1.) Following Moyo, in what way has aid affected Africa?
2.) In your opinion, does aid negatively or positively affect Africa?
3.) Beyond direct aid, in what other ways can the international community support developing nations?
4.) Describe Human Rights in Precolonial Africa and how have they evolved since?
oNLY 1 OF THEM
Extra information
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Student examples:
2. In your opinion, does aid negatively or positively affect Africa?
In my opinion, aid negatively affects Africa. Despite the end of colonialism half a century earlier, developing countries still face problems that result in low economic growth. Though inequality is not a new occurrence, it has advanced in the ways it affects developing countries. It may have lifted about 1 billion people out of extreme poverty but worsened the quality of life. With developed countries establishing the rules, laws, organizations and investment, how are developing countries going to economically prosper? The trade rules imposed by rich countries make it much harder for poor countries to get out of poverty. Countries rich in resources such as gold, diamonds, oil, iron etc. are often exploited by Multinational corporations for profit. The governments of these developing countries usually lower the barriers for these multinational companies to bring in income therefore the people may work lower wages, long hours and in unstable condition. Statistically the richest 2 percent have more wealth than half of the rest of the world. Prior to colonialism, rich countries were only about 3 times wealthier than poor countries, in the 1960s they were about 35 times and today they are 80 times wealthier. Rich countries often try to compensate by providing aid, about 130 billion dollars each year but on the other hand multinational corporations are taking about 900 billion dollars in revenue. In addition, poor countries are paying about 600 million dollars in debt on loans over and over again. As a result of their reliance on loans and debt relief from bilateral donors and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF over the past thirty years, many African governments have devoted themselves to satisfying the interests of the international donor community without reference to the needs of their own economies and people. Small wonder that they have failed to prosper. (Moyo 2009) This actively demonstrates that the wealth gap is never getting smaller. According to Moyo the use of aid as a political weapon wielded by donor countries in their own interests. An example of this is Nixons statement Let us remember that the main purpose of aid is not to help other nations but to help ourselves. Developed countries often prioritize their governments national interest before humanitarian causes. Therefore, I believe the aid provided to African countries should have a larger developmental effect than it does now.
Sources:
Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa (London, Penguin, 2009).
TheRulesOrg, director. Global Wealth Inequality – What You Never Knew You Never Knew (See Description for 2017 Updates). YouTube, YouTube, 3 Apr. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU&ab_channel=TheRulesOrg.
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3.) Beyond direct aid, in what other ways can the international community support developing nations?
The International community can help support developing nations in various ways other than direct aid. Another way that the international community can support developing nations at the moment is through COVID-19 resources and aid. The pandemic has been deeply affecting developing countries, and developed countries can support the underdeveloped in the medical field by sending their expert doctors to train the medical staff and help carry the operations. Experts from developed nations can now also help developing nations with COVID-19 vaccination procedures by teaching the developing countries doctors how to administer the doses, explaining the side effects, sharing experiences, as well as helping them gain access to the vaccine. Countries like Canada have bought enough vaccines to vaccinate all their population twice. Therefore, I believe that developed countries like Canada should consider donating their extra vaccines to countries that have not yet been able to gain access to it. Moreover, the WHO and the UN can help developing countries create research plans to create and develop affordable and equitable access to vaccines for developing countries. However, they will need the political leadership of powerful politicians, activists, and organizations all across the world to make sure this is an issue that needs attention from the powerful countries. According to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, only 10 countries account for 75% of all Covid-19 vaccination so far. More than 130 countries have not administered a single dose. Ultimately, it is in the interest of the international community to aid developing nations to acquire the COVID-19 vaccine because this is an issue that has affected every single person regardless of the country they live in, and unless the rest of the world is successful in combating the virus, new variants will continue to multiply and we will never be able to live in a COVID-19 free world.
Sources:
Birdsall, nancy. How to Help Poor Countries. Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2005-07-01/how-help-poor-countries.
Gay, Daniel. International support for the least developed countries: A different way? LDC Portal, https://www.un.org/ldcportal/international-support-for-the-least-developed-countries-a-different-way/.
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