Poverty reduction is again a hot topic worldwide when the economic crisis hits the poorest counties hardest. While more attention drawn to this issue, some problems emerge with people’s opinions divided. Many people believe countries have a moral obligation to help each other, whilst others argue that aid money is, more often than not, misspent by the recipients, so foreign aids, as a well-intended mechanism, simply failed and need to be scrapped.
As a more widely shared knowledge than ever, poverty in the third world is an inevitable cause of all the chaos afflicting the world, from crimes, regional confrontations to terrorism, even pandemics. On this more and more globalized world, a nation could no longer be exempt from the unstableness and misery suffered by its neighbouring countries. Even the cry from the faraway end of the globe will be brought to your ears through all the links and ties. It is, therefore, a consensus among both the rich and the poor that only when poverty is eliminated once and for all, can peace and prosperity be attained and sustained. To this common end, the only possible way is to engage rich countries in helping poor ones generously and unconditionally.
Sure enough, there are some high-profile scandals of fund misuse. It’s also true foreign aid did foster corruption and irresponsible policymaking in some countries. Yet, this should not serve as the excuse of withdrawing these most needed aids which are supposed to and also proved to save lives and deliver hopes. A loose governance or corruptive government cannot cancel off the desperate needs of its people. On the other hand, there are some effective measures can be taken to avoid, at least to some extent, such undesirable situations, for instance, strengthening the supervision of fund disbursement, delivering aids through the network of non-governmental organizations, or helping to promote recipient counties’ governance and management.
In other words, the abuses involved with foreign aids can be checked through other available means rather than just abandoning the whole package altogether. As I mentioned above, there is hardly any way more effective than international aids in fighting world hunger and its tragic consequences. On no accounts would we give up on our shared dream of creating a planet free from tears and bleeding. So let’s work together to hold the rich countries accountable in this tough battle.