Giving overseas aid not a simple exercise

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 20

Giving overseas aid not a simple exercise

Giving aid to underdeveloped and poor countries is not a simple matter. Well-meaning schemes may not benefit those for whom they were intended. Frequently those already well oIT end up better ioff, while those who are poor become poorer.

Speaking during a panel discussion on fgreign aid held by the Canterbury section of the Institute of Agricultral Science, the Rev John Curnow, director of Roman Catholic Overseas Aid, recalled that historically aid was directed at trying to reduce the colossal gap between rich and poor. It had been launched within the United Nations in 1960. Some forecasts had been made then that the world would be rid of hunger in five years.

So far as he knew, no country had yet reached the target of giving 1 per cent of its gross national product in aid, and some seemed now to be less likely to do so than at the start. Aid, Rev Curnow said, had been seen as a rather narrow proposition involving the transfer of money, equipment, and knowledge. It had been taken for granted that the rich countries knew the problems and solutions.

LITTLE CHANGE But whatever might be said about aid programmes over the last 15 years, little had changed for the poor. It was clear enough from statistics that the gap was getting bigger. Mr Robert McNamara, of the World Bank, had said recently that about 40 per cent of the people in the world were in "absolute proverty”, and that the percentage was still increasing.

Rev Curnow asked whether there was a need for a new political and economic order. In the way that the present order was consituted the advantage of the rich and powerful increased to the detriment of the poor and weak. Even in the poorer countries Governments and the ruling classes were linked to foreign interests and were able to use their economies for the interests of themselves and their supporters.

There was a great need for social awareness and political action, he said. • New Zealand, he said, talked about aid to Bangladesh, but it had a tariff of up to 30 per cent on simple jute handicrafts. Looking at the sort of approach that Catholic Overseas Aid used, he said that it started with the basic j concept that aid should benefit people, who were' subject to disadvantage, and these people had to be encouraged to identify their I own problems and situation [and how it could be improved. Mr T. Heiler, of the New Zealand Agricultural Engin-i eering Institute, suggested that for most effective use to be made of aid there should perhaps be some financ ; al commitment on the; part of the recipient coun-i try, and he had a case to, support this proposition. LOST JOBS Professor B. J. Ross, professor of agricultural economics at Lincoln College, rei called how cheap tractors j had been brought into an i area in Pakistan. As a result j total production was inI creased slightly, but the i existing farms became larger and the relatively affluent group in the community became better off, while the landless labourers lost their jobs, having been replaced by the tractors. j Tiaa question that this

posed was whether the national benefit from increased food production was sufficient to offset the social cost.

He said that there had to be an awareness of the side problei i -hat were created, and asked whether sufficient account was taken of these.

The benefits of aid might not reach those whom they were working to reach, but still the poor might be helped eventually through the rich in that Governments would collect taxes and use these for the longterm good of their countries. Answering a question, Profes. • Ross said that in Malaysia graduates who had taken their degrees in New Zealand were the best agricultural exte- ion officers. RURAL DEVELOPMENT He attributed this to the standing of agriculture in New Zealand, and to the fact that those engaged in farming here were not frightened to get their hands dirty. A member of the Government advisory committee on foreign aid. Professor J. D. Stewart, said he liked the idea of taking a rural development project and trying to work right through with it. A speaker from the floor asked whether a country like New Zealand could identify what changes could occur as a result of » programme or project in a cultural situation overseas (when it could not do this" in jits own country. Another i speaker suggested that perjhaps New Zeeland should put aid money aside in a fund until it was possible to [be sure of usi. g it effectively, - d another said he wondered whether resources might best be used through

organisations like Voluntary Service Abroad.

While aid programmes or projects had to be compatible with the needs and Wants of local people, Professor Stewart said, there was a problem in large cities like some of those in India, where in the long run the development of industry by the rich might provide employment for the poor. But taking into account the growth in the world population in the last 25

years, Professor Ross suggested that the fact that there had been so little deterioration in living standards was in itself no mean achievement. Professor Stewart said that one of the criteria of New Zealand’s aid programme was that the programme and aid projects should be designed to lead to the material benefit of people. In 1973 it had been decided that the programme should be 30 per cent multilateral aid and 70 per cent bilateral. EXPENDI~URE For the 1975-76 year the programme provided for the expenditure of ss7m. of which $40.9m was in bilateral aid, including s2om in the South Pacific and $15.5m in South and Sout East Asia, and about sl4m in multilat -.1 activities. After describing the sort of aid that was being given in Fiji, he said what was most impressive was the scope of the programme, and this might give the impression that it was rather thinly spread. This raised the question whether aid should be direct 1 in greater jdept'’ on a narrow front, or [wheth r it should be spread out over a wide range of different program* - * in various countries or regions.