tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/foreign-aid-988/articlesForeign aid – The Conversation2023-12-26T20:29:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196172023-12-26T20:29:23Z2023-12-26T20:29:23ZNZ report card 2023: near the top of the class in some areas, room for improvement elsewhere<p>End-of-year results aren’t only for school and university students. Countries, too, can be measured for their progress – or lack of it – across numerous categories and subject areas. </p>
<p>This report card provides a snapshot of how New Zealand has fared in 2023. Given the change of government, it will be a useful benchmark for future progress reports. (Somewhat appropriately, the coalition seems keen on standardised testing in education.)</p>
<p>It’s important to remember that this exercise is for fun and debate. International and domestic indices and rankings should be read with a degree of caution – measurements, metrics and numbers from 2023 tell us only so much. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it’s still possible to trace the nation’s ups and downs. As the year draws to an end, we can use these statistics and rankings to decide whether New Zealand really is the best country in the world – or whether we need to make some additional new year’s resolutions.</p>
<h2>International pass marks</h2>
<p>Overall, the country held its own internationally when it came to democratic values, freedoms and standards. But there was a little slippage.</p>
<p>Despite falling a spot, Transparency International ranked New Zealand <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022">second-equal</a> (next to Finland) for being relatively corruption-free. </p>
<p>In the Global Peace Index, New Zealand dropped two places, now <a href="https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/">fourth-best</a> for safety and security, low domestic and international conflict, and degree of militarisation.</p>
<p>The country held its ground in two categories. Freedom House underlined New Zealand’s near-perfect score of <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores">99 out of 100</a> for political and civil liberties – but three Scandinavian countries scored a perfect 100. The <a href="https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2023/">Global Gender Gap Report</a> recorded New Zealand as steady, the fourth-most-gender-equal country. </p>
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<p>Supplementary work by the United Nations Development Programme shows New Zealand making impressive strides in breaking down <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-06/gsni202302pdf_0.pdf">gender bias</a>.</p>
<p>The Index for Economic Freedom, which covers everything from property rights to financial freedom, again placed New Zealand <a href="https://www.heritage.org/index/">fifth</a>, but our grade average is falling. We also dropped a place in the World Justice Project’s <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/">Rule of Law Index</a> to eighth.</p>
<p>New Zealanders are about as happy as they were last year, still the tenth-most-cheery nation, according to the <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/">World Happiness Report</a>.</p>
<p>The Human Development Index did not report this year (New Zealand was 13th in 2022). But the <a href="https://www.prosperity.com/rankings">Legatum Prosperity Index</a>, another broad measure covering everything from social capital to living conditions, put New Zealand tenth overall – reflecting a slow decline from seventh in 2011.</p>
<p>The Economist’s <a href="https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/global-liveability-index-2023/">Global Liveability Index</a> has Auckland at equal tenth, with Wellington racing up the charts to 23rd. (Hamilton, my home, is yet to register.)</p>
<p>While New Zealand registered a gradual slide in the Reporters Without Borders <a href="https://rsf.org/en/index">Press Freedom Index</a>, at 13th position it still ranks highly by comparison with other nations.</p>
<h2>Could do better</h2>
<p>New Zealand has seen some progress around assessment of terror risk. While the national terror threat level has remained at “<a href="https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/national-security/counter-terrorism#:%7E:text=New%2520Zealand's%2520current%2520national%2520terrorism,Zealanders%2520both%2520here%2520and%2520overseas.">low</a>”, the <a href="https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/global-terrorism-index/#/">Global Terrorism Index</a> ranked the country 46th – lower than the US, UK and Russia, but higher than Australia at 69th.</p>
<p>The country’s previous drop to 31st in the <a href="https://www.imd.org/centers/wcc/world-competitiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness-ranking/">Global Competitiveness Report</a> has stabilised, staying the same in 2023. </p>
<p>On the <a href="https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/Home">Global Innovation Index</a>, we came in 27th out of 132 economies – three spots worse than last year. <a href="https://kof.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/media/press-releases/2022/12/globalisation-index.html#:%7E:text=The%2520KOF%2520Globalisation%2520Index%2520measures,a%2520long%2520period%2520of%2520time.">The Globalisation Index</a>, which looks at economic, social and political contexts, ranks New Zealand only 42nd.</p>
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<p>But the country’s response to climate change is still considered “highly insufficient” by the <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/">Climate Action Tracker</a>, which measures progress on meeting agreed global warming targets. The <a href="https://ccpi.org/">Climate Change Performance Index</a> is a little more generous, pegging New Zealand at 34th, still down one spot on last year.</p>
<p>New Zealand’s overseas development assistance – low as a percentage of GDP compared to other <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/official-development-assistance.htm">OECD countries</a> – had mixed reviews. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://odi.org/en/insights/principled-aid-index-2023-in-a-weaponised-world-smart-development-power-is-not-dead/">Principled Aid Index</a> – which looks at the purposes of aid for global co-operation, public spiritedness and addressing critical development goals – ranks New Zealand a lowly 22 out of 29. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/cdi#/">Commitment to Development Index</a>, which measures aid as well as other policies (from health to trade) of 40 of the world’s most powerful countries, has New Zealand in 19th place.</p>
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<h2>Decent economic grades</h2>
<p>The economic numbers at home still tell a generally encouraging story:</p>
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<li><p>unemployment <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/unemployment-rate/">remains low at 3.9%</a>, still below the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/unemployment-rates-oecd-updated-november-2023.htm#:%7E:text=14%2520Nov%25202023%2520%252D%2520The%2520OECD,Figure%25202%2520and%2520Table%25201">OECD average of 4.8%.</a></p></li>
<li><p>median weekly earnings from wages and salaries <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/income-growth-for-wage-and-salary-earners-remains-strong/">continued to rise</a>, by NZ$84 (7.1%) to $1,273 in the year to June</p></li>
<li><p>inflation is rising, but the rate is slowing, <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-inflation-at-5-6-percent/#:%7E:text=New%2520Zealand's%2520consumers%2520price%2520index,to%2520the%2520June%25202023%2520quarter.">falling to 5.6%</a> in the 12 months to September</p></li>
<li><p>and good or bad news according to one’s perspective, annual house price growth appears to be slowly recovering, with the <a href="https://www.qv.co.nz/price-index/">average price now $907,387</a> – still considerably down from the peak at the turn of 2022.</p></li>
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<p>It’s worth noting, too, that record net migration gain is boosting economic measurements. In the year to October 2023, 245,600 people arrived, with 116,700 departing, for an <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/international-migration-october-2023/">annual net gain</a> of 128,900 people.</p>
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<h2>Room for social improvement</h2>
<p>In the year to June, <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/10/new-zealand-s-suicide-rate-increases-for-first-time-in-years.html">recorded suicides increased</a> to 565, or 10.6 people per 100,000. While an increase from 10.2 in 2022, this is still lower than the average rate over the past 14 years.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics/prison_stats_september_2023">Incarceration rates</a> began to rise again, climbing to 8,893 by the end of September, moving back towards the 10,000 figure from 2020.</p>
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<p>Child poverty appears to be <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/child-poverty-statistics-show-no-annual-change-in-the-year-ended-june-2022/">stabilising</a>, with some reports suggesting improvements in longer-term trends. While commendable, this needs to be seen in perspective: one in ten children still live in households experiencing material hardship.</p>
<p>The stock of <a href="https://www.hud.govt.nz/stats-and-insights/the-government-housing-dashboard/public-homes/">public housing</a> continues to increase. As of October, there were 80,211 public houses, an increase of 3,940 from June 2022.</p>
<p>In short, New Zealand retains some bragging rights in important areas and is making modest progress in others, but that’s far from the whole picture. The final verdict has to be: a satisfactory to good effort, but considerable room for improvement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Gillespie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Zealand was mostly stable in key international rankings and domestic socio-economic measures. But there are signs of slippage in some areas and not enough progress in others.Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162452023-10-26T12:32:16Z2023-10-26T12:32:16ZUN warns that Gaza desperately needs more aid − an emergency relief expert explains why it is especially tough working in Gaza<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555675/original/file-20231024-27-axqx74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Palestinian boy sits in a World Health Organization truck near a hospital in the southern area of the Gaza Strip. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinian-boy-sits-in-a-truck-of-the-world-health-news-photo/1741639361?adppopup=true">Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>United Nations agencies on Oct. 24, 2023, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-palestinian-refugee-agency-calls-unimpeded-flow-aid-gaza-2023-10-24/">pleaded for more aid</a> to be allowed into Gaza, saying that more than 20 times the amount of food, water and medical supplies and other items that are currently reaching people is needed.</em></p>
<p><em>Egypt first opened its borders for <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trucks-enter-gaza-carrying-medical-supplies-food-hamas-2023-10-21/">aid deliveries into Gaza on Oct. 21</a>, and since then, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/third-gaza-bound-aid-convoy-enters-rafah-crossing-egypt-sources-2023-10-23">54 trucks</a> with medical supplies had entered Gaza as of Oct. 23, according to the U.N.</em></p>
<p><em>But the U.N. and other <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/we-desperately-need-more-humanitarian-aid-come-gaza">international aid groups are warning</a> that the 2.3 million people living in Gaza remain in dire need of more clean water, food, fuel and medical care. The U.N.’s relief agency in Gaza, UNRWA, is also saying that without more fuel, it will have to <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-18">stop its work</a> on everything from providing medical care to setting up shelters for displaced people on Oct. 25.</em> </p>
<p><em>Safely delivering aid in Gaza has unique complications – including the fact that the U.S. and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist group.</em> </p>
<p><em>The Conversation spoke with <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/664/paul-b-spiegel">Paul Spiegel</a>, an expert on complex humanitarian emergencies at the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to better understand the particular challenges this reality creates and how it affects delivering aid to civilians in Gaza.</em> </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wearing yellow vests wave Egyptian flags at a large white truck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555676/original/file-20231024-29-xm3ju6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People greet trucks loaded with humanitarian aid preparing to enter Gaza from Egypt on Oct. 22, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trucks-loaded-with-humanitarian-aid-prepare-to-enter-gaza-news-photo/1740638103?adppopup=true">Ahmed Gomaa/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What are the challenges with providing aid in conflict zones like Gaza?</h2>
<p>Providing humanitarian assistance in any sudden emergency, like the one <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-captives-border-aid-f5976ed58ba508f14d45b72b428125ac">currently happening in Gaza</a>, is complex – in terms of security, logistics and financing. </p>
<p>Often, there are simply not enough appropriate supplies available to quickly get into an acute emergency, which might be in a remote area or might be in a restricted area, as is the case with Gaza. There are <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/aid-worker-security-report-2022-collateral-violence-managing-risks-aid-operations-major-conflict">often security issues</a> that may affect an aid group’s access to a population. And there is the risk that <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/document/syria-attack-humanitarian-convoy-attack-humanity">aid workers will be attacked</a>, as has <a href="https://www.aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report">happened increasingly</a> over the last several years. </p>
<p>Typically, a U.N. agency like the World Health Organization would try to get assurances from all groups that are part of a conflict, so that those providing assistance will not be targets of violence. These assurances do not always happen, and then the agencies need to decide if they deliver <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/aid-worker-security-report-2023-figures-glance">the aid or wait until they get a guarantee</a> they won’t be attacked. </p>
<p>There are also concerns about aid, which is intended only for civilians, being diverted for military purposes. This can vary from combatants secretly taking small amounts of supplies for their troops or stealing large truckloads of goods.</p>
<h2>How do politics affect humanitarian work, which is supposed to be neutral?</h2>
<p>Humanitarians try to follow basic principles of <a href="https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/humanitarian-principles/">humanity, independence, neutrality and impartiality</a>. We are not addressing the underlying causal issues related to a crisis. But the politics surrounding an emergency are still often a major, complicating factor in our work. </p>
<p>For example, at the Egyptian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67121372">Rafah crossing into Gaza</a>, various issues needed to be resolved, such as searching aid convoys for weapons, which items Hamas or other groups could divert from civilians and the assurance that refugees would not cross into Egypt. These and other aspects continue to delay much-needed aid for civilians in Gaza.</p>
<p>In this conflict, I have also seen aid workers express concern that the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/interview-israel-palestine-lack-fuel-gaza-now-critical-says-wfp">limited amount of aid</a> currently allowed into Gaza would stay in the south, and consequently be a pull factor for people being displaced from their homes. Or, there is a concern that the aid may not get to where it is most needed, such as all hospitals throughout Gaza. </p>
<p>In other crises, like those in the <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/humanitarian-assistance/democratic-republic-of-the-congo">Democratic Republic of Congo</a> or in Syria, we have heard concerns from all sides of a conflict about how aid may be unevenly or inequitably distributed, depending on where people live or what particular ethnic or religious group they belong to. This can cause tensions and even fighting among different communities.</p>
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<span class="caption">Children play around tents on Oct. 19, 2023, at a U.N. camp set up for Palestinians who fled to the southern Gaza Strip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kids-play-around-tents-at-a-camp-set-up-by-the-united-news-photo/1733642681?adppopup=true">Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>How does Hamas factor into this planning?</h2>
<p>The U.S. and the <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/fight-against-terrorism/terrorist-list/#applied">European Union</a> have very <a href="https://www.state.gov/executive-order-13224/">strict rules</a> that will block the financial assets of organizations that give money or support to Hamas, or any other organization they classify as a terrorist group. </p>
<p>These sanctions also prohibit any direct contact between aid groups and a listed <a href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/">terrorist organization like Hamas</a>.</p>
<h2>Can you give an example of what this looks like in practice?</h2>
<p>I arrived in Afghanistan immediately after the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan">Taliban took over</a> in 2021 with the World Health Organization. When that happened, the nongovernmental organizations and U.N. agencies – which receive the largest <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/funding-united-nations-what-impact-do-us-contributions-have-un-agencies-and-programs">amount of money from the U.S.</a> than from any other country – were not allowed to officially work with the Taliban and their ministries, or to give any money to them. </p>
<p>Previously, most of the global funding for health, for instance, was given to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, which then had systems in place to disburse the money and monitor how it was spent. These new restrictions made it harder for aid to be delivered. We needed to find new ways of doing work, in order to bypass the Taliban and the Ministry of Public Health, which the former now controlled. This disruption created challenges in terms of both distributing aid quickly and in terms of sustainability, as many of the employees at the ministry left.</p>
<h2>What are the long-term effects of navigating around governments that are classified by some countries as terrorist groups?</h2>
<p>When international assistance is not allowed to go through local governments because of sanctions, the U.N. and international nongovernmental organizations develop and run parallel services, like schools or hospitals. </p>
<p>While this may work in the short term and save lives, these parallel systems have longer-term, negative effects. Government officials may leave their jobs for higher-paying jobs in the U.N. and with NGOs, for example. </p>
<p>We have seen the negative, long-term effects of this firsthand in numerous countries, like Afghanistan, South Sudan and other places where the U.S. and other governments are concerned about terrorism, and consequently have imposed sanctions. </p>
<p>At this point in time, I think that lifesaving aid desperately needs to be provided to civilians in Gaza. Despite the various challenges I have mentioned in this discussion, I believe that humanity must prevail, over all other aspects. It truly is a matter of life and death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Spiegel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Government sanctions against Hamas, which the US and the European Union consider a terrorist group, mean that aid groups are not able to directly work with Hamas.Paul Spiegel, Director of the Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136912023-09-20T12:24:48Z2023-09-20T12:24:48ZMorocco’s earthquake and Libya’s floods highlight obstacles to relief efforts, from botched disaster diplomacy to destroyed infrastructure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548583/original/file-20230915-27-itydvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=205%2C99%2C4874%2C2955&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Moroccan women cook at a camp for earthquake victims in Amizmiz on Sept. 15, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-prepare-couscous-at-a-camp-for-earthquake-victims-in-news-photo/1668185986?adppopup=true">Fethi Belaid/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A 6.8 magnitude <a href="https://apnews.com/article/morocco-photos-earthquake-920c39947f895cdfc3448e5431df7562">earthquake struck southern Morocco</a> on Sept. 8, 2023, causing widespread damage in mountain villages. Three days later, an<a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/storm-daniel-leads-extreme-rain-and-floods-mediterranean-heavy-loss-of-life-libya"> unusually severe Mediterranean storm</a> caused <a href="https://apnews.com/article/libya-derna-dams-collapse-floods-corruption-neglect-chaos-45f76d2ac76be634865539a27b518ada">two poorly maintained Libyan dams to collapse</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/libya-dam-collapse-happened-because-of-bad-management-not-bad-weather-213546">resulting in massive floods</a> in and around the port city of Derna.</em></p>
<p><em>By Sept. 19, <a href="https://www.ifrc.org/article/morocco-earthquake-ifrc-and-moroccan-red-crescent-response-date">more than 3,000 people had died in Morocco</a>, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. And the World Health Organization was saying that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/17/africa/un-revises-libya-death-toll/index.html">nearly 4,000 people had died in Libya</a>, with another 10,000 missing – casualties that are unprecedented for a flood in Africa. More than <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/18/libya-floods-conflicting-death-tolls-greek-aid-workers-die-in-crash">46,000 Libyans have become displaced</a>, according to the International Organization for Migration.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/lawrencewa.cfm">William Lawrence</a>, a professor of political science and international affairs who has served as a senior diplomat at the U.S. embassies in Morocco and Libya, to explain why responding to these disasters has been especially hard.</em></p>
