Development Aid Achieves the Opposite of Its Goals

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,719401,00.html

by all • 16 years ago

2 1 16 years ago

Mz• 16 years ago

Excerpt:

For decades, it has been obvious that development aid as a rule achieves exactly the opposite of that which is desired. Hundreds of economists, disillusioned aid workers and experts in recipient countries have discussed in books and essays the senselessness of the well-intentioned undertaking.

Makes sense to me. Maybe some day I will be able to put it into words...or something. For me, getting well has been deeply rooted in rejecting the "please save me" mentality common among people who are extremely ill. (Feeling a bit hypocritical as I say that since just earlier today I was saying "I don't think I am 'asking' for much (from the universe/'god'/karma/whatever). $100,000 would resolve my financial problems and people with my condition routinely get way more spent on them for staying sick.")

I've spent much of my life pondering how to improve things without stepping in that psychological/social trap. It's not easy. In most cases, programs designed to resolve problems (or "help", more often than not) offer assistance in a manner which actively rewards people for having problems and grievously punishes them for making any real progress.

Development Aid Achieves the Opposite of Its Goals

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