The matter of providing assistance to foreign countries has received considerable attention in the news of late with some reports being quite negative. During this time of unsettled economies and financial cuts many are wondering whether charity should not begin in their own country. Following are some reasons outlining why supporting The build school in Africa project is so important.
Amongst the criticisms are that money often does not reach the people it is intended to help. The reasons this may happen differ widely between the type and nature of the charity, the country where it operates and external factors.
Corruption is top of the list for many people. People are influenced in their giving by allegations that money or material aid is being syphoned off by corrupt officials for personal gain. Cases of donated food like flour or cooking oil being sold on the black market are well documented. Alternatively where money changes hands, there is always the potential for theft, corruption and fraud. The comparison between people walking for days to beg for meagre rations or medical care and the image of a corrupt leader being chauffeur driven in a luxury limousine is a stark contrast.
Providing aid in territories where warfare and internal conflict is taking place presents its own set of difficulties. It is not uncommon for material aid to simply disappear, only to reappear later in the hands of one party who might well use it as a bargaining mechanism against another. A disaster such as an earthquake, flood or a hurricane may also negatively affect how well help can be provided.
Many of those who have been donating for a lengthy period, start to ask why the conditions of those supposedly being helped do not seem to be improving. There is a famous saying that may indicate why. It describes the difference between assisting people by merely providing them with fish to eat with the long term benefits of teaching them to fish for themselves. This second option is rooted in educating people, an approach felt by many as the only way of breaking the vicious aid cycle.
Admittedly, education is not going to replace traditional aid packages overnight. There will still be a need for nutritional support during times of drought and famine. The great work done through inoculation campaigns and emergency health care teams, still have some way to go and may never be completely withdrawn.
If the objective is to get people into a position whereby they can help themselves then clearly educating them has to be the solution. Not much attention is given to this theory and regularly the budgets of defense departments exceed those of educators. The aim of these is often just to prop up illegitimate regimes. Military personnel have neither the intent or the skills to provide a nation with the medical, engineering, agricultural, IT and critically, the teaching personnel so desperately needed. These are some of the occupations needed by countries intent on changing their circumstances.
There is no quick or easy fix to these problems and the solution is certainly far off in the distant future, but the solution lies undoubtedly in the many tiers of education. This is the only means by which enlightenment, vision and inspiration will occur and why The build school in Africa initiative is so vital.
Amongst the criticisms are that money often does not reach the people it is intended to help. The reasons this may happen differ widely between the type and nature of the charity, the country where it operates and external factors.
Corruption is top of the list for many people. People are influenced in their giving by allegations that money or material aid is being syphoned off by corrupt officials for personal gain. Cases of donated food like flour or cooking oil being sold on the black market are well documented. Alternatively where money changes hands, there is always the potential for theft, corruption and fraud. The comparison between people walking for days to beg for meagre rations or medical care and the image of a corrupt leader being chauffeur driven in a luxury limousine is a stark contrast.
Providing aid in territories where warfare and internal conflict is taking place presents its own set of difficulties. It is not uncommon for material aid to simply disappear, only to reappear later in the hands of one party who might well use it as a bargaining mechanism against another. A disaster such as an earthquake, flood or a hurricane may also negatively affect how well help can be provided.
Many of those who have been donating for a lengthy period, start to ask why the conditions of those supposedly being helped do not seem to be improving. There is a famous saying that may indicate why. It describes the difference between assisting people by merely providing them with fish to eat with the long term benefits of teaching them to fish for themselves. This second option is rooted in educating people, an approach felt by many as the only way of breaking the vicious aid cycle.
Admittedly, education is not going to replace traditional aid packages overnight. There will still be a need for nutritional support during times of drought and famine. The great work done through inoculation campaigns and emergency health care teams, still have some way to go and may never be completely withdrawn.
If the objective is to get people into a position whereby they can help themselves then clearly educating them has to be the solution. Not much attention is given to this theory and regularly the budgets of defense departments exceed those of educators. The aim of these is often just to prop up illegitimate regimes. Military personnel have neither the intent or the skills to provide a nation with the medical, engineering, agricultural, IT and critically, the teaching personnel so desperately needed. These are some of the occupations needed by countries intent on changing their circumstances.
There is no quick or easy fix to these problems and the solution is certainly far off in the distant future, but the solution lies undoubtedly in the many tiers of education. This is the only means by which enlightenment, vision and inspiration will occur and why The build school in Africa initiative is so vital.
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