<h2>Is enough aid reaching communities harmed by these disasters?</h2>
<p>No. With Morocco, there’s strong government bureaucracy, and in Libya, the authorities are weak. But the results are the same: Not enough aid has gotten where it needs to go. </p>
<p><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/yMjAYPRuCScowDY9A?g_st=im">Thousands of Moroccan villages</a> have been damaged and hundreds destroyed, according to sophisticated mapping and eyewitnesses. The government is responding, but this is beyond its capacity. Even if the country’s entire army and everyone providing social services in Morocco were deployed, it wouldn’t be enough.</p>
<p>Morocco <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/13/africa/morocco-earthquake-aid-intl/index.html">has so far declined aid offers</a> <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2023/09/15/UN-says-quake-hit-Morocco-could-demand-aid-today-or-tomorrow-">from the United Nations</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/13/morocco-earthquake-macron-tries-to-soothe-tensions-after-frosty-response-to-offer-of-aid">France</a> and dozens of other countries. From the U.S., Morocco had only accepted, as of Sept. 19, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/09/18/readout-of-president-bidens-call-with-king-mohammed-vi-of-morocco/">President Joe Biden’s condolences</a>. It had accepted aid from only Spain, the U.K., Qatar and the United Arab Emirates within a week of the earthquake.</p>
<p>Usually, with huge disasters like these, problems arise over the coordination of aid, rather than its acceptance.</p>
<p>Libya is contending with another unimaginable disaster. One quarter of the city of Derna, which previously had a population of 100,000, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/14/20000-people-feared-dead-in-libyan-city-destroyed-by-floods.html">was completely flattened</a>. In the first week, very little of the aid that arrived was getting where it needed to go because the access <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/africa/libya-derna-ghost-town-intl-cmd/index.html">roads and bridges to Derna were wiped out</a>.</p>
<p>It’s macabre and devastating, but what Libya most desperately needs right now is specialized equipment to extract bodies from the flood plain and rubble – and body bags. Islam, Libya’s dominant religion, normally requires a speedy burial, but local people can’t do that and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/aid-agencies-call-end-mass-graves-after-libya-floods-2023-09-15/">dispose of corpses properly</a>.</p>
<p>And Libya has little ability to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/16/second-humanitarian-crisis-feared-in-wake-of-libya-floods-as-hopes-of-finding-survivors-fade">coordinate the aid</a> that’s getting there. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rescue workers in bright-colored clothing walk amidst rubble in North Africa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548824/original/file-20230918-23-2vpep8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rescue teams assist in relief work in Libya’s eastern city of Derna on Sept. 18, 2023, following deadly flash floods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rescue-teams-assist-in-relief-work-in-libyas-eastern-city-news-photo/1674248137?adppopup=true">Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Do these countries need assistance?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/middleeast/morocco-earthquake-king-mohammed-vi.html">King Mohammed VI, Morocco’s monarch</a>, is <a href="https://billionaires.africa/2023/03/18/top-5-richest-people-in-morocco-in-2023/">reportedly</a> a <a href="https://ceoworld.biz/2019/09/18/these-are-the-worlds-richest-royals-2019/">billionaire</a>. But he can’t pay for everything the country needs to recover – and shouldn’t. </p>
<p>Moroccans aren’t necessarily angry that he’s rejecting some of the aid the international community is offering, due to a history and psychology around the monarchy that I’ve studied extensively. They refer to the monarchy in ways that go beyond what the monarch can accomplish. They want their king to do everything even when he can’t. </p>
<p>With Libya, there’s a different constellation of problems. Although it’s an oil-rich country that <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/libya/crude-oil-exports">exports about 1 million barrels of petroleum</a> on a good day, there’s poor governance. There are two governments fighting for power. Both sides are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66805254">asking for foreign aid</a>, while blaming each other for not doing anything to protect people from danger before, during and after the disaster.</p>
<h2>How will initial aid restrictions affect later recovery efforts?</h2>
<p>There are long-term benefits from good disaster diplomacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.madridmetropolitan.com/spanish-rescue-team-find-mother-newborn-alive-in-ruins-after-almost-200-hours/">Spanish rescue teams saved a few lives in Turkey</a> following its devastating February 2023 earthquake. Given that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-earthquake-anniversary-hatay-kahramanmaras-erdogan-8e2b4fbb87817fca018cb401ccde9b5a'">more than 50,000 people died</a> in that disaster, it might not sound like much. But in addition to their contributions and provision of expertise, foreign rescuers’ success can inspire organizations and communities at home to get invested in longer-term recovery and reconstruction.</p>
<p>Because of Morocco’s <a href="https://www.worlddata.info/africa/morocco/tourism.php">wonderful tourism</a>, there’s a lot of goodwill toward the nation and a lot of people who want to invest in the rescue – and a feeling now that they are being shut out. I believe that rejecting assistance may create the impression the government didn’t do everything it could in the earthquake’s immediate aftermath. </p>
<p>To be sure, something like this happened in the United States <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18341744">following Hurricane Katrina</a> in 2004. I served on the State Department’s Katrina Task Force. Countries around the world were offering us aid that was very hard for us to accept psychologically and bureaucratically. The U.S. gives assistance better than it receives it. That assistance was hugely impactful – front page news in the donor countries that had previously only received U.S. aid and were now able to give back.</p>
<h2>What are the Red Crescent and the Red Cross doing?</h2>
<p>The Red Crescent, as the Red Cross is known in Muslim-majority countries, is <a href="https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2023/teams-responding-after-earthquake-in-morocco.html">assisting disaster survivors in Morocco</a>. Its volunteers are providing first aid and counseling, helping move injured survivors to hospitals and evacuating others.</p>
<p>The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the <a href="https://aidboard.com/magazine/largest-humanitarian-organizations/">world’s largest humanitarian organization</a>. It’s also making a difference in <a href="https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2023/red-crescent-teams-respond-to-catastrophic-flooding-in-libya.html">Libya</a>, where three Red Crescent volunteers have died in rescue efforts. </p>
<p>The problem in both cases is that there still aren’t enough staff and volunteers who are trained in large-scale disaster operations to meet the demand.</p>
<p>The IFRC has <a href="https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2023/teams-responding-after-earthquake-in-morocco.html">issued an appeal for 100 million Swiss francs</a> (US$111.5 million) to assist Morocco. There is also a <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/libya-flood-response-flash-appeal-sept-2023-dec-2023-issued-september-2023">U.N. appeal for $71.4 million</a> to help Libya deal with this disaster and its aftermath.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Lawrence is affiliated with and a founding member of Friends of Morocco, the primary Returned Morocco Peace Corps Volunteer Group, for which is also has volunteered as its earthquake relief coordinator.</span></em></p>With Morocco, there’s stronger bureaucracy, and in Libya, authorities are weaker. But, as a scholar who has worked in both countries explains, the results are the same: not enough aid getting through.William Lawrence, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109762023-08-08T08:16:19Z2023-08-08T08:16:19ZAustralia’s new development aid policy provides clear vision and strategic sense<p>Why does Australia provide development assistance to other countries? Is it charity or geostrategic self-interest?</p>
<p>Today the government released a <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/development/australias-international-development-policy">new international development policy</a> to answer these questions.</p>
<p>The case the new policy makes is a simple but powerful one: if Australians want our region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous, we have to lift people out of poverty through sustainable development. It’s a bold document that puts development at the heart of Australia’s response to a challenging world.</p>
<p>Politically, the new international development policy is a <a href="https://www.devintelligencelab.com/analyses/international-development-policy-first-impressions">brave statement</a>. It outlines a strong and unapologetic argument for development aid, even at a time when many Australians are feeling cost of living pressures. Crucially, it makes the case in terms everyone can understand.</p>
<p>We live in a time of interconnected and compounding challenges, including escalating disasters, rising costs and insecurity some have dubbed the “<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/498398e7-11b1-494b-9cd3-6d669dc3de33">polycrisis</a>”. </p>
<p>If Australians want to live peaceful lives in a globalised world, they need to care about the stability of our 26 neighbours, 22 of which are developing countries. The success of the region is <a href="https://idcc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IDCC-New-International-Development-Policy-Submission.pdf">also our success</a>. In difficult times, Australia needs to contribute to global cooperation.</p>
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<h2>Listening to the region</h2>
<p>Released at Parliament House today, the new international development policy is the result of extensive consultation with more than 300 people across the region and in Australia, informed by an <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/new-international-development-policy/external-advisory-group-eag-members">expert advisory group</a>. Given it’s been a decade since the last development policy was released, it was keenly anticipated, with more than 200 submissions received.</p>
<p>The focus of the policy is on the Indo-Pacific. A key message of the policy is the importance of listening to Australia’s neighbours and concentrating resources on the issues that matter most to them. It frames the development relationship as one where Australia is not domineering but is a partner of choice. This is achieved by “genuine partnerships based on respect, listening, and learning from each other” – not by a transactional approach.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-not-overstate-the-threat-of-china-in-the-pacific-and-mend-relationships-in-the-region-185293">Australia should not overstate the threat of China in the Pacific, and mend relationships in the region</a>
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<p>Given the desire to be responsive to the region’s priorities, there’s no surprise it focuses on climate as a major driver of instability. This is presented as responding to the calls of our region and evidence of the accelerating climate crisis by increasing our climate investments and better addressing climate risks.</p>
<p>The policy also prioritises local leadership, and commits to support local solutions and accountability, including by channelling funding to local actors. </p>
<p>At the same time, it aims for “a development program that reflects who we are”. Australians’ desire for fairness is reflected in a focus on gender equality and equity for people with disabilities, while the commitment to embed the perspectives of First Nations Australians into development efforts showcases one of Australia’s strengths.</p>
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<h2>Key focus areas for a whole-of-nation approach</h2>
<p>The policy sets out four focus areas for development support: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>helping partners to build effective, accountable states</p></li>
<li><p>enhancing their resilience to external shocks</p></li>
<li><p>supporting regional structures such as the Pacific Islands Forum and Association of Southeast Asian Nations</p></li>
<li><p>generating collective action on global challenges such as humanitarian crises and economic resilience.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The overarching message is of the importance of development as a <a href="https://asiapacific4d.com/idea/all-tools-of-statecraft/">tool of statecraft</a>. This is in line with previous government messaging, including the Defence Strategic Review’s <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/about/reviews-inquiries/defence-strategic-review">focus</a> on a “whole-of-government statecraft effort”.</p>
<p>In the new policy, the importance of a whole-of-government approach is also stressed. This highlights the need for coherence and for coordination across the different departments and agencies that contribute to international engagement. </p>
<p>Beyond this, the new policy moves into a whole-of-nation approach to development that encompasses “all Australian entities engaging with the region”. This includes civil society organisations, diaspora communities, businesses, education, religious and cultural institutions, trade unions, philanthropic organisations, youth organisations, the arts and the media. It’s new for government to focus on working with the wider society in international affairs.</p>
<p>The policy explicitly seeks to articulate a galvanising vision for these non-government actors, stating it </p>
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<p>will serve as a signpost to our institutions and entities operating in the region to guide engagement that supports positive development impact. </p>
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<p>And the policy offers additional finance to support partnerships with local civil society organisations through a new Civil Society Partnerships Fund to support local civil society organisations.</p>
<p>The challenge now will be in <a href="https://acfid.asn.au/new-development-policy-reframes-program/">implementation</a> and in sufficient funding to make its commitments a reality. This is why making the case for development aid is so crucial. </p>
<h2>Aid is not charity</h2>
<p>Contributing to our neighbours’ development is not a form of charity Australians should put up with by virtue of being a developed country. Rather, it’s an investment in our own future and something we should actively value. </p>
<p>In the new policy, both Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Minister for International Development Pat Conroy express their desire that Australians be “proud” of the development program.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-years-of-decline-the-budget-gives-more-money-for-diplomacy-and-development-capability-what-does-this-mean-in-practice-205224">After years of decline, the budget gives more money for diplomacy and development capability. What does this mean in practice?</a>
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<p>To help achieve this, there’s a focus on transparency -– including annual performance reports and a new online portal -– so Australians can be confident the development program is producing real results. </p>
<p>There is also a focus on implementation. In line with the central idea of partnerships, this focuses on country and region strategies, and will establish senior responsible officers in each of Australia’s embassies to be guided by Pacific and Southeast Asian priorities.</p>
<p>When he became international development minister, Conroy laid out <a href="https://ministers.dfat.gov.au/minister/pat-conroy/speech/micah-australian-women-leaders-network-parliament-house-canberra">four arguments for development aid</a>: security, economics, international relations and morality.</p>
<p>Which should we find compelling? All of them.</p>
<p>Credit is due to the government for providing a clear and galvanising vision of why development aid is crucial if Australia wants to <a href="https://enlighten.griffith.edu.au/penny-wong/">influence the world around it for the better</a>. The new international development policy deserves to be widely read.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Conley Tyler is Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D), a platform for collaboration between the development, diplomacy and defence communities. It receives funding from the Australian Civil-Military Centre and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is hosted by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).</span></em></p>The federal government’s long awaited new aid and development policy offers a clear and galvanising vision of how Australia should deal with the complex issue.Melissa Conley Tyler, Honorary Fellow, Asia Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932412022-10-27T14:41:45Z2022-10-27T14:41:45ZDroughts don’t need to result in famine: Ethiopia and Somalia show what makes the difference<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491664/original/file-20221025-246-423c6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman at a camp for those displaced by drought in Baidoa, Somalia, in September 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Ram/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Scientists <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/stubborn-la-ni%C3%B1a-persists">suspect</a> that a multi-year <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interviews/africa/east-africa-drought-climate-change-is-making-la-ni-a-impact-severe--83283#:%7E:text=The%20exceptional%20weather%20situation%20is,high%20temperatures%20in%20East%20Africa.">La Niña cycle</a> has been amplified by climate change to prolong dry and hot conditions. </p>
<p>After multiple failed harvests and amid high global food prices, the Horn is confronted with a severe food security crisis. Some <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1123812">37 million people</a> face acute hunger in the region, which includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.</p>
<p>In Somalia alone, 40% of the population is facing <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/hunger-hotspots-fao-wfp-early-warnings-acute-food-insecurity-october-2022-january-2023">food insecurity</a>: about 6.7 million people. In neighbouring Ethiopia, the proportion is lower – 20% – but the absolute numbers are higher at 20.4 million. </p>
<p>It was not too long ago that drought led to highly divergent impacts between Somalia and Ethiopia. In 2010-2011, a <a href="https://news.un.org/audio/2013/05/579912">devastating drought</a> led to more than 260,000 deaths beyond normal levels of expected mortality in Somalia. Yet almost no one died in Ethiopia after a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/opinion/is-the-era-of-great-famines-over.html">severe drought in 2015</a>. </p>
<p>Why did so many people die in Somalia but so few in Ethiopia? I explore these and related questions in my recent book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/States-Nature-Effects-Climate-Security/dp/110895846X">States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security</a>. </p>
<p>Using the cases of the two countries, among others, the book shows why Somalia had a famine in the early 2010s while Ethiopia did not, despite both being exposed to severe droughts.</p>
<p>The biggest differences were that, compared with Somalia, Ethiopia enjoyed a state with more capacity and more political inclusion, and made good use of foreign aid. These are factors that I identify in the book as contributing to how climate change is affecting the security of states. I include famine as a form of insecurity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/famine-should-not-exist-in-2022-yet-somalia-faces-its-worst-yet-wealthy-countries-pay-your-dues-191952">Famine should not exist in 2022, yet Somalia faces its worst yet. Wealthy countries, pay your dues</a>
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<p>Better outcomes are expected in states with high capacity to deliver services, high political inclusion where all social groups are represented in government, and where international assistance is welcomed and shared broadly. </p>
<h2>Two sets of conditions, two different outcomes</h2>
<p>So how did Somalia and Ethiopia stack up on the three factors that contribute to a bad situation being made worse?</p>
<p>In the lead-up to Somalia’s famine in 2011, the country faced persistent problems of a weak national government that was being challenged by Al-Shabaab, a violent Islamist militia that controlled significant territory in the south of the country. The Somali government had limited ability to deliver services in the areas it controlled, let alone areas under Al-Shabaab. </p>
<p>For its part, the Ethiopian government invested in <a href="https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/project_psnp_ethiopia">social safety net programmes</a> to feed people in the midst of the drought through cash transfers, employment programmes and food assistance. </p>
<p>The issue of sections of the society being excluded was also in greater evidence in Somalia than in Ethiopia. A number of marginalised groups, notably the Bantu Somalis and the Rahanweyn clan, were among the most affected by the drought. Better connected groups diverted aid that otherwise would have benefited these communities.</p>
<p>Finally, Somalia was in much worse shape when it came to aid. Al-Shabaab militants were blocking aid into the country, which led to a number of humanitarian groups withdrawing from Somalia. In addition, the US, through the Patriot Act, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/07/22/138596343/terrorists-u-s-policy-hinder-famine-aid-to-somalia">discouraged</a> NGOs from providing aid for fear it would end up in Al-Shabaab’s hands. Together, this meant that <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/famine-in-somalia/">little humanitarian assistance</a> came into Somalia precisely at the time when the country needed it most. Hundreds of thousands died. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-drives-al-shabaab-in-somalia-foreign-forces-out-sharia-law-in-and-overthrow-the-government-191366">What drives Al-Shabaab in Somalia: foreign forces out, Sharia law in and overthrow the government</a>
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<hr>
<p>Ethiopia was a favourite of the international community for foreign assistance. It received funds that supported its social safety net programmes, which helped it prepare for the drought and administer emergency aid supplies. </p>
<p>The current food security crisis in the Horn of Africa, however, reveals persistent vulnerability in both countries. </p>
<p>As Ethiopia’s case shows, progress can be undone. Rising political exclusion is leading to huge food security risks, particularly in the Tigray region where aid is currently <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/wfp-regional-director-says-virtually-no-aid-access-in-tigray-104069#:%7E:text=Following%20the%20resumption%20of%20fighting,at%20the%20World%20Food%20Programme.">largely blocked</a> amid the ongoing <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/rest-of-africa/a-call-to-action-averting-atrocities-in-ethiopia-s-tigray-war-3994170">violent conflict</a>. </p>
<p>Equally worrisome is Somalia’s situation, where both local and external actors have struggled to build state capacity or inclusion in the face of a long-running violent insurgency. </p>
<h2>What can work</h2>
<p>My book provides some hopeful insights, as well as caution. It shows that for countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, international assistance can help address weak state capacity. Donors worked with local officials to address specific climate hazards, like drought and cyclones.</p>
<p>Such international assistance helped compensate for weak state capacity through discrete investments in early warning systems, targeted social services, such as food assistance or cash transfers, and hazard-specific protective infrastructure, such as cyclone shelters. </p>
<p>Those examples suggest that climate adaptation can save lives and contribute to economic prosperity.</p>
<p>However, as the unfolding dynamic in Ethiopia shows, progress can be reversed. Moreover, it’s far more challenging for external actors to build inclusive political institutions if local actors are not so inclined. </p>
<p>With climate change intensifying extreme weather events around the world, it is incumbent upon policymakers to enhance the practice of environmental peacebuilding, both to resolve ongoing conflicts through better natural resource management and to prevent future emergencies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Busby received funding from the Minerva Initiative from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Skoll Foundation, and the University of Texas. </span></em></p>States with more capacity, more political inclusion and that make good use of foreign aid tend to see better outcomes.Joshua Busby, Professor, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1930882022-10-26T02:00:31Z2022-10-26T02:00:31ZSteadying foreign aid budget signals the government takes development seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491785/original/file-20221025-15-qr8rro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On budget night in 2014, the Abbott government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/15/foreign-aid-slashed-by-37bn-in-myefo-taking-total-coalition-cuts-to-11bn">cut nearly $8 billion</a> from Australia’s international development program, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/savage-budget-cuts-pull-australia-down-in-foreign-aid-rankings-58854#:%7E:text=In%20the%202015%20budget%2C%20for%20financial%20year%202015-16%2C,budget%20imposed%20a%20further%20cut%20of%20A%24224%20million.">largest-ever aid cuts</a>. Programs in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-02/gary-quinlan-southeast-asia-aid-cuts-indonesia-covid/100425268">South-East Asia were cut by 30%</a>. For a government obsessed with surplus, it was seen as a sort of political victimless crime. Yes, it would <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-13/budget-winners-and-losers/5433178?nw=0&r=HtmlFragment">hurt foreigners</a>, but they don’t vote.</p>
<p>Last night’s budget announced an increase in aid of <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/pbs-2022-23-foreign-affairs-and-trade-portfolio-budget-statements-october-2022-23.pdf">$1.4 billion over four years</a>, including <a href="https://acfid.asn.au/media-releases/new-budget-increases-international-development-welcomed">new funding</a> beyond measures promised in the election campaign. This will prevent Australia’s development spend from dropping to its worst-ever level, as it was <a href="https://devpolicy.org/labor-aid-budget-20221026/">slated to do</a>. </p>
<p>The previous Morrison government had resisted expanding the development budget beyond $4 billion, responding to the impact of COVID-19 with <a href="https://devpolicy.org/additional-covid-funding-postpones-aid-cuts-20220330/">temporary and targeted measures</a>. As these <a href="https://devpolicy.org/labor-aid-budget-20221026/">expired</a>, foreign aid would have slumped to record lows. The new government has crossed this Rubicon by folding these into an increased budget of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-13/budget-2014-axe-falls-on-foreign-aid-spending/5450844">$4.65 billion</a>.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jim-chalmers-restraint-budget-the-first-stage-of-a-marathon-for-the-treasurer-192841">Jim Chalmers' 'restraint' budget the first stage of a marathon for the treasurer</a>
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<p>What’s notable is not just the funding, it’s also the way it was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-21/pacific-funding-making-australia-stronger-and-more-influential/101560038">announced</a>. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/making-australia-stronger-and-more-influential-contested-world">framed</a> the spending as a “major step toward the goal of making Australia stronger and more influential in the world”. She positioned development spending as key to Australia’s relationships in the region. </p>
<p>“Without these investments,” she said, “others will <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-21/pacific-funding-making-australia-stronger-and-more-influential/101560038">continue to fill the vacuum</a> and Australia will continue to lose ground”. The spending was key to making Australia a “partner of choice for the countries of our region”.</p>
<p>In his budget speech, Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the investment in development as “<a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/speeches/budget-speech-2022-23">restoring our role</a> as a diligent and dependable partner and friend to our Pacific neighbours – for a stable, peaceful and more prosperous region”.</p>
<p>This signals a commitment to development as a key tool of statecraft. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491787/original/file-20221025-19469-3cj9bm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said that if Australia does not invest in overseas aid and development, others will fill the void.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Analysts will reasonably say this budget should be seen as steadying rather than improving. The current foreign aid commitment of around 0.2% of national income is well below the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/the07odagnitarget-ahistory.htm">international standard of 0.7%</a> and the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/official-development-assistance.htm">donor country average of 0.33%</a>. It is also far from the Rudd-era bipartisan position of <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201213/ODA">rising to 0.5%</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the budget found significant funds for <a href="https://budget.gov.au/2022-23-october/content/bp4/download/bp4_2022-23.pdf">defence</a>, which increased $2.66 billion to $51.5 billion. It’s fair to ask <a href="https://twitter.com/bridirice/status/1584807880297164801?s=20&t=9gRJTrI5ghm4NTm01Tvilw">if the dollars match the rhetoric</a>.</p>
<p>But for a new government five months in, putting in the <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/speeches/budget-speech-2022-23">hard yards of budget repair</a> in the face of a teetering global economy, it means a lot that it has committed not to let development funding slip. <a href="https://theconversation.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-labors-first-budget-in-6-charts-192851">Many other areas face cuts</a>, and it must have taken tough advocacy to preserve these commitments through the budget process.</p>
<p>The government has <a href="https://alp.org.au/media/2594/2021-alp-national-platform-final-endorsed-platform.pdf">committed to</a> year-on-year growth in funding. It puts Australia’s development programs on a more secure and <a href="https://idcc.org.au/idcc-welcomes-increased-development-budget-october-2022-2/">predictable</a> fiscal footing. </p>
<p>The challenge will be to <a href="https://devpolicy.org/labor-aid-budget-20221026/">build on this budget</a> in subsequent ones. Many of the <a href="https://acfid.asn.au/sites/site.acfid/files/ACFID%202022-23%20Supplementary%20Federal%20Budget%20Analysis.pdf?mc_cid=0da82ac37c&mc_eid=14695f01a9">questions reasonably being raised</a> around the <a href="https://idcc.org.au/idcc-welcomes-increased-development-budget-october-2022-2/">“what” and “how”</a> can be addressed in the <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/new-international-development-policy">New International Development Policy</a> currently being developed.</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-labors-first-budget-in-6-charts-192851">Everything you need to know about Labor's first budget in 6 charts</a>
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<p>The federal budget is always about priorities. Among the many things the government and nation would like to do, which are the ones they are prepared to put money behind? As foreign affairs and defence mandarin Sir Arthur Tange noted, “<a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/australias-defence-the-tangle-of-kit-costs-and-complexity/">strategy without money is not strategy</a>”. To succeed in this environment, you need to make your case.</p>
<p>There are very strong arguments for development co-operation – which is why developed countries, and even some developing ones, invest money in it. But the supporting arguments come from quite different perspectives. In a speech last month, Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy summarised <a href="https://ministers.dfat.gov.au/minister/pat-conroy/speech/micah-australian-women-leaders-network-parliament-house-canberra">four ways of making the case for foreign aid</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>the security case</strong> – grinding poverty contributes to social tensions, instability and radicalisation</p></li>
<li><p><strong>the economic case</strong> – supporting prosperity abroad supports prosperity at home</p></li>
<li><p><strong>the international relations case</strong> – contributing to developing countries supports prosperity and stability in the region and boosts Australia’s bilateral and multilateral relationships</p></li>
<li><p><strong>the moral argument</strong> – it is the right thing to do.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>When the Abbott government slashed the budget in 2014, it was probably thinking of development mainly in terms of the moral case – and thought that this could be overridden as expedient.</p>
<p>In increasing the budget, the Albanese government is justifying its decision on the basis of the other arguments – linking it to Australia’s national interest and seeing development as <a href="https://ministers.dfat.gov.au/minister/pat-conroy/speech/micah-australian-women-leaders-network-parliament-house-canberra">a key component</a> in Australia’s foreign policy toolkit. And perhaps the Australian public is heeding this. Since 2019, cuts to the aid budget have <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/themes/foreign-aid/">become less popular</a>. </p>
<p>The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade budget paper states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In an uncertain world, the strength and diversity of Australia’s partnerships is critical. The development program is fundamental to deepening our partnerships with our Indo-Pacific neighbours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems we’re starting to cement the view that an adequate development budget is non-negotiable if Australia wants to have influence in the region. Given the scale of the needs, it would be wonderful if we could aim beyond adequate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Conley Tyler is Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D), a platform for collaboration between the development, diplomacy and defence communities. It receives funding from the Australian Civil-Military Centre and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is hosted by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).</span></em></p>The latest budget shows we’re starting to cement the view that an adequate development budget is non-negotiable if Australia wants to have influence in the region.Melissa Conley Tyler, Honorary Fellow, Asia Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1920642022-10-20T13:14:32Z2022-10-20T13:14:32ZThe US isn’t at war with Russia, technically – but its support for Ukraine offers a classic case of a proxy war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490452/original/file-20221018-14-2bc3lz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, stands near a damaged residential building in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sept. 8, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-stands-near-a-damaged-residential-picture-id1243043572">Genya Savilov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States and European countries continue to pledge their support to Ukraine as Russia’s invasion drags on into its ninth month – and have backed their alliance with recurrent deliveries of advanced weaponry and money.</p>
<p>But despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to Western powers of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-signs-decree-mobilisation-says-west-wants-destroy-russia-2022-09-21/">nuclear strikes</a>, neither the U.S. nor any Western European country, unified under the <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html">military coalition NATO</a>, has actually declared it is part of the war.</p>
<p>The U.S. has provided US$17.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine/">since Russia first invaded Ukraine</a> in February 2022. But it can be difficult to track foreign aid and to distinguish between money that governments have promised and actually delivered. Some unofficial estimates place U.S. commitments to Ukraine made in 2022 much higher, at <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/09/10/ukraine-military-aid-weapons-oversight/">$40 billion</a>.</p>
<p>European countries, meanwhile, have collectively donated an estimated 29 billion euros – or more than $28.3 billion – in <a href="https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/">security, financial and humanitarian aid</a> in 2022 – not including additional aid to <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/ua/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2022/10/UNHCR-Ukraine-Weekly-Update-12-October-2022-2.pdf">Ukrainian refugees</a>. </p>
<p>This support has made it possible for Ukraine to fend off a Russian conquest of the country. Without Western aid, equipment and training, Ukraine would likely have already suffered defeat to the Russian incursion. </p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221117546">war and military interventions</a>, <a href="https://facultyprofiles.tufts.edu/monica-toft">I think</a> the situation in Ukraine represents a classic case of a proxy war, in which outsiders give allies money, weapons and other kinds of support – but not at the risk of their own soldiers’ or civilians’ lives. </p>
<p>A better understanding of what proxy wars actually are, and what purpose they serve, provides useful context for the the U.S. and NATO’s current unofficial involvement in the Ukraine war.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older white man wearing a gray suit is seen talking to a middle-aged Black woman, who is wearing a yellow jacket and a blue shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490451/original/file-20221018-8262-hccuob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sergiy Kyslytsa, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speak on Aug. 24, 2022, in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ambassador-sergiy-kyslytsa-permanent-representative-of-ukraine-to-the-picture-id1417682186">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What proxy wars are</h2>
<p>Proxy wars are armed conflicts in which one nation sends resources other than its own military personnel – like weapons, trainers, advisers, surveillance drones, money or even mercenaries – to support another country fighting in a war. This is often done to achieve a political objective, like regime change in another country. </p>
<p>Most proxy wars feature a government trying to determine an outcome in another country’s war. The U.S., for example, supported France with aircraft, vehicles, and weapons in France’s effort to reestablish control of what was then known as <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/americas-vietnam">Indochina from 1946 to 1954</a>. The Vietnam War started just one year after, in 1955. </p>
<p>Proxy wars allow governments to hurt an adversary without actually declaring war and sending in troops.</p>
<p>Of course, not every government has an equal capacity to financially support other wars. This is why relatively powerful governments with global reach, like the U.S. and the United Kingdom, tend to sponsor proxy wars.</p>
<h2>Why proxy wars are taken on</h2>
<p>Proxy wars became especially useful for the U.S. and other major powers after World War II, because the 1945 United Nations charter outlawed war except <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-7">in cases of self-defense</a>. </p>
<p>They also gained prominence because the U.S. and the Soviet Union <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-russia-nuclear-arms-control">each possessed</a> nuclear weapons during the Cold War. </p>
<p>That meant any direct clash came with a very large risk of escalating from conventional fighting to a species-ending nuclear war. </p>
<p>Both the U.S. and Soviet Union sponsored proxy wars in places <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/proxy-wars-during-cold-war-africa">like Angola</a>, where communism and oil were both factors, and <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-calls-situation-in-el-salvador-a-communist-plot">El Salvador</a>, where the rise of communism was also a concern for the U.S., during the 1970s and 1980s. This involvement was a way for each government to hurt the other’s interests without significantly risking further military escalation. </p>
<p>Proxy wars may also help establish a foreign government’s legitimacy. If the U.S. directly supports one side in a smaller country’s civil war, it may look like a bully. But if the U.S. defends its engagement by saying it is trying to oppose major foreign adversaries like the Soviet Union or China, then meddling in a third country’s affairs can look necessary and vital. </p>
<p>After his initial February 2022 assault of Ukraine <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/us-steps-up-pressure-russia-over-ukraine-invasion-2022-03-11/">faltered in March</a>, Putin increased his attacks on Western countries, saying that economic sanctions Western countries approved shortly after the invasion were like a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-western-sanctions-are-akin-declaration-war-2022-03-05/">declaration of war</a>.</p>
<p>Putin says that Russia is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/world/europe/putin-speech-ukraine-russia.html">fighting the West and the U.S.</a> – this could help justify Russia’s losses and maintain domestic support for the war.</p>
<h2>Other kinds of proxy wars</h2>
<p>There are two other main kinds of proxy wars, both intended to accomplish political goals without risking a country’s own people. </p>
<p>The first kind is government support of terrorist groups that attack other governments. Iran’s financial and political <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hezbollah">support of Hezbollah</a> – a Muslim political party and militant group in Lebanon that seeks Israel’s destruction – <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/hezbollah-revolutionary-irans-most-successful-export/">is an example</a>. </p>
<p>But while Iran’s use of Hezbollah to attack Israel is by proxy, this wouldn’t exactly count as proxy war. Although terrorism involves lethal armed violence, it doesn’t rise to the level of war, in terms of loss of life and control of territory, for example.</p>
<p>The second form involves supporting an internationally recognized government engaged an international war. This is a rare occurrence, mainly because wars between different countries are more rare than internal conflicts.</p>
