Considering the ‘other’ in Foreign Aid
This is a link to an article I found in the New York Times detailing the concequences of ignoring local sentiment when attempting to give aid to the community. The article specifically looks at the experience of Liberian farmers, who have been taken off their land to sustain the agendas of large American cooperations like OPIC. The intention, as always, is to help the locals by providing a source of clean energy and boosting the economy by providing jobs; however, the actual impacts at the ground level have been far from what was promised. The reason why I like this article in particular is because it looks at a very large issue and addresses one of the simplest but most neglected elements of it- simply asking the locals what they want/need to do with the capital they will hopefully obtain. Instead, what appears to be happening is countries in the global North are assuming that countries in the South would need certain amenities to function; however, these are reflective of a philosophy of development specific to the Wests ethos of progress, which relies on the flourishing of commerce and the trickle down effect. The latter has been shown to fail, not just in Liberia but also in other parts of the world, where aid has become another cause for the depravity experienced in receiving states. Part of the purpose of the article is to also reveal and discuss the impact of local movements which are attempting to hold large aid coorporations accountable for their failed promises and provide immediate justice and security to the families affected, most importantly on their own terms.
Thumbnail image from the New York Times website link is below
Contributed by DwijeshNambiar on 26/01/2019
