Does foreign aid work?

By simplest definition foreign aid means the act of donating money goods or service to a nation. However, these two little words have been a nightmare for the international community. For decades arguments about the efficiency of foreign aid has been going on. Most critics say that foreign aid has proven ineffective while others believe that it actually works. In my opinion, foreign aid can work under several conditions such as a well-planned policy, an established infrastructure for money control and no corrupt aims behind the donation.

First of all, the most important thing about foreign aid is to control track and utilize the money. For that reason, a donor country must have the skills and the capacity to build a good system serving those commissions. The aid is least effective and found risky in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan where governments are weak and politically and economically unstable. To avert this, the donor country must build an established infrastructure in these countries to control the use of money.

Secondly, it is proven that depending on where and how the funds are spent we can observe a substantial reduction in poverty levels. To do that, the donor country must have a carefully planned policy. The priority must be health and education, the two areas that can reduce the poverty, and lead towards prosperity. Also, in order to make the foreign aid more effective the donor country must follow policies that contain human capital and remove strategic trade barriers.

Last but not least, it is the ‘aim’ that counts. If there are corrupt and incompetent officials whose aim is to line their own pockets, none of the policies will work no matter how developed the system is and what new approaches you use.

All in all, I believe that foreign aid will work if the conditions I bring out are followed and one day all the donating countries will become donors themselves only to help other countries in need.

Ilay Ghanbari