<p>Russia’s assault on Ukraine in 2022 is an international war, but NATO cannot <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_192648.htm">easily risk</a> a direct attack on Russia, since Russia has nuclear weapons and is also a permanent member of the <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/current-members">U.N. Security Council</a>. Russia is also <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/why-ukraine-must-defeat-putin-russia/629940/">unlikely to withdraw</a> from Ukraine short of defeat on the battlefield, making Ukraine an ideal proxy client – or, at least, ideal for NATO, but very costly in terms of human life for Ukraine and Russia.</p>
<p>If <a href="https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/87799">NATO succeeds in helping</a> Ukraine defeat Russia, powerful governments are likely to see proxy wars as a useful tool. But if Russia escalates to attacking NATO countries directly, or uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, proxy wars may be replaced by direct confrontation and, by extension, a third world war. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the conversion of euros to dollars.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monica Duffy Toft does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Giving Ukraine large amounts of money while not actually declaring war on Russia has various benefits for the US and other countries. Chiefly, it could protect US soldiers and civilians.Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904512022-09-13T08:48:27Z2022-09-13T08:48:27ZUK-Africa ties: future looks gloomy under Liz Truss as political myopia reigns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484268/original/file-20220913-12-o2cvok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Stuart Brock</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/uk-africa-ties-future-looks-gloomy-under-liz-truss-as-political-myopia-reigns-190451&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Britain has a new prime minister in <a href="https://theconversation.com/liz-truss-who-is-the-uks-new-prime-minister-and-why-has-she-replaced-boris-johnson-189713">Liz Truss</a>. For African leaders wondering what the new administration might mean for UK-Africa relationships, the view must be pretty gloomy. </p>
<p>British politics has been solidly inward-looking for the past two (post-Brexit Conservative) prime ministers – <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/theresa-may">Theresa May</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Johnson">Boris Johnson</a>. It shows few signs of changing. Looking at the UK’s shifts in relationship with African countries over the past three decades, I see little prospect of African issues rising up the political agenda. And little chance of an active Africa policy, whether at a continental or regional level, before the next general election.</p>
<p>The election must be held <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/07/when-is-the-next-uk-general-election-and-could-it-be-brought-forward-16782836/">by January 2025</a>, but is likely to be sooner. </p>
<p>Aid levels are unlikely to be restored. Nor is UK aid likely to be placed back in an independent government department. In addition, British politicians are unlikely to look beyond domestic and European crises. The result is that Africa is likely to feature in British high-level politics only when it is in the government’s narrow self-interest. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, UK policy will still have impact on the continent. A retreat from climate-emergency pledges, and continuing cuts in aid, will create real harm in many vulnerable African states. Sadly, there will be little scope for their voices to be heard in response.</p>
<h2>Shifting priorities</h2>
<p>Africa and the UK lack the close (some would argue too close) formal political, economic and military linkages of Franco-African relationships. Still, Africa has in the past been a much bigger part of the UK’s political conversation. </p>
<p>The creation of an independent aid ministry – the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development">Department for International Development</a> – by the Labour government <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3993255">in 1997</a> was a key platform for building relationships.</p>
<p>It was also key to raising African politics and issues within the UK government. With both prime minister <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tony-Blair">Tony Blair</a> (1997-2007) and finance minister <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/gordon-brown">Gordon Brown</a> (2007-2010) interested in African prospects and development, close ties were forged. Through the Department for International Development, links with civil society voices were also stronger.</p>
<p>The transition to a Conservative government <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228198676_The_British_General_Election_of_2010_The_Results_Analysed">in 2010</a> (initially as part of a coalition) saw little change. Indeed, the raising of aid spending to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d217e3e4-7bc8-11e4-b6ab-00144feabdc0">0.7% of gross national income</a> – an increase of £1 billion – expanded the Department for International Development. At the time, other domestic-focused departments faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/03/lost-decade-hidden-story-how-austerity-broke-britain">severe cuts to their budgets</a>. </p>
<p>The first conservative minister of international development, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/andrew-mitchell">Andrew Mitchell</a> (2010-2012), had long-standing interests in the continent. He developed close relationships with key leaders, including Rwanda’s Paul Kagame. He also maintained close ties with the Ethiopian government, among others. Prime minister <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/david-cameron-a-new-future-for-africa">David Cameron</a> (2010-2016) was also interested in Africa, as a visible indication of his ambitions for a strong UK global role.</p>
<p>Since the Brexit referendum <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-five-years-after-the-referendum-here-are-five-things-weve-learned-162974">in 2016</a>, however, Africa has slipped from its precarious but tangible place in UK political discourse. The dismantling of the Department for International Development and its incorporation into a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office">Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office</a> in <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/breaking-dfid-merged-with-fco-97489">2020</a>, as well as subverting aid to British self-interest, led to the departure of many experienced personnel who maintained the relationships with African political and civil society leaders. </p>
<p>It also removed a key ally for Africa within UK debates. Recent discussions around Africa have focused removing some migrants <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-61782866">to Rwanda</a>, hardly the bedrock of a high-level relationship. </p>
<p>And it’s hard to imagine former governments remaining silent over the Ethiopia crisis, for example, as the most recent Conservative administration has done.</p>
<h2>Truss offers little prospect of change</h2>
<p>Before her elevation to prime minister, Truss was the foreign, Commonwealth and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/28/foreign-office-not-regained-global-footing-under-liz-truss-report-finds">development office minister</a>. She showed little interest in development, anti-poverty policies or creating relationships based on mutual respect and dialogue. In fact, in my view, she contributed to the subversion of UK aid to British diplomatic and economic self-interest.</p>
<p>Her global tours as minister did not include a visit to Africa. </p>
<p>It is true that agreements have been signed with the Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-africa-trade-idUKKCN1VW1N5">in 2019</a>. But they offer little consolation in place of a new and powerful friendship.</p>
<p>More importantly, UK politics, and the attention of the new prime minister, will be firmly fixed on the domestic cost of living and inflation crisis, on a potential new row with the UK’s European Union neighbours (one of the UK government’s own making), and the conflict in Ukraine. Next on the agenda will be China, and the pursuit of trade deals elsewhere in the world.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely Britain’s limited attention span will have much space left for African issues and policy.</p>
<p>There is an argument to be made that African issues might receive a listening ear within the government given that most senior offices of state will, for the first time, be led by ministers with African heritage. The new chancellor is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/kwasi-kwarteng">Kwazi Kwarteng</a>, whose parents migrated from Ghana in the 1960s, and who has written a (mildly critical) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/books/review/ghosts-of-empire-by-kwasi-kwarteng.html">book</a> on the history of the British empire;
the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be led by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/james-cleverly">James Cleverly</a>, who has a Sierra Leonian mother; and the parents of the new Home Office minister, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/braverman">Suella Braverman</a>, came to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius. </p>
<p>Never before have the top posts been held by so many with direct links to Africa.</p>
<p>In my view, however, this is unlikely to make any real difference. None of the ministers have a strong record of advocating for closer or deeper ties with the continent. And despite Kwarteng’s criticism of the legacy of British colonial occupation, all three have signed up to the Conservative Party culture wars which see criticism of a glorious British past as treasonous wokery.</p>
<h2>Danger ahead</h2>
<p>There is a real danger that Britain will institute policies that actively harm African countries. Restoring UK aid to previous levels is becoming a vanishingly small possibility, which means cuts to vital social welfare programmes for some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. </p>
<p>Calls for renewed investment in fossil fuel production, and the possibility of backtracking on climate emission promises <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/07/will-liz-trusss-government-adopt-or-weaken-green-policies">in response to the energy price crisis</a>, will undermine efforts to reduce the impact of the climate emergency.</p>
<p>African leaders and civil society organisations hoping a new broom will lead to a new set of relationships look set to be disappointed. Britain’s political myopia and navel-gazing will continue, with global engagement framed as something strictly to be done where it benefits the UK. Africa will likely have to wait for a new government, and a revived Department for International Development, for strong and close relations to be restored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jennings is affiliated with the Fabian Society </span></em></p>Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, Africa has slipped from its precarious but tangible place in UK political discourse.Michael Jennings, Professor in Global Development, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1862932022-07-04T20:00:19Z2022-07-04T20:00:19ZSri Lanka scrambles for aid – but Australia still seems preoccupied by boats<p>When Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/23/sri-lanka-prime-minister-economy-completely-collapsed">conceded</a> ten days ago that the Sri Lankan economy has “completely collapsed”, his words would have come as no surprise to the island’s 22 million people. </p>
<p>With the country enduring its worst economic crisis since independence, authorities continue to scramble for aid from the international community. Families have been forced to skip meals and limit portion sizes. “If we don’t act now,” the United Nations has <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1120032">warned</a>, “many families will be unable to meet their basic food needs.” </p>
<p>In a move to curb dire food shortages, authorities have <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/14/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-allows-govt-workers-4-day-week-to-grow-food">approved</a> a four-day working week for public sector workers so they can “engage in agricultural activities in their backyards or elsewhere as a solution to the food shortage that is expected”. </p>
<p>Tamil fishers in the north of the island are facing starvation because they <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/22/sri-lanka-tamils-protests-economic-crisis">lack paraffin</a> to power their boats. Women whose livelihoods depend on occasional work on the boats face even grimmer circumstances. One of them, a 59-year-old Tamil woman who lost five of her children in the civil war, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/22/sri-lanka-tamils-protests-economic-crisis">living off</a> donations, leftover fish and the vegetables she picks from the side of the road. </p>
<p>From July 10, the government will no longer sell fuel to ordinary people because it won’t have enough currency to pay for it. Frustration is palpable across the island. The deployment of the military is only adding to the distress. In one case, Sri Lankan troops <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/19/sri-lanka-troops-open-fire-to-contain-fuel-riots">opened fire</a> on people queuing for petrol after motorists clashed with troops; four civilians and three soldiers were wounded. </p>
<h2>Aid over geopolitical strategy</h2>
<p>Sri Lankan authorities are turning to the international community for assistance. An official visit to Russia this week will attempt to secure discounted oil. Much of the world might be slamming Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but Sri Lanka is no longer in a position to be choosy about who it deals with. </p>
<p>So far this year, India has been Sri Lanka’s main source of assistance. The Indian government has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/23/india-says-ready-to-help-sri-lanka-in-quick-economic-recovery">signalled</a> a willingness to go beyond the US$4 billion in loans, swaps and aid to support its neighbour. The political winds seem to be swaying away from China and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sri-lanka-crisis-india-chance-gain-sway-china-85979868">in India’s favour</a>. </p>
<p>At the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo in May, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pleaded for medical, food and fuel donations. But his appeal came at a <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/rajapaksa-turns-tokyo-aid-relations-remain-tense">low point</a> in Sri Lanka–Japanese relations. </p>
<p>Earlier in his presidency, Rajapaksa had cancelled key Japanese-funded infrastructure projects, including a US$1.5 billion light rail project for Colombo and the US$700 million-plus East Container Terminal project at the country’s main port, which Japan, India and Sri Lanka had agreed on before Rajapaksa came to power. </p>
<p>At the Tokyo conference Japan agreed to provide <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/japan-contributes-usd-15-million-help-sri-lanka-provide-food-assistance-people-affected">US$1.5 million</a> through the World Food Program for three months’ essential food supplies, but remained tight-lipped about other support.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-happening-in-sri-lanka-and-how-did-the-economic-crisis-start-181060">What's happening in Sri Lanka and how did the economic crisis start?</a>
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<p>The United States has announced a series of assistance measures since the crisis set in, including US$120 million in <a href="https://lk.usembassy.gov/u-s-embassy-announces-dfc-approval-for-120m-in-new-loans-and-investments-from-the-united-states/">loans to small and medium businesses</a> – which risks adding to the country’s debt crisis – US$27 million to Sri Lanka’s dairy industry and US$5.75 million in humanitarian assistance. At the G7 summit in Madrid last Tuesday, President Joe Biden pledged a further $20 million to feed 800,000 children through a school nutrition program. </p>
<p>A team from the International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, was in Sri Lanka last week to discuss a $3 billion bailout under the fund’s <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/20/56/Extended-Fund-Facility">Extended Fund Facility</a>. The scheme is designed to assist countries experiencing serious payment imbalances. While the team said it expected negotiations about the terms of the bailout to reach agreement in the “near term”, it <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/06/30/pr22242-imf-staff-concludes-visit-to-sri-lanka">concluded</a> Sri Lanka’s economy “is expected to contract significantly in 2022”. </p>
<p>Sri Lanka also plans to hold a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-plans-donor-conference-with-china-india-japan-2022-06-22/">donor conference</a> with India, China and Japan. Around US$5 billion is needed over the next six months to cover the basic needs of its people. </p>
<h2>Australia needs to reconsider how it supports its Indian Ocean neighbour</h2>
<p>Australia will provide A$50 million to Sri Lanka to meet urgent food and healthcare needs. “Not only do we want to help the people of Sri Lanka in its time of need,” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said on June 20, “there are also deeper consequences for the region if this crisis continues.” </p>
<p>But Australia’s priorities are quite different from the concerns of ordinary Sri Lankans. A new Fisheries Monitoring Centre, jointly launched by the Australian and Sri Lankan governments, will install tracking devices on more than 4,000 Sri Lankan fishing vessels, which can be used in the “early identification” of “irregular vessel movements”. </p>
<p>Australia’s priority is “supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen its border management capacity”, according to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/22/australia-funds-gps-trackers-on-sri-lanken-fishing-boats-partially-to-deter-people-smugglers">statement</a> from the Australian high commission in Colombo. The centre continues Australia’s historical disregard for the plight of people seeking asylum outside Sri Lanka. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-temporary-visa-system-is-unfair-expensive-impractical-and-inconsistent-heres-how-the-new-government-could-fix-it-185870">Australia's temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here's how the new government could fix it</a>
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<p>These are some of the poorest and most persecuted people in the country, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/26/screened-out-before-arrival-questions-over-legality-of-australias-at-sea-asylum-seeker-rulings">fleeing</a> from Vavuniya, Kilinochi, Mullaithivu and Trincomalee and other Tamil-majority areas ravaged by the civil war. </p>
<p>In recent weeks, people escaping Sri Lanka by boat have been intercepted at sea by Australian authorities and returned without adequate assessments of their asylum claims. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has previously <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/briefing/2014/1/52cfe2a0fcf/unhcr-seeking-details-reports-boats-forced-australia.html">said</a> that Australia’s “enhanced assessments”, which don’t properly consider individual needs for protection, “potentially place Australia in breach of its obligations under the Refugee Convention and other international law obligations”. </p>
<p>The federal opposition claims boats are arriving in Australia because of the change of government. But people have also been fleeing to other destinations, such as India and the Middle East. Some have relatives in Indian refugee camps; others have family contacts in Tamil Nadu. </p>
<p>As one Tamil activist <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/fleeing-genocide-torture-and-now-economic-crisis-tamil-refugees-arrive-india">explains</a>: “There is panic and anxiety about tomorrow.” The exodus could continue for quite some time yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niro Kandasamy is a volunteer at the Tamil Refugee Council. </span></em></p>As authorities desperately seek aid, the Sri Lankan crisis continues.Niro Kandasamy, Lecturer in History, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856642022-06-24T11:51:48Z2022-06-24T11:51:48ZHelping Afghanistan after earthquake will be hard: 3 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470371/original/file-20220622-15-9uk5s4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=835%2C287%2C5155%2C3529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Afghan children stand near a house that was destroyed in an earthquake on June 22, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AfghanistanEarthquake/555106e793a44bf7920b910e07fc3f12/photo?boardId=37be9465fcce45d283d5431cccb20a6a&st=boards&mediaType=audio,photo,video,graphic&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=293&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Afghanistan’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquakes-bacc4c96b7a07b5d7d397bee9eb9d3c8">deadliest earthquake in more than two decades</a> took place on June 22, 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring at least 1,600. The disaster struck a remote mountainous region and came at a time when <a href="https://theprint.in/world/90-pc-of-afghanistans-population-projected-below-poverty-line-by-year-end-undp/894093/">millions of Afghans are experiencing severe poverty and hunger</a>. Since the Taliban, which enforces strict Islamic laws, took over the government in 2021, other countries, humanitarian organizations and independent aid agencies have been <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/taliban-takeover-how-frozen-assets-foreign-aid-impacts-afghanistan/">reluctant to provide any assistance to the government</a> because <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-say-us-is-biggest-hurdle-to-diplomatic-recognition/6623070.html">no country has officially recognized it</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>But the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquakes-bacc4c96b7a07b5d7d397bee9eb9d3c8">Taliban’s supreme leader</a>, Haibatullah Akhundzadah, has called for “the international community and all humanitarian organizations to help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and to spare no effort to help the affected people.” Within hours of the earthquake, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that it was dispatching aid, including medical supplies, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1120992">food and tents</a>, in addition to teams of surgeons and other medical professionals. The <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-wfp-readies-response-earthquake-death-toll-rises">World Food Program</a>, which says it has provided aid to 18 million people in Afghanistan in the first half of 2022, was sending food as well.</em></p>
