FOREIGN AID
Foreign aid means help that a country is given by other countries or international
organizations to encourage and facilitate development.
TYPES OF AID
Tied Aid is assistance/help that is given with conditions or strings attached to e.g. USA may
give a loan to Botswana on condition that the money is spent on buying machines from USA
Bilateral Aid is help given directly from one country to another e.g. USA donate money
directly to Botswana government.
Multi-lateral aid; help given to a country by two or more countries.
FORMS OF AID
I. Financial or Capital aid
This is money that is offered to a poor country to help it with much needed funds for various
social and economic activities. The money can either be a loan or grant.
2. Technical assistance
This is when a rich country helps a poor country with skills. The donor country can send
doctors, engineers to work in a developing country or provide scholarships to citizens of a
developing country to study abroad.
3. Gifts of consumer goods
This is when donor countries give food items, medicines, text books etc freely to poor
countries.
REASONS FOR GIVING AID
-to promote peace
-to show prestige
-to help developing countries to improve their infrastructure e.g. roads, schools, dams etc
-to exercise control over recipients and gain their support against other countries
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-for humanitarian reasons (this is when rich countries help other countries because they
sympathise with their unfortunate situation
-to enhance technological transfer
Disadvantages of aid to the developing countries
-aid makes the weaker/poor countries to depend on the strong/rich countries
-it creates a master-servant relationship in international affairs
-tied aid creates a market for the developed countries
-it encourages people in recipient countries to be lazy
-recipients find it very difficult to pay back the loan
-it promotes dumping of discarded resources from the donor
-donors may interfere in recipient’s politics
-financial aid may be spent on the wrong things or be stolen by corrupt politicians
THE ROLES OF THE SPECIALISED AGENCIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS
1. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
This agency gives financial aid for various developmental projects to developing countries.
Some of the projects funded by UNDP are dam constructions and infrastructure
establishment.
Food Programme (WFP)
World Food Programme distributes food aid to hunger stricken people in times of famine,
drought and war.
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3.Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO)
FAO provides funds and experts to help developing countries to conduct research in
agriculture. T he research they finance is usually aimed at increasing agricultural output, pests
and diseases control and others.
4. World Health Organisation (WHO)
This agency is concerned with the well being of people both physically, mentally, emotionally
and socially. WHO aims at providing good health among all the people and it helps countries
that are facing epidemics by providing them with much needed drugs.
5.United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
This agency gives aid in the form of textbooks and other teaching materials which they
develop and distribute to developing countries. They also send educational experts to help in
the running of education programmes in developing countries. They also fund and conduct
educational research. Finally, UNESCO provides scholarships for the citizens of developing
countries to study in overseas universities.
6. United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
This agency provides food and other basic needs to children in many disadvantaged
communities in developing countries.
