Questions Raised

While this a topic that has lead to many positive improvements on a global scale, but it is also important to acknowledge the negative issues that it has introduced in order to find a solution and become more progressive. This topic has raised many questions, some of which include the following:

·      Can you really provide effective aid without harm?

·      Does taking a community’s well being into your own hands helpful or does it create unwelcome changes and unintentional quandaries?

·      How can we ensure that we accomplish our goals without pushing our own ideals upon the community?

·      Are our foreign aid efforts in vain?

Although there is much in the way to discourage what positive efforts have been made in the name of poverty, humanitarian aid has made quite an impact. The United Nations reported that over the past decade, 350 million people have moved out of extreme poverty. Many of the people that have removed themselves from poverty are still very poor, but the fact still remains that there are some improvements, which says a lot for existing nonprofit organizations and humanitarian aid. This shows that there is hope for the future. Even though poverty reduction is a long and strenuous journey, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Contrastingly, until we educate ourselves on effective ways of providing foreign aid we will not be successful. While it is vital to become more familiar with what methods are effective, it is equally important to become more aware of methods that are not effective so that we may avoid them as best we can. As opposed to only looking at short-term effects of aid, we must project possible outcomes and potential solutions to any issues that may arise.

Potential Risks of Aid

What you or people of your native country may want isn’t necessarily what people in other countries want. To further demonstrate this concept I ask that you consider a common scenario in foreign aid. If an organization that is creating an educational institution that provides housing, food, and educational materials, which at first thought seems as if it could produce only positive results, can actually be quite detrimental if gone about in the wrong manner. If the organization failed to realize the cultural repercussions of this, they run the risk of putting the citizens of the community in a rather uncomfortable situation. There is a possibility that the other inhabitants of the community might oust those who are given the opportunity to attend the institution consequently, creating animosity. There is a possibility that they will not be able to find or create jobs, sell products, or contribute in anyway within their community, essentially defeating the purpose and leaving them in different but equally poor circumstances in comparison to their situation prior to intervention.

             To further illustrate the gravity of this situation, these changes can unfortunately result in unforeseen have negative effects in developing countries. Often times these adjustments result in the country going even deeper into poverty because they are expected to be able to keep up with competing countries and thriving economies. When they cannot do so, they are forced to become even more dependent up on the developed nations in order to keep their heads above water, so to speak. Poverty stricken countries are then forced to spend less, reduce consumption, remove/decrease regulations, and decrease the value of labor; which puts workers in the same position they were in to begin with.