<p><em>We asked <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.1960487">Mohammad Qadam Shah</a>, an assistant professor of global development at Seattle Pacific University who has researched aid in Afghanistan, how he expects the world to respond.</em></p>
<h2>1. Why is it hard to respond to disasters in Afghanistan?</h2>
<p>As with the previous U.S.-backed government, Taliban leaders have a centralized, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/more-than-aid-afghanistan-needs-an-aid-management-system/">top-down aid management system</a>. Under this system, they are the sole decision-makers who determine how aid is allocated.</p>
<p>It is also rife with corruption and <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/11/08/aiding-afghan-local-governance-what-went-wrong-pub-85719">lacks accountability</a>. As a result, there’s no way to guarantee that any money given for a specific purpose goes where it’s supposed to.</p>
<p>That makes the earthquake a test of the Taliban’s capacity to govern, respond to Afghans’ immediate needs and effectively administer aid. From the international community’s perspective, the question is: Can the Taliban be trusted to distribute any money they provide fairly?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/aid-funding-for-afghanistan-at-risk-of-taliban-misuse-corruption.html">Many observers</a> fear the answer is no.</p>
<p>But Afghanistan’s system of distributing aid wasn’t working <a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/afghanistan-poster-child-foreign-aid-failure">before the Taliban took over in 2021</a>. Given the lack of legitimacy, the previous Afghan government consistently used aid to purchase political capital. Instead of basing it on the needs and preferences of Afghans, the central government doled out political favors and focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.1960487">their connections and clout</a>.</p>
<p>That is, even if aid is handled the way <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-did-billions-in-aid-to-afghanistan-accomplish-5-questions-answered-166804">the previous government dealt with it</a> during the previous two decades, the money would still be wasted.</p>
<p>What makes the Taliban’s ability to respond to disasters even worse is that most donors have cut off or scaled back aid to Afghanistan – partly because it is <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/high-commissioner-updates-human-rights-council-afghanistan">oppressing women</a>, denying girls over 12 the right to an education and violating human rights.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/reshaping-us-aid-afghanistan-challenge-lasting-progress">international support for economic development has stopped</a> because the rest of the world does not trust the current government.</p>
<p>If money does arrive to assist with relief efforts tied to the earthquake, I believe there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t be used for <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/05/pakistans-twin-taliban-problem">terrorist activities</a>. </p>
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<h2>2. What does Afghanistan need?</h2>
<p>Even before the earthquake, Afghanistan was experiencing such widespread poverty and dire food insecurity that <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/70-of-afghan-households-can-t-meet-basic-needs-world-bank-survey-102849">70% of its households couldn’t afford to feed their families</a> and pay for other basic needs, according to a World Bank survey. An estimated <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-prices-united-nations-d74bb5f7326d57e53e17258a42452d92">1.1 million children are at risk</a> of experiencing the most severe form of malnutrition, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s fund. The country is enduring massive political and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/overview">economic instability</a>, with inflation running at 12.7% and economic activity contracting by more than one-third.</p>
<p>Following the earthquake, the needs now include emergency medical care and shelter for the thousands of survivors whose villages in a remote and mountainous province were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/23/world/afghanistan-earthquake">reduced to rubble</a>. The U.N. and its World Food Program should deliver humanitarian aid to deal with the earthquake’s aftermath and widespread hunger directly, rather than providing the Taliban with money.</p>
<p>The small amount of aid that is still getting through – mostly food like <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/arcs-distributed-aid-250-families-logar-province">rice, cooking oil, flour and beans</a> – is meeting very basic needs to help people survive.</p>
<p>But in my view, what Afghanistan really needs to thrive in the long term is a path to becoming self-sufficient.</p>
<h2>3. What other challenges could delay aid to Afghanistan?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/afghanistan-emergency">World Food Program</a> and the handful of other aid agencies that either remained in Afghanistan or have returned face other challenges, especially staffing.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/2022/04/13/a-path-forward-in-afghanistan-data-for-humanitarian-assistance/">foreign aid workers have left</a> by now. Many <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-ghani-releases-video-1st-fleeing-kabul-79524345">Afghan nationals</a> previously employed by international organizations and agencies have departed too. </p>
<p>The U.N., however, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110622">reestablished a foothold</a> in Afghanistan in 2022. It is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-prices-united-nations-d74bb5f7326d57e53e17258a42452d92">appealing to donor nations</a> to fund its multibillion-dollar operations there. And the World Bank announced on June 3, 2022, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/03/afghanistan-reconstruction-trust-fund-approves-three-emergency-projects-for-afghanistanContributions">US$793 million in funding</a> to increase access to food and medical care. They will “be implemented off-budget out of the interim Taliban administration’s control, through United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations,” the bank said.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohammad Qadam Shah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Concerns about Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders have made the rest of the world wary of sending money, and many foreign aid workers have already fled.Mohammad Qadam Shah, Assistant Professor of Global Development, Seattle Pacific UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854032022-06-20T07:23:56Z2022-06-20T07:23:56ZAlbanese government mobilises diplomacy and aid in effort to counter Sri Lanka people smugglers<p>The Albanese government has launched a concerted effort to nip in the bud a threatened resumption of the people smuggling trade, with a visit by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil to Sri Lanka and a $50 million aid package for that economically-beleaguered country. </p>
<p>Several boats have set out from Sri Lanka in recent weeks. Mostly, the boats are being intercepted by the Sri Lankan authorities. Any making it into Australian waters have the passengers returned. </p>
<p>The Australian government is not currently providing details of boat activity. </p>
<p>The people smugglers started to look to a resumption of their trade just before the election, when a change of government looked likely. The Morrison government had text messages sent out on election day about the interception of a boat, hoping to sway some voters. </p>
<p>O’Neil is meeting Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister, G. L. Peiris.</p>
<p>Early last week O'Neil and Peiris spoke by phone. The visit has been planned for a few days and coincides with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. </p>
<p>A statement from O’Neil said her Sri Lankan discussions would cover “how Australia can deepen cooperation and assist Sri Lanka as the country faces very difficult economic times, as well as strengthening engagement on transnational crime, including people smuggling”. </p>
<p>The Australian aid is directed to food and health needs. Announcing the package, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the country faced “its worst economic crisis in 70 years, leading to shortages of food, medicine and fuel”. </p>
<p>She said Australia would contribute an immediate $22 million to the World Food Programme for emergency food assistance to help three million people in Sri Lanka meet their daily needs. </p>
<p>The government will also provide $23 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka in 2022-23. “This will support health services, and economic recovery, with a strong emphasis on protecting those at risk, especially women and girls,” Wong said. </p>
<p>The money is in addition to the $5 million Australia recently provided to United Nations agencies for Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>“Australia has a close and long-standing relationship with Sri Lanka. Not only do we want to help the people of Sri Lanka in its time of need, there are also deeper consequences for the region,” Wong said. </p>
<p>Asked what message the government hoped to send to people smugglers and the Sri Lankan government during O'Neil’s visit, Prime Minister Albanese said: “That people who arrive by boat will not be settled here. </p>
<p>"People smugglers seek to trade in misery. They seek to mislead, [they are] often run by criminal syndicates. </p>
<p>"We will be strong when it comes to our borders. […] We will look after our international obligations to do the right thing. But the right thing is not having a free-for-all whereby people who turn up will be settled. </p>
<p>"We understand that there are issues in Sri Lanka and that the wrong messages are being given by people smugglers. Our message will be very clear,” Albanese said.</p>
<p>One of the first acts of the Albanese government was to allow the Sri Lankan “Biloela” family to return to the Queensland town. Albanese was subsequently pictured with the family, a photo some fear could be used by people smugglers as part of their advertising pitch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185403/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Albanese government has launched a concerted effort to nip in the bud a threatened resumption of the people smuggling trade, with a visit by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil to Sri Lanka and a $50…Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1843152022-06-03T01:29:34Z2022-06-03T01:29:34ZTo meet the Chinese challenge in the Pacific, NZ needs to put its money where its mouth is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466865/original/file-20220602-25-u7yyen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C12%2C3986%2C2047&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week’s White House meeting between Jacinda Ardern and Joe Biden reflected a world undergoing rapid change. But of all the shared challenges discussed, there was one that kept appearing in the leaders’ <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/31/united-states-aotearoa-new-zealand-joint-statement/">joint statement</a> – China in the Pacific.</p>
<p>Tucked within the statement, with all its promises of increased co-operation and partnership, was this not-so-subtle declaration:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In particular, the United States and New Zealand share a concern that the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values or security interests would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and pose national-security concerns to both our countries.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unsurprisingly, this <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/06/02/china-slams-nz-us-concerns-over-pacific-as-disinformation/">upset Chinese officials</a>, with a foreign ministry spokesperson accusing Ardern and Biden of trying to “deliberately hype up” the issue.</p>
<p>But hopefully the statement will also prompt New Zealand to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to increasing assistance in the Pacific region. Expressing “concern” about China’s influence means little otherwise. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466863/original/file-20220602-24-tvab9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shared concerns: Joe Biden meets Jacinda Ardern in the Oval Office on May 31.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Aid and influence</h2>
<p>While New Zealand and Australia are responsible for <a href="https://pacificaidmap.lowyinstitute.org/">around 55%</a> of all of the aid flowing into the region, that contribution needs to be seen in perspective. </p>
<p>There are two obvious shortcomings. First, more needs to be done to promote democracy in the Pacific, which means supporting <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/gcb/pacific/pacific-2021">anti-corruption initiatives</a> and a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/466342/free-press-essential-to-democracy-says-pacific-media-watchdog">free press</a>. Second, both countries simply need to give more.</p>
<p>Neither spends anywhere near the 0.7% of gross national income on development assistance recommended by the United Nations (UN).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amplifying-narratives-about-the-china-threat-in-the-pacific-may-help-china-achieve-its-broader-aims-183917">Amplifying narratives about the 'China threat' in the Pacific may help China achieve its broader aims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The high-tide mark for both was long ago: <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/development-assistance-and-humanitarian-aid/page-1">0.52% for New Zealand in 1975</a> and <a href="https://devpolicy.org/aidtracker/trends/">0.48% for Australia in 1967</a>. Today, <a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/AidAtAGlance/DACmembers?:embed=y&:display_count=no?&:showVizHome=no#1">New Zealand spends 0.26%</a> and <a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/AidAtAGlance/DACmembers?:embed=y&:display_count=no?&:showVizHome=no#1">Australia 0.21%</a> of their incomes on overseas aid. </p>
<p>It’s against this backdrop of under-spending that China has come to be seen as an attractive alternative to the traditional regional powers. It has no colonial baggage in the Pacific and is a developing country itself, having made impressive leaps in development and poverty reduction.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1531217078753144832"}"></div></p>
<h2>Debt and distress</h2>
<p>Many of the small developing island states in the Pacific share common challenges and vulnerabilities: <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/region/pacific-island-small-states">negative migration patterns</a>, <a href="https://weltrisikobericht.de/weltrisikobericht-2021-e/#:%7E:text=f%C3%BCr%20die%20Welt-,WorldRiskIndex,multiplication%20of%20exposure%20and%20vulnerability">risk from climate change</a> and fragile economies.</p>
<p>Three states in the region (Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu) are in the UN’s “<a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category/ldc-criteria.html">least developed countries</a>” category. Two others (Samoa and Vanuatu) are just above the threshold. Most are at <a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/event-documents/2022%20Debt%20Conference%20Background%20Paper_Scott%20Roger_4.4.22.pdf">high risk of debt distress</a>, increasing the risk of poor policy decisions simply to pay bills.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-has-just-joined-an-overtly-anti-china-alliance-are-the-economic-risks-worth-it-183716">New Zealand has just joined an overtly anti-China alliance – are the economic risks worth it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The average debt-to-GDP ratio for Pacific states has risen from 32.9% in 2019 to 42.2% in 2021. Vanuatu, Palau and Fiji have debt-to-GDP ratios greater than 70%.</p>
<p>China currently accounts for only about <a href="https://pacificaidmap.lowyinstitute.org/">6% of all aid</a> in the region, but supplements this with grants and loans, some commercial and some interest-free. These overlap with grand infrastructure plans such as the <a href="https://www.beltroad-initiative.com/belt-and-road/">Belt and Road Initiative</a> aimed at connecting many regions of the world.</p>
<p>While it might not have secured its desired regional multilateral <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/468293/china-s-success-in-pacific-not-entirely-on-paper">trade and security agreement</a> with Pacific nations, China is clearly in the Pacific for the long haul.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/saying-china-bought-a-military-base-in-the-solomons-is-simplistic-and-shows-how-little-australia-understands-power-in-the-pacific-180020">Saying China 'bought' a military base in the Solomons is simplistic and shows how little Australia understands power in the Pacific</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Working with China</h2>
<p>This presence need not be seen entirely negatively. In the right circumstances, Chinese assistance can have a <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2022/02/25/Has-Chinese-Aid-Benefited-Recipient-Countries-Evidence-from-a-Meta-Regression-Analysis-513160">positive impact</a> on economic and social outcomes in recipient countries, according to the International Monetary Fund. (The same study also found a negative but negligible effect on governance.) </p>
<p>Overall, Chinese influence in the Pacific is not necessarily something that must be “countered”. For the good of the region, countries should seek ways to work together, especially given that aid to the Pacific is often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/app5.321">fragmented</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/app5.185">volatile, unpredictable</a> and opaque. </p>
<p>Co-ordinated, efficient and effective partnerships between donors, recipients and regional institutions will be vital, and <a href="https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/pacific-affairs/cautious-new-approach">co-operation</a> with China could be part of this. </p>
<p>New Zealand and Australia need to expand their work on the vast infrastructure and development needs of the Pacific. Transparency should be a priority with all projects and spending, and co-operation should be tied to shared benchmarks such as the UN’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.</p>
<p>For its part, China should give more aid rather than loans (especially to the least developed countries) to avoid the risk of poor countries becoming beholden to lenders or even bankrupted. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1532134159564410880"}"></div></p>
<h2>Peace and security</h2>
<p>Above all, peace and security between and within countries should be an agreed fundamental principle. The good news is that South Pacific nations have already taken steps towards this by agreeing to the <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/isn/5189.htm">Nuclear Free Zone Treaty</a>.</p>
<p>This could be complemented by an agreement banning foreign military bases in the region to maintain its independence. If needed, peacekeeping or outside security assistance should be multilateral through the UN, not bilateral through secret arrangements.</p>
<p>Co-operation for the good of the Pacific should be the goal, but this is only possible if the region is not militarised. </p>
<p>Chinese influence and power in the Pacific is a reality that cannot be wished away or easily undermined. With the US similarly determined to assert itself, the stakes are rising. All nations should work together to ensure no small, independent Pacific country becomes a pawn in what could be a very dangerous game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Gillespie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Zealand – like Australia – must increase its overseas aid spending if it is serious about matching China’s ambitions in the South Pacific.Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791722022-03-14T19:26:21Z2022-03-14T19:26:21ZUS aid to Ukraine: $13.6 billion approved following Russian bombardment marks sharp increase<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451893/original/file-20220314-15-1uvurhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C73%2C4780%2C2729&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Ukrainian armed forces pass by wreckage on March 9, 2022, in Mykolaiv.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/member-of-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-stand-amid-the-news-photo/1384370768">Scott Peterson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The U.S. government has condemned <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-united-nations-general-assembly-kyiv-business-europe-abc3e297725e57e6052529d844b5ee2f">Russia’s war on Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/24/remarks-by-president-biden-on-russias-unprovoked-and-unjustified-attack-on-ukraine/">vowed to make sure Russia faces consequences</a> for its attack. Political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2D7NR4wAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Jessica Trisko Darden</a>, author of “<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=30391">Aiding and Abetting: U.S. Foreign Assistance and State Violence</a>,” explains how <a href="https://www.axios.com/ukraine-us-aid-c87d76af-c6e5-4eaa-8644-5469299cf20c.html">U.S. assistance to Ukraine</a> is rapidly evolving and what its potential consequences could be.</em></p>
<h2>How much aid has Congress approved?</h2>
