver. Citing statistics such as 12 million people being threatened by drought in East Africa may get our attention, but personal stories, of families with names, are far more likely to create a sense of connection across the thousands of miles between readers and drought victims.
Reducing the ‘relational distance’ or gap between donors and recipients is one strategy for making aid more effective; it can motivate donors and also hold aid agencies more accountable. How might this principle be applied to official development assistance?
First, the number of intermediary institutions could be reduced to ensure more money ends up with the final beneficiaries; secondly, taxpayers might be allowed to nominate an NGO from a list to receive that part of their income tax which goes to the aid budget and thirdly, perhaps some of the bilateral aid (government to government) could be decentralised to the level of city to city; ‘twinning for aid’ could open up many new avenues for people to engage meaningfully in helping the 1 billion people who live in absolute poverty today.
Read on...
Jamie Drummond of the campaign organisation ONE argues in favour of Britain’s aid programme and suggests how it could be ‘smarter’. Read the article here.
Walk the talk
We give to charity appeals as a response of compassion or perhaps to relieve our consciences; might you narrow the relational gap with your giving and make it more personalised? Sponsoring a child, a family, a school or a community are all options for using your money not just to meet a need but to build a lasting relationship, which though remote, is still real.
The last word
From the Bible, 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.”
Detractors argue that much official aid is badly spent, and since the cold war ended, there has been a growing commitment to overcome the corruption, waste and excessive bureaucracy that have blighted aid programmes. The new concept of ‘smart aid’ focuses on transparency and delivering results for the poor, demanding better accountability to both taxpayers in rich countries and to the poor in low income countries.
Western aid is deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of compassion and solidarity with the poor. This kind of giving increases the wellbeing of donors as well as recipients – but it hinges on the degree of connection between the giver and receiver. Citing statistics such as 12 million people being threatened by drought in East Africa may get our attention, but personal stories, of families with names, are far more likely to create a sense of connection across the thousands of miles between readers and drought victims.
Reducing the ‘relational distance’ or gap between donors and recipients is one strategy for making aid more effective; it can motivate donors and also hold aid agencies more accountable. How might this principle be applied to official development assistance?
First, the number of intermediary institutions could be reduced to ensure more money ends up with the final beneficiaries; secondly, taxpayers might be allowed to nominate an NGO from a list to receive that part of their income tax which goes to the aid budget and thirdly, perhaps some of the bilateral aid (government to government) could be decentralised to the level of city to city; ‘twinning for aid’ could open up many new avenues for people to engage meaningfully in helping the 1 billion people who live in absolute poverty today.
Read on...
Jamie Drummond of the campaign organisation ONE argues in favour of Britain’s aid programme and suggests how it could be ‘smarter’. Read the article here.
Walk the talk
We give to charity appeals as a response of compassion or perhaps to relieve our consciences; might you narrow the relational gap with your giving and make it more personalised? Sponsoring a child, a family, a school or a community are all options for using your money not just to meet a need but to build a lasting relationship, which though remote, is still real.
The last word
From the Bible, 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.”
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