<p>President Joe Biden signed off on an emergency spending package that included <a href="https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/Ukraine%20Supplemental%20Summary.pdf">US$13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine</a> on March 11, 2022. Roughly half the money, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085509937/house-advances-13-6-billion-in-ukraine-aid-along-with-government-funding">approved by Congress</a> over the prior two days, is for military purposes. It includes $3.65 billion for <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/03/09/bidens-ukraine-aid-package-is-getting-super-sized-by-congress/">weapons transfers and sales</a> to Ukraine and another $3 billion to support more U.S. troops in Europe. </p>
<p>A portion of the funds will support economic warfare against Russia, including efforts to seize the assets of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/12/russian-oligarch-yachts/">Russian oligarchs</a>, but most of the economic aid will pay for humanitarian relief and disaster assistance. That includes helping refugees and aiding <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/politics/ukraine-aid-spending-bill-congress/index.html">people displaced within Ukraine</a>.</p>
<h2>What else is the US doing?</h2>
<p>The total amount of aid the U.S. is providing Ukraine exceeds the $13.6 billion in the spending package. On March 12, just one day after Biden signed the spending package, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/12/memorandum-on-the-delegation-of-authority-under-section-506a1-of-the-foreign-assistance-act-of-1961/">White House</a> announced <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-authorizes-200-mln-new-weapons-military-training-ukraine-2022-03-12/">another $200 million</a> in immediate military assistance to Ukraine. It includes small arms and anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons from U.S. defense stocks. </p>
<p>On the ground, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is partnering with United Nations agencies to position <a href="https://medium.com/usaid-2030/four-ways-usaid-is-responding-to-the-crisis-in-ukraine-e4a459b6b8fc">critical relief supplies</a> throughout Ukraine, including emergency food, surgery and medical kits, thermal blankets and sanitation supplies. Since Russia invaded, USAID has provided <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/ukraine/news-information/press-releases/united-states-announces-additional-humanitarian-assistance">$107 million</a> in humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>By the time Russia attacked on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/02/ukraine-russia-war-timeline-photos-videos-maps/">Feb. 24</a>, Ukraine had already received most of the weapons from a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-receives-second-batch-us-weapons-russian-stand-off-2022-01-23/">$200 million military assistance package</a> announced in December 2021. </p>
<p>Immediately after the invasion, Biden announced an additional <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-approves-350-million-military-aid-ukraine-2022-02-26/">$350 million</a> in U.S. weapons. That was on top of the U.S.-provided Stinger anti-aircraft weapons and Javelin missile systems being transferred, with American authorization, from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-clears-baltic-states-send-us-made-weapons-ukraine-2022-01-20/">Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania</a> to Ukraine.</p>
<p>And the U.S. has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stinger-deliveries-to-ukraine-followed-long-search-for-technical-fix-11646773886">reportedly redirected</a> <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12040">Mi-17 helicopters</a> originally intended for Afghanistan. </p>
<h2>What has US assistance to Ukraine looked like since the USSR dissolved?</h2>
<p>Because Ukraine had the world’s <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Ukraine-Nuclear-Weapons">third-largest nuclear arsenal</a> in 1991, the top U.S. foreign policy objective at first was securing Ukraine’s nuclear weapons. </p>
<p>Through the mid-1990s, the U.S. helped Ukraine dismantle missiles, bombers and other nuclear infrastructure. This <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2018/04/denuclearization-again-lessons-from-ukraines-decision-to-disarm/">denuclearization concluded in 1996</a> with the transfer of its last nuclear warhead to Russia. </p>
<p>The United States continued to support Ukraine during the <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL32845.pdf">Orange Revolution</a> – mass protests in 2004 and 2005 that followed the apparent victory of a pro-Russian presidential candidate widely suspected of fraud. In addition to rhetorical support, the U.S. provided at least <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL32691.pdf">$13.8 million</a> to ensure subsequent rounds of the election were free and fair. </p>
<p>U.S. engagement in Ukraine increased dramatically following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-years-after-the-euromaidan-revolution-in-ukraine-key-gains-and-losses-90012">Euromaidan Revolution</a> – the wave of protests in late 2013 and 2014 that led to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.</p>
<p>Conflict broke out days later when Russia annexed Crimea, a region in southern Ukraine, and began supporting separatist militias in the eastern part of the country. Between the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s invasion, the U.S. had provided more than <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine/">$2.7 billion in security assistance</a>. Most of this money has funded weapons, training and intelligence cooperation to help Ukraine fight these militias. More than <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/conflict-ukraines-donbas-visual-explainer">14,000 Ukrainians were killed</a> between 2014 and 2021. </p>
<p>Ukraine has also received roughly <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/R45008.pdf">$418 million</a> annually since 2014 from the State Department and USAID. Some of this is officially designated as “<a href="https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/10/20/marine-makes-case-for-investing-in-nonlethal-weapons">nonlethal assistance</a>,” but it includes items such as body armor, helmets, vehicles, heavy engineering equipment and patrol boats that directly support U.S. and Ukrainian security objectives.</p>
<p>In addition, an average of more than $350 million in <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/sep-1-2021-president-biden-announces-new-usaid-humanitarian-assistance-ukraine">U.S. humanitarian aid</a> has flowed to Ukraine annually since 2014. This funding provides essential relief items such as blankets and food vouchers, training for health care workers, and structural repairs to homes destroyed by conflict. </p>
<p><iframe id="WEGS4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WEGS4/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>What else is going on in terms of military aid for Ukraine?</h2>
<p>Military assistance is coming from many additional countries, including <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/breaking-news/australia-commits-50m-usd-for-ammunition-to-support-ukraine/news-story/4a1db7e4f9e24fcc36782c246b797edc">$70 million from Australia</a> and about $1.1 billion in military supplies from the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/european-union-sanctions-russia-ukraine-borrell/31748462.html">European Union</a>.</p>
<p>Russia has threatened to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-europe-nato-poland-c82be23ebd5faea1846c9170c58b8c7b">target military aid shipments</a>. When and how military aid to Ukraine will be delivered, given <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russians-strike-closer-polish-border-port-city-reels-83417568">Russian airstrikes on a Ukrainian military base</a> near the Polish border, is unclear. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraines-military-is-outgunned-but-can-still-inflict-a-great-deal-of-pain-on-russian-forces-177884">Military analysts</a> emphasize that Ukraine’s strategy relies on urban warfare and a protracted war of attrition.</p>
<p>While much of the pledged military assistance supports this strategy, it’s getting harder to get arms into Ukraine. That’s true for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/11/ukraine-aid-challenges/">humanitarian aid</a> as well. </p>
<h2>Even if this conflict ends soon, what might Ukraine need in the future?</h2>
<p>Many countries are pledging military support for Ukraine, but the country will also need help rebuilding after war. Satellite images show the extent of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/10/mariupol-bombing-ukraine-before-and-after-satellite-images-map-russian-attack-residential-maternity-childrens-hospital">infrastructure damage</a> in some Ukrainian cities. Reconstruction will be complicated by Ukraine’s political challenges, including <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/time-to-rethink-ukraines-fight-against-corruption/">corruption</a> and deeply rooted political regionalism. </p>
<p>Humanitarian needs will also be stark. Before the invasion, the U.N. estimated that <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/humanitarian-assistance/ukraine">3.4 million people</a> required humanitarian assistance because of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Now that more than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">2.8 million Ukrainians</a> have fled the country, providing for these refugees and bringing them home will be a major focus.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the surge in military assistance and weapons for Ukraine is likely to have significant unintended consequences. </p>
<p>The Ukrainian government has called upon anyone willing to take up arms to do so. More than 25,000 automatic rifles, 10 million bullets, and rocket-propelled grenades and launchers have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/26/ukraine-russia-militias/">reportedly been distributed</a> in the capital Kyiv alone. More guns are on the way, from the United States and allies including <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-speaks-with-zelensky-promises-more-military-aid-for-ukraine/">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finland-sends-weapons-ammunition-ukraine-2022-02-28/">Finland</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="civilians learn how to handle weapons from members of far-right militias." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some Ukrainian civilians are learning how to handle weapons from instructors tied to extremist groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Ukraine%20Invasion%20Citizen%20Troops%20Photo%20Gallery/bbcd0a202f7a4805941207323b2ea99c?Query=ukraine%20weapons%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1300&currentItemNo=19">AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pouring weapons into a country at war may seem reasonable, but this influx of arms can trap a country in conflict. According to a recent <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14656.doc.htm">U.N. report</a>, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, such as those being distributed in Ukraine, can prolong armed conflict, hinder the implementation of peace agreements and endanger peacekeepers and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/11/ukraine-casualties/">local civilians</a>. In short, the weapons being sent to help Ukraine today might make the country more violent in the years to come. </p>
<p>There is also a risk that once the current crisis passes, light weapons could end up elsewhere in Europe or fall under the control of militias operating in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/europe/militias-russia-ukraine.html">including the far-right</a> <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/azov-ukraine-s-most-prominent-ultranationalist-group-sets-its-sights-on-u-s-europe/29600564.html">Azov battalion</a>. To reduce that risk, a costly weapons buyback program may be necessary, although the success of such programs remains <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2011/07/28/how-best-remove-guns-post-conflict-zones">hotly debated</a>. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-boosting-aid-to-ukraine-4-questions-answered-178132">March 2, 2022</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Trisko Darden is a non-resident fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation and Director of the Security and Foreign Policy Initiative at William & Mary's Global Research Institute.</span></em></p>The money is evenly split between military support and funds for economic, humanitarian and other needs.Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785842022-03-10T13:27:28Z2022-03-10T13:27:28ZA wave of grassroots humanitarianism is supporting millions of Ukrainian refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450118/original/file-20220304-15-1xb9a8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C108%2C6020%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women offering Ukrainian refugees a place to stay in Berlin on Mar. 4, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/march-2022-berlin-two-women-offer-at-the-main-station-for-news-photo/1238921835">Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Along the Poland-Ukraine border, Polish volunteers have been <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/3-stories-of-how-strangers-are-helping-ukrainian-refugees/">driving Ukrainian refugees</a> to local train stations, or directly to cities like Warsaw.</p>
<p>Other Poles are doing their volunteer work <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tens-thousands-join-online-networks-offer-help-ukrainians-fleeing-war-2022-02-25/">online</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/06/polish-ukrainian-border-humanity-refugees">at train stations</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/07/1085013110/volunteers-at-this-polish-airport-are-helping-ukrainians-fleeing-conflict-back-h">and airports</a>, matching Ukrainian refugees with perhaps the most generous volunteers of all: those who are hosting some of the more than <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/un-agency-2-million-people-fled-ukraine-russia-refugee/">2 million Ukrainians had fled their beseiged country</a>, in their own homes.</p>
<p>The largest refugee flow in Europe since the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/24/world/yugoslav-refugee-crisis-europe-s-worst-since-40-s.html">Yugoslav wars of the 1990s</a> – has elicited an enormous volunteer humanitarian effort in Europe, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/07/1084870783/the-invasion-of-ukraine-has-prompted-more-than-1-5-million-people-to-flee">particularly in Poland</a>, as well as in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-migration-berlin-e62edf3cf4b59fbf5496d132203c6870">Germany</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/moldova-shows-solidarity-with-ukrainian-refugees/a-61029418">Moldova</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/ukrainian-refugees-on-the-romanian-border/a-61034294">Romania</a>.</p>
<p>A diffuse and widespread movement of millions of people that’s operating in several countries and independently of established refugee assistance institutions is apparently meeting many needs quite quickly.</p>
<p>As someone who has conducted research in southeastern Poland since 1992 and studied <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gOn7wZIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">humanitarian work since 2014</a>, I have long observed that digital advances are making it easier to crowdsource aid. And to assess how these arrangements are working, I’m going to conduct interviews along the Polish-Ukrainian border in March 2022, with both volunteers and professional humanitarians.</p>
<h2>Stark contrast</h2>
<p>What’s going on in Poland and other countries welcoming Ukrainian refugees starkly contrasts with systems that arose decades ago. Since the late 1940s, governments have largely funded aid to refugees, albeit funneling that money through independent or <a href="https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2021/chapter-two-humanitarian-and-wider-crisis-financing/">United Nations agencies</a>. For example, more than two-thirds of the roughly <a href="https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2021/chapter-two-humanitarian-and-wider-crisis-financing/">US$31 billion</a> in humanitarian funding worldwide for refugees and disaster relief in 2021 went to <a href="https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2021/chapter-two-humanitarian-and-wider-crisis-financing">U.N. agencies</a>.</p>
<p>To be sure, these institutions are getting money to assist with Ukraine’s crisis and help the refugees who are fleeing it. Within days of Russia’s invasion, the United Nations had received more than <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-technology-business-philanthropy-united-nations-0a50c49b075d4b3ad7ff7259e6753689">$40 million in charitable donations</a> from people and corporations, including $5 million from Amazon.</p>
<p>The U.N. is seeking far more money, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113052">some $1.7 billion in new funding from governments</a>, to support Ukrainians who stayed behind and the <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">millions more</a> who may soon flee.</p>
<p>I see several disadvantages of highly concentrated and large-scale aid for refugees.</p>
<p>First, large-scale aid was designed to support refugee camps. Camps make the logistics of distributing aid easier. But they don’t tend to improve outcomes for the refugees, who can get stuck in situations meant to be temporary for years or decades. By 2018, refugee <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/2019-update-how-long-do-refugees-stay-exile-find-out-beware-averages">displacement was lasting on average more than 10.5 years</a>, the World Bank estimated. Second, large-scale aid is highly standardized, which means refugees do not always get help that meets their individual needs.</p>
<p>Finally, large-scale aid is often inefficient. On average, <a href="https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/11588.pdf">only 38 cents of each aid dollar</a> reaches beneficiaries in the form of food, clothing and other supplies or cash. It isn’t possible to measure the percentage of aid that reaches refugees through grassroots aid, but it is probably much higher.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holding a child, both dressed in winter coats and hats, as seen through a train window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451039/original/file-20220309-27-1pjwcf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman and child, who have fled Ukraine, arrive at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, on March 8, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Russia%20Ukraine%20War%20Women's%20Day%20Photo%20Gallery/00d07ebf0ba44f18a01473c255f8aa4f?Query=daniel%20cole&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7643&currentItemNo=27">AP Photo/Daniel Cole</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Technology eases coordination</h2>
<p>Although thousands of people in Europe and the Middle East gave considerable amounts of grassroots aid to <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/20/british-grass-roots-groups-step-up-aid-to-refugees-while-government-stalls.html">Syrian refugees in 2015</a>, the Ukrainian crisis has rapidly become the first humanitarian aid operation crowdsourced at such a large scale.</p>
<p>Over 500,000 people have joined the Facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/683793819641997">Pomoć dla Ukrainy</a>, or Help for Ukraine, a Polish-language group whose members volunteer to give rides, housing or bedding, or offer to help incoming Ukrainians in other ways.</p>
<p>Polish nonprofits, including many that had already been providing aid to <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-poland-migrant-crisis-syria/31549911.html">Syrian refugees pushed back by the Polish government at the Belarusian border</a>, have offered highly coordinated operations to meet incoming refugees at the Ukrainian border as well.</p>
<p>These groups are offering food, clothing and help with travel to Warsaw or other cities where Ukrainian refugees can continue into Western Europe.</p>
<p>Two professional Polish aid groups that have helped Ukrainians in both Ukraine and Poland for years – <a href="https://www.pah.org.pl/en/">Polska Akcja Humanitarna</a>, which means Polish Humanitarian Action, and <a href="https://ocalenie.org.pl/">Fundacja Ocalenie</a>, translated as Rescue Foundation – have led the way. Using online tools, these two organizations have been able to accept donations from around the world. They have coordinated large numbers of volunteers at the Polish-Ukrainian border, in Warsaw and inside Ukraine, offering legal help, psychological help, and social work along with immediate material aid. </p>
<p>Thousands of individual donors are also using online tools to route money to Ukrainian refugees and to organize volunteers. Some donors have sent money to Ukrainians inside Ukraine by <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/03/05/airbnb-guests-book-2m-in-ukrainian-rooms-they-wont-use-in-bid-to-offer-aid/">booking rooms on Airbnb</a>. The people booking the rooms don’t show up, but the Ukrainians listing their apartments receive the money anyway.</p>
<h2>More flexibility</h2>
<p>In my previous research in Germany, I have seen considerable advantages for grassroots humanitarian action, versus aid provided by either official or nongovernmental international organizations.</p>
<p>Most international aid agencies rely on contracts from governments, U.N. agencies and other funders that require cumbersome paperwork. Managing their work in many countries at once and meeting bureaucratic obligations, such as time-consuming monitoring, evaluation and reporting procedures, can be expensive and can require subcontracting operations. Very often, large international aid agencies <a href="https://redfield.web.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9305/2015/08/redfieldkit.pdf">take a standard approach with aid</a> that isn’t tailored to local conditions, and therefore doesn’t meet the actual needs of refugees struggling in specific situations.</p>
<p>Grassroots responses are by definition not standardized. Instead, they are the result of a million individual responses to a crisis: one room to share, one person driving a car, and so on.</p>
<p>The people offering help are familiar with local conditions and offer the help that is immediately needed.</p>
<p>I have seen this approach offer lots of flexibility: grassroots organizing can change quickly in response to changing conditions. Unlike what happens with traditional refugee aid groups, there’s no need to clear those changes with donors, develop new project proposals or deal with paperwork and red tape.</p>
<p>I have also observed that when local volunteers do the bulk of the work, aid can be distributed more efficiently. It passes directly to refugees themselves – who can also choose what help they accept.</p>
<p>Displaced people can then settle more quickly in cities and towns, where they may stay for months, if not years, instead of languishing in refugee camps.</p>
<h2>Many questions</h2>
<p>Whether this wave of grassroots humanitarianism in Poland and elsewhere in Europe can be sustained is unclear. And it’s raising many questions.</p>
<p>How long can Ukrainians stay in private homes, and what will they do once they cannot?</p>
<p>When volunteers have no oversight, what danger does this pose to refugees who are in their cars or homes?</p>
<p>Once the initial burst of enthusiasm passes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ukrainian-refugee-crisis-could-last-years-but-host-communities-might-not-be-prepared-178482">who will help people from Ukraine</a> if they cannot return?</p>
<p>How will countries like Poland and Germany address the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukrainian-refugees-are-welcomed-with-open-arms-not-so-with-people-fleeing-other-war-torn-countries-178491">obvious unfairness</a> in their treatment of Ukrainians, who are white and Christian, versus their treatment of Syrians and Afghans, who are Muslim and generally perceived in Western Europe as nonwhite? </p>
<p>As the number of people leaving Ukraine increases, will social or political backlash jeopardize the aid they are receiving?</p>
<p>Ultimately, the widespread enthusiasm for helping refugees may dissipate quickly. In that case, large aid agencies will have even more work to do. In the meantime, the rapid and generous response to Ukrainians in Poland, Germany and other nearby countries has opened up new possibilities for grassroots humanitarian action.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Cullen Dunn is affiliated with Exodus Refugee Immigration in Indianapolis and the Bloomington Refugee Support Network. She has consulted to the Indiana Red Cross. </span></em></p>The Ukrainian crisis is probably the biggest crowdsourced humanitarian aid operation ever undertaken.Elizabeth Cullen Dunn, Professor of Geography; Director of the Center for Refugee Studies, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1781322022-03-02T13:30:22Z2022-03-02T13:30:22ZThe US is boosting aid to Ukraine: 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449285/original/file-20220301-42535-ckuna3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C55%2C7379%2C3949&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers unload a shipment of U.S. military aid in Ukraine in February 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UkraineTensionsUnitedStates/a90506976b3a435fa9cf608026590992/photo?Query=ukraine%20us%20aid&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2958&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The U.S. government has condemned <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-united-nations-general-assembly-kyiv-business-europe-abc3e297725e57e6052529d844b5ee2f">Russia’s war on Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/24/remarks-by-president-biden-on-russias-unprovoked-and-unjustified-attack-on-ukraine/">vowed to make sure Russia faces consequences</a> for its attack. Political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2D7NR4wAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Jessica Trisko Darden</a>, author of “<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=30391">Aiding and Abetting: U.S. Foreign Assistance and State Violence</a>,” explains how <a href="https://www.axios.com/ukraine-us-aid-c87d76af-c6e5-4eaa-8644-5469299cf20c.html">U.S. assistance to Ukraine</a> has changed over the past three decades and its potential implications for security in the region.</em></p>
<h2>1. What has US assistance to Ukraine looked like since the USSR dissolved?</h2>
<p>Because Ukraine had the world’s <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Ukraine-Nuclear-Weapons">third-largest nuclear arsenal</a> in 1991, the top U.S. foreign policy objective at first was securing Ukraine’s nuclear weapons. </p>
<p>Through the mid-1990s, the U.S. helped Ukraine dismantle missiles, bombers and other nuclear infrastructure. This <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2018/04/denuclearization-again-lessons-from-ukraines-decision-to-disarm/">denuclearization concluded in 1996</a> with the transfer of its last nuclear warhead to Russia. </p>
<p>The U.S. continued to support Ukraine in what came to be known as the <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL32845.pdf">Orange Revolution</a> – mass protests that followed the apparent victory of a pro-Russian presidential candidate widely suspected of fraud. In addition to rhetorical support, the U.S. provided at least <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL32691.pdf">$13.8 million</a> to ensure subsequent rounds of the election were free and fair. </p>
<p>U.S. engagement in Ukraine increased dramatically following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-years-after-the-euromaidan-revolution-in-ukraine-key-gains-and-losses-90012">Euromaidan Revolution</a> – the wave of protests in late 2013 and 2014 that led to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.</p>
<p>Conflict broke out days later, when Russia annexed Crimea, a region in southern Ukraine, and began supporting separatist militias in the eastern part of the country. The U.S has provided more than <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine/">$2.7 billion in security assistance</a> since then. Most of this money has funded weapons, training and intelligence cooperation to help Ukraine fight these militias. More than <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/conflict-ukraines-donbas-visual-explainer">14,000 Ukrainians were killed</a> between 2014 and 2021. </p>
<p>Ukraine has also received roughly <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/R45008.pdf">$418 million</a> annually since 2014 from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Some of this is officially “non-lethal assistance,” but it includes items such as body armor, helmets, vehicles, heavy engineering equipment and patrol boats that directly support U.S. and Ukrainian security objectives. In addition, an average of more than $350 million in <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/sep-1-2021-president-biden-announces-new-usaid-humanitarian-assistance-ukraine">U.S. humanitarian aid</a> has flowed to Ukraine annually since 2014. This includes essential relief items such as blankets and food vouchers, hygiene supplies for health centers, training for health care workers, and structural repairs to homes destroyed by conflict. </p>
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<h2>2. What does Ukraine need now to fight and survive this war?</h2>
<p>Many countries are now offering Ukraine military assistance, including $70 million from <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/breaking-news/australia-commits-50m-usd-for-ammunition-to-support-ukraine/news-story/4a1db7e4f9e24fcc36782c246b797edc">Australia</a> and $500 million in weapons from the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-27/eu-approves-450-million-euros-in-lethal-military-aid-for-ukraine">European Union</a>. </p>
<p>Whether and how this aid will be delivered, given ongoing Russian military operations, is unclear. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraines-military-is-outgunned-but-can-still-inflict-a-great-deal-of-pain-on-russian-forces-177884">Military analysts</a> emphasize that Ukraine’s strategy relies on urban warfare and a protracted war of attrition. While much of the pledged military assistance supports this strategy, arms will be difficult to get into besieged cities such as Kharkiv and Kyiv. </p>
<p>Ukraine’s survival also requires that Ukrainians abroad continue to support their relatives through <a href="https://voxukraine.org/en/the-impact-of-labour-migration-on-the-ukrainian-economy/">remittances</a> while the economy remains disrupted. </p>
<h2>3. What’s the US currently doing?</h2>
<p>Ukraine already received most of the weapons from a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-receives-second-batch-us-weapons-russian-stand-off-2022-01-23/">$200 million military assistance package</a> announced in December 2021. On Feb. 26, 2022, President Joe Biden announced an additional <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-approves-350-million-military-aid-ukraine-2022-02-26/">$350 million</a> in U.S. weapons, on top of the U.S.-provided Stinger anti-aircraft weapons and Javelin missile systems being transferred, with U.S. authorization, from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-clears-baltic-states-send-us-made-weapons-ukraine-2022-01-20/">Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania</a> to Ukraine. The U.S. has also reportedly redirected <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12040">Mi-17 helicopters</a> originally intended for Afghanistan. </p>
<p>In addition, USAID announced $25 million more in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, bringing the total so far for the 2022 fiscal year to <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022-02-27_USG_Ukraine_Complex_Emergency_Fact_Sheet_2.pdf">$38.6 million</a>. On the ground, USAID is partnering with United Nations agencies to position <a href="https://medium.com/usaid-2030/four-ways-usaid-is-responding-to-the-crisis-in-ukraine-e4a459b6b8fc">critical relief supplies</a> throughout Ukraine, including emergency food, surgery and medical kits, thermal blankets and sanitation supplies. </p>
<p>Even before Russia’s invasion, the U.N. estimated that <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/humanitarian-assistance/ukraine">3.4 million people</a> required humanitarian assistance due to the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, so I expect humanitarian assistance will continue to increase. However, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/28/ukraine-pleads-congress-more-aid-weapons-00012654">providing significantly more funding</a> will be <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/25/congress-ukraine-help-bill-00011581">up to Congress</a>. Lawmakers are currently weighing a multibillion dollar emergency spending bill.</p>
<h2>4. Even if this conflict ends quickly, what might Ukraine need in the future?</h2>
<p>Many countries are pledging military support for Ukraine, but the country will also need help rebuilding after war.</p>
<p>Reconstruction will be complicated by Ukraine’s political challenges, including <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/time-to-rethink-ukraines-fight-against-corruption/">corruption</a> and deeply rooted political regionalism. One option for addressing these challenges is using what are known as “<a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/stabilization-assistance-review-a-framework-for-maximizing-the-effectiveness-of-u-s-government-efforts-to-stabilize-conflict-affected-areas-2018/">stabilization assistance funds</a>.” This new U.S. approach to foreign assistance focuses on working simultaneously toward <a href="https://www.interaction.org/choose-to-invest-fy-2022/other-development-accounts/prevention-stabilization-fund/">political and security objectives</a> in countries that have recently experienced conflicts.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the surge in military assistance and weapons for Ukraine is likely to have significant unintended consequences. </p>
<p>The Ukrainian government has called upon anyone willing to take up arms to do so. More than 25,000 automatic rifles, 10 million bullets, and rocket-propelled grenades and launchers have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/26/ukraine-russia-militias/">reportedly been distributed</a> in Kyiv alone. More guns are on the way, including 1,500 anti-tank weapons <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finland-sends-weapons-ammunition-ukraine-2022-02-28/">from Finland</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of civilians learn how to handle weapons from members of far-right militias." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449288/original/file-20220301-13-1ttxy8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Some Ukrainian civilians are learning how to handle weapons from instructors tied to extremist groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Ukraine%20Invasion%20Citizen%20Troops%20Photo%20Gallery/bbcd0a202f7a4805941207323b2ea99c?Query=ukraine%20weapons%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1300&currentItemNo=19">AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda</a></span>
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<p>Pouring weapons into a country at war may seem reasonable, but this influx of arms can trap a country in conflict. According to a recent <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14656.doc.htm">U.N. report</a>, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, such as those being distributed in Ukraine, can prolong armed conflict, hinder the implementation of peace agreements and endanger peacekeepers and local civilians. In short, the weapons being sent to help Ukraine today might make the country more violent in the years to come. </p>
<p>There is also a risk that once the current crisis passes, light weapons could be sold by civilians. Those arms could end up elsewhere in Europe or fall under the control of militias operating in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/europe/militias-russia-ukraine.html">including the far-right</a> <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3ab7dw/azov-battalion-ukraine-far-right">Azov battalion</a>. To reduce that risk, a costly weapons buy-back program may be necessary, although the success of such programs remains <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2011/07/28/how-best-remove-guns-post-conflict-zones">hotly debated</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>More than 150,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Trisko Darden is a non-resident fellow with William & Mary's Global Research Institute and the Eurasia Group Foundation.</span></em></p>Assistance that began when the Soviet Union collapsed has grown since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, in southern Ukraine, in 2014.Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1774272022-02-21T14:15:30Z2022-02-21T14:15:30ZAU-EU Summit: private sector partnerships are where real change can happen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447194/original/file-20220218-21-cr29nj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African Union leaders and their European Union counterparts held their 6th Summit meeting in Brussels. DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP via </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-berlaymont-building-headquarters-of-the-news-photo/74843768?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Five years since the African Union (AU) leaders and their European Union (EU) counterparts held their 5th meeting in 2017, the two regional organisations have met again. The February 2022 meeting – 16 months overdue because of COVID – was significant given the actual and potential size of the two blocs. </p>
<p>The relationship between the two continents (the subject of a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Africa-Europe-Relationship-A-Multistakeholder-Perspective/Marchetti/p/book/9780367467197">book</a> I have edited) has been tested in recent months. Africa has felt neglected by Europe as it struggled to <a href="https://www.africa-newsroom.com/press/au-statement-on-au-vaccines-financing-strategy">access COVID vaccines</a>. Europe has been <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/549031/EXPO_IDA(2015)549031_EN.pdf">uncomfortable</a> with China’s rising influence in Africa.<br>
But their future depends on the relationship. The current dialogue between the two blocs is about priority areas of economic cooperation, job creation and climate change. Others are migration management, investment in youth, and peace and security.</p>
<p>If they can build real partnerships, both continents can prosper. Conversely, entering into a competitive relationship or seeking partnership elsewhere represents a significant loss of opportunity.</p>
<h2>Important connections</h2>
<p>Europe remains Africa’s largest foreign aid provider. The flow of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/An-Emerging-Africa-in-the-Age-of-Globalisation/Mudida/p/book/9780367673871">trade and investments</a> between the two continents is high. Africa’s exports to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Africa-EU_-_international_trade_in_goods_statistics">the European Union</a>, for instance, totalled US$146 billion in 2021 compared to its imports of US$142 billion. </p>
<p>Technological transfer is similarly robust, with recent new lines open on <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_22_1184">pharmaceuticals</a>. Africa provides a significant amount of raw materials and labour to Europe. Much of Africa’s diaspora population live in Europe. </p>
<p>The two continents are also connected in <a href="https://www.uclga.org/news/intensification-of-cultural-exchange-between-african-cities-and-european-capitals-of-culture-call-for-participation/">cultural terms</a>, at times passing through the <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/11991803/city_diplomacy">city cultural diplomacy</a>. The level of cultural exchange is remarkable: from university system to religious integration; and from a linguistic commonality to the arts scene. </p>
<p>Security threats are also shared by the two continents. From terrorism to cyber-attacks, Africa and Europe face <a href="https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/africa-and-europe-facing-common-challenges">common problems</a>, and need to find common responses. </p>
<p>In short, Africa needs Europe, just as Europe needs Africa.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-eu-africa-summit-is-now-the-au-eu-summit-why-the-upgrade-matters-88185">The EU-Africa summit is now the AU-EU summit. Why the upgrade matters</a>
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<p>The Africa Union-European Union meeting in Brussels stated its areas of focus as: growth financing; health systems and vaccine production, agriculture and sustainable development; education, culture and vocational training; migration and mobility; private sector support and economic integration; peace, security and governance; climate change and energy transition, and digital and transport connectivity.</p>
<p>These focus areas are well chosen but the question is how best to unlock the potential of this partnership.</p>
<h2>What’s missing?</h2>
<p>With the signing of the <a href="https://afcfta.au.int/en">African Continental Free Trade Area</a> in 2018, the continent laid the ground for significant growth through trade. The COVID pandemic that delayed this growth is <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1102282">slowly</a> fading away. The time is ripe for a takeoff. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/overview#1">African market</a> of 1.2 billion people, with an average age of 27 and a gross domestic product of more than US$3,000 billion, is ready for an enabling partnership.</p>
<p>Beyond political cohesion and stability, Africa lacks growth financing and active support of its private sector. Governments and international organisations can certainly support regional growth. But in my opinion it is from partnerships with the private sector that most resources can be generated.</p>
<p>Local companies should make long-term investments to enhance their capabilities and position themselves as key players in national development. But this cannot happen until governments set up adequate normative frameworks for good business practices. For instance, Kenya has a <a href="https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/library/ppp-legal-framework-snapshot-kenya">public-private partnership</a> law that gives incentives and guarantees continuity (in case of political transition) to investors who put money in public projects. </p>
<p>Such interventions would swell the middle class to drive growth. That, in turn, could deliver economic and political stability, as the history of modern state building shows.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africa-should-turn-to-capital-markets-to-fund-its-infrastructure-deficit-50782">Infrastructure development</a> is another key area for investment. Land, air, and maritime transportation is still severely limited across the continent. More roads, rails and flight connections are needed in order to achieve the full potential of economic growth in the region. </p>
<p>Strengthening of intercontinental value chains (step-by-step activities that transform raw material or ideas into products) is a priority area for the partnership between Africa and Europe. Functioning value chains could have spillover effects on the domestic industrial sector, and help boost national self-sufficiency. This is particularly critical for sectors such as pharmaceuticals where the COVID pandemic has <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-case-study-sheds-light-on-how-vaccine-manufacturing-can-be-developed-158436">exposed</a> weakness. </p>
<p>The continental project for free trade is an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africas-free-trade-area-offers-so-much-promise-93827">essential component</a> for the growth and industrial transformation of Africa. Its building blocks are the various <a href="https://au.int/en/organs/recs">regional economic communities</a> that currently exist across Africa. The cooperation between Africa and Europe needs to strengthen these groupings.</p>
<p>Connected to the search for a single market is the need for investment in human capital. Empowering young people could bring <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2006/09/basics.htm">demographic dividends</a> (economic growth resulting from a change in the age structure of a population). This can be accelerated through mobility between the two continents, and collaboration between European and African universities. </p>
<h2>Genuine cooperation</h2>
<p>Genuine cooperation between Europe and Africa must be inclusive and mutually beneficial. Otherwise, the partnership will not hold. </p>
<p>If properly developed, the relationship between Africa and Europe could constitute a very significant component of <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498510134/Global-Strategic-Engagement-States-and-Non-State-Actors-in-Global-Governance">global inclusive development</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raffaele Marchetti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The cooperation should strengthen institutions and rally private entities to fund public projects.Raffaele Marchetti, Deputy Rector for Internationalization and Full Professor of International Relations, LUISS Universita Guido CarliLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1755062022-02-07T16:14:00Z2022-02-07T16:14:00ZCanadian reconstruction aid to Tonga 40 years ago points the way today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444665/original/file-20220206-999-4ieinm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=452%2C9%2C2078%2C1297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers for the Tonga Geological Services look at the smoke poring from the eruption site.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Tonga Geological Services/Government of Tonga)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tonga is still assessing the devastation of January’s volcanic explosion that was <a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-01-tonga-eruption-equivalent-hundreds-hiroshimas.html">hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima</a>. </p>
<p>The eruption caused a tsunami that hit Tonga and outlying islands, and spurred tsunami warnings in North America. It was a reminder that the South Pacific is not as distant from us as we might think.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-tonga-volcano-cued-tsunami-warnings-for-the-north-american-pacific-coast-175407">Why the Tonga volcano cued tsunami warnings for the North American Pacific coast</a>
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<p>Emergency relief aid is <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/international-aid-reaches-tonga-with-clean-water-supplies-1.5751276">reaching Tonga</a>, though it’s been complicated by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/27/earthquake-strikes-off-coast-of-tonga-days-after-volcano-eruption">a nearby earthquake</a> a few days later as well as restrictions that seek to keep the country free of COVID-19. </p>
<p>The larger challenge will be reconstruction once the attention of the world has moved on. <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/460032/tongan-eruption-85-percent-of-the-population-impacted-government">As the speaker of the national parliament said</a>: “It’s going to be a long road to recovery.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A map of Tonga and outlying islands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442882/original/file-20220127-18-1dws5n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A map of Tonga and outlying islands and where the Tonga Kitchens project did work, compiled from Google Maps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(David Webster)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>During Canada’s ongoing <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/idw-sdi.aspx?lang=eng">International Development Week</a>, it’s important to remember there are lessons from a similar natural disaster 40 years ago in the South Pacific. That’s when Canadians helped rebuild after cyclone Isaac, the <a href="https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/675">worst storm in the region in the 20th century</a>. Emergency relief arrived throughout 1982, but people in hard-hit outlying islands were still suffering a year later.</p>
<h2>Development and kitchens</h2>
<p>One desperate need was for cooking houses. Traditional societies in outlying islands use three types of structures — dwelling houses, cooking houses and bathing houses. While international agencies helped to rebuild homes, there was poor understanding of the need for cooking houses, known as <em>peito</em> (<a href="https://tradukka.com/translate/to/en/peito">kitchen in English</a>).</p>
<p>Enter a new Canadian organization: the <a href="https://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/">Pacific Peoples’ Partnership</a> (known at the time by its previous name, the South Pacific People’s Foundation). Its director, <a href="https://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/ppp-featured-partner-victoria-foundation/">Phil Esmonde</a>, an American-born veteran turned Canadian peace activist, communicated with village women’s groups in the more remote islands of Tonga and shared the need for cooking houses.</p>
<p>A year after the cyclone, Esmonde wrote in an internal document contained in the organization’s unpublished archives: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Many peitos now consist of nothing more than a fire pit under a tree or a few pieces of leftover roofing iron.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman in a colourful dress stands in front of a kitchen house with tropical trees around it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442883/original/file-20220127-14-urplgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A kitchen or pieto on the island of Nomuka in the South Pacific in 1983.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pacific People's Partnership archives)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Village women emphasized the need for cooking houses to store and prepare food, to eat and to allow women to gather and carry out traditional functions and work, such as weaving.</p>
<p>In other words, peitos were not just about reconstructing villages. They were about reconstructing village life and about women’s needs — aspects not normally prioritized by international
humanitarian agencies.</p>
<h2>Focus on gender, Indigenous needs</h2>
<p>In response, the <a href="http://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/54-3-Tok-Blong-Pasifik-v54-3-2000.pdf">Pacific Peoples’ Partnership</a> launched the Tonga Kitchens project as its first full-scale development effort. It focused on issues of gender and Indigenous needs, not imported models.</p>
<p>Equally important, it paid close attention to the more remote northern islands — including many of the same islands <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/world/asia/tonga-tsunami-volcano.html">hit hardest</a> by January’s tsunami, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNOSAT_A3_Natural_Landscape_VO20220115TON_DamageAssessment_NomukaVillage_HaapaiDivision_18Jan2022.pdf">including Nomuka</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/19/fears-for-tongas-tiny-mango-island-as-every-house-destroyed">and Mango</a>, where every house was destroyed following the eruption.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of an island with white sand atolls and turquoise waters around it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444657/original/file-20220206-19-ga2zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tongan island of Mango is seen in this 2013 photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Scott Mills)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Delving into the <a href="https://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/45-moments-over-45-years-celebrating-the-45th-anniversary-of-pacific-peoples-partnership/">Pacific Peoples’ Partnership’s archives</a> unearths stories about close ties between Canada and the Pacific islands. The organization was founded in 1975 as an offshoot of the United States-based Foundation for the South Pacific, the brainchild of Australian actor <a href="https://www.ilctr.org/entrepreneur-hof/elizabeth-silverstein/">Elizabeth (Betty) Silverstein</a> and her husband, American studio executive Maurice (Red) Silverstein.</p>
<p>The Canadian organization increased its impact through grants from the British Columbia government. Under NDP Premier Dave Barrett, B.C. created an innovative fund to match aid money raised by B.C.-based non-governmental organizations.</p>
<h2>Matching fundraising dollars</h2>
<p>The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was at the time also willing to match fundraising as part of its emphasis on <a href="https://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781773850405/">working closely with civil society</a> both in Canada and overseas.</p>
<p>CIDA funding for development education within Canada allowed the Pacific People’s Partnership to <a href="https://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/45-moments-over-45-years-celebrating-the-45th-anniversary-of-pacific-peoples-partnership/">host Tongan artist Sinisia Taumoepeau</a>, who strengthened the organization’s existing ties with local women’s development groups in Tonga in the early 1980s. </p>
<p>She was part of the Tonga Kitchens project, in which the Pacific People’s Partnership sent $40,000 (more than $100,000 in today’s money) to help rebuild hundreds of peitos. Islanders did all the work, contributing 80 per cent of the project’s value. As the organization’s archives say: “The project was truly theirs.”</p>
<p>CIDA’s emphasis at the time on integrating women in development made the Pacific People’s Partnership’s work with Tongan women attractive in Ottawa. The partnership has retained that emphasis, with Tonga’s <a href="https://pacificpeoplespartnership.org/international/women-and-children-crisis-centre-tonga/">Women and Children Crisis Centre</a> now a major partner. </p>
<p>The crisis centre stresses the Indigenous Tongan method of <em>talanoa</em> (talking informally) to provide mental health and other services. Its founder is feminist researcher <a href="https://www.spc.int/ofa-guttenbeil-likiliki">ʻOfa Guttenbeil-Likiliki</a>, a leading thinker in building <a href="https://iwda.org.au/resource/creating-equitable-south-north-partnerships/">equitable north-south partnerships</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1489321153214693385"}"></div></p>
<h2>Aid now less effective</h2>
<p>The Canadian government, however, later abandoned its earlier emphasis on civil society, women in development, development education and on the highly effective matching grants collaboration with Canadian civil society organizations.</p>
<p>It substituted corporate-driven and bureaucratic strategies such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12454">pairing non-governmental organizations with Canadian mining companies</a> or <a href="https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/new-page-5">promoting structural adjustments</a> — shifts that have often made Canadian aid <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/struggling-for-effectiveness-products-9780773540576.php">less effective</a>. </p>
<p>Only in recent years has Ottawa rediscovered ideas like “<a href="https://cooperation.ca/global-affairs-canada-cso-partnership-policy/">civil society partnerships</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/policy-politique.aspx?lang=eng">feminist international assistance policy</a>.”</p>
<p>That’s a positive development, but we also need to <a href="https://devhistory.wordpress.com/">recover the historical memory of Canadian development assistance</a> and craft effective strategies on civil society and feminist aid as the <a href="https://aidhistory.ca/">Canadian Network on Humanitarian History</a> does. The Tonga Kitchens project shows the needs have remained constant over the decades, including after the latest eruption.</p>
<p>We should also learn from the sustained engagement of groups like the Pacific Peoples’ Partnership rather than rely on short-term contracts and project-based approaches. Canada’s government seems to create a new aid strategy every few years, then celebrates it. Instead, it should reckon honestly with its past and current aid record.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neither-hero-nor-villain-canada-stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-pack-on-international-aid-124452">Neither hero nor villain: Canada stuck in the middle of the pack on international aid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A further lesson is that initiatives should be informed by the affected community. Tongans know their needs better than foreign visitors. Aid needs to be reframed as solidarity, not as benevolence. In other words, Canada needs to <a href="https://ecosociete.org/livres/perdre-le-sud">decolonize its aid</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, when disasters strike, Canadians need to remember that reconstruction takes years. To be effective, it should focus on the expressed needs of local people, especially voices that can become marginalized — those of remote Indigenous peoples and village-based women. </p>
<p>Work such as the Tonga Kitchens project not only delivers concrete help, it also “strengthens and solidifies the efforts of grass roots women’s groups, and affirms their organization,” as one archival Pacific People’s Partnership report noted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Webster receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He is a fellow of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and a member of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History.</span></em></p>In 1983, a Canadian group helped rebuild traditional cooking houses in Tonga in the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. The Tonga Kitchens project offers lessons for Canadian aid today.David Webster, Professor, History & Global Studies, Bishop's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1668042021-10-26T12:23:20Z2021-10-26T12:23:20ZWhat did billions in aid to Afghanistan accomplish? 5 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425780/original/file-20211011-21-l9rlc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=141%2C79%2C5742%2C3501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International Committee of the Red Cross rehabilitation center staff members assist a Taliban member on Oct. 11, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-international-committee-of-red-cross-news-photo/1235821036">Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The government of Afghanistan and that country’s economy relied heavily on foreign aid until the U.S. withdrawal. That support is on hold, although the United States and its allies have begun to take <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/24/treasury-makes-us-aid-to-afghanistan-easier-amid-taliban-sanctions.html">steps toward resuming some humanitarian assistance</a>. Here, Mohammad Qadam Shah, an assistant professor of global development at Seattle Pacific University who conducted in-depth research regarding Afghanistan’s aid administration, answers five questions about the past, present and future of aid to his native country.</em></p>
<h2>1. What did foreign economic aid accomplish in Afghanistan?</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/about/">US$150 billion in nonmilitary U.S. aid</a> flowed into Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020, plus billions more from its allies and <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/733171601494842102/pdf/The-World-Bank-Group-in-Afghanistan-Country-Update.pdf">international organizations</a>.</p>
<p>For those two decades, Afghanistan’s economic development aid largely funded education, health care, governance reforms and infrastructure – including schools, hospitals, roads, dams and other major construction projects.</p>
<p>One notable result in terms of education was that <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/education">far more students were enrolled in school</a>. The number of students jumped from 900,000 in 2001 to more than 9.5 million in 2020. <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/education-experts-worry-about-future-of-afghanistan-s-education-system-78595">Foreign aid helped build</a> about 20,000 elementary schools, and the number of universities grew sharply as well. The number of Afghans enrolled in higher education programs soared from 7,000 in 2001 to about 200,000 in 2019. There were no female college students in 2001, but there were <a href="https://www.eurasiareview.com/12102021-afghanistans-education-sector-prospects-under-taliban-rule-analysis/">54,861 in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>The share of girls among all students reached <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/education">39% in 2020</a>, versus only an estimated <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/womens-education-afghanistans-biggest-success-story-now-at-risk/">5,000 in 2001</a>.</p>
<p>Likewise, aid increased access to <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/afg/programmes/health-system-strengthening.html">health care</a> for most of the population. <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=AF">Life expectancy rose</a> over the two decades by about a decade, to 64.8 years in 2019, according to the World Bank. </p>
<p>Afghanistan also made progress in terms of governance reform, with the adoption of a <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Afghanistan_2004.pdf?lang=en">new constitution in 2004</a> that established a framework for liberal democratic governance and protecting human rights. It held four presidential and provincial council elections and <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/political-reform-urgently-needed-in-afghanistan/">three parliamentary elections</a>.</p>
<p>The country also adopted <a href="http://laws.moj.gov.af/">hundreds of new laws and regulations</a> regarding education, health, insurance, budgeting, mining, women rights and land titling.</p>
<p>International aid helped construct and pave <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2015/0202/Paved-roads-a-positive-legacy-of-Afghan-war.-But-who-fixes-potholes">thousands of miles of roads and streets</a>, either rehabilitated or built from scratch.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/infrastructure">Other infrastructure</a> projects included <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/afghanistan-and-the-regions-future-is-tied-to-hydro-diplomacy/">hydroelectric dams</a> and <a href="https://www.scalingsolar.org/active-engagements/afghanistan/">solar power plants</a> to generate electricity, bridges and irrigation and drinking water projects.</p>
<h2>2. What were the drawbacks?</h2>
<p><a href="https://whyy.org/articles/william-easterly-foreign-aid-sometimes-goes-to-the-wrong-people/">International development experts</a> do not dispute that aid can make a positive difference. What they criticize is that this assistance, even in vast amounts, doesn’t necessarily solve a country’s problems. That is the case in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/45216">what I’ve seen firsthand in my research</a>, the problem in Afghanistan was not the amount of aid, but its mismanagement.</p>
<p>The highly centralized governance system Afghanistan adopted in 2001 gave its president unconstrained political, fiscal and administrative power, without any way for the legislature or the public to hold the <a href="https://www.discoursemagazine.com/politics/2020/07/21/defund-afghanistan/">executive branch of government accountable</a>. To a degree, the government was accountable to foreign donors, but this lack of checks and balances contributed to <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/06/pdf/klitgaar.pdf">systemic corruption</a>.</p>
<p>A centralized public finance management system gave Afghanistan’s president complete control and discretion over planning, budgeting and taxation. He could also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.1960487">tactically allocate government spending</a> to curry favor with elites, interest groups and voters.</p>
<p>Afghanistan’s <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=AF">$20 billion economy</a> was <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/taliban-takeover-how-frozen-assets-foreign-aid-impacts-afghanistan/">heavily dependent on foreign aid</a>, but its centralized governance system was <a href="https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/sigar-waste-fraud-afghanistan.html">prone to mismanaging it</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, the <a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/parliament-probe-alleged-embezzlements-code-91">president had exclusive and unconstrained access</a> to a large share of government funds.</p>
<p>I believe the only way to have fixed this problem, before the Taliban took over again, was to <a href="https://www.discoursemagazine.com/politics/2020/07/21/defund-afghanistan/">defund the country</a> and reform the aid management system in a way that the people had the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. And I would expect to see a centralized, exclusive aid management system under the Taliban to replicate the same flaws and challenges seen in Afghanistan over the past two decades. </p>
<h2>3. What’s standing in the way of aid delivery?</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/us-foreign-aid-explained-74810">Economic assistance </a> can support long-term economic development or help meet more immediate humanitarian objectives – such as providing food and shelter after disasters, or any help intended to save immediately imperiled lives.</p>
<p>As long as the Taliban remain in control, the only aid likely to flow from the U.S. and most of its allies will surely be the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171102215158/http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/data-guides/defining-humanitarian-aid">humanitarian kind</a>. Even that money, however, will likely be contingent upon whether Afghanistan’s new authorities <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/eu-pulls-afghanistan-funding-will-work-with-taliban-if-rights-respected.html">respect human rights</a>, form an inclusive government and prevent Afghanistan’s territory from being used for terrorist purposes.</p>
<p>But the Taliban are mostly <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-constitution-offers-glimpse-into-militant-group-s-vision-for-afghanistan/30577298.html">running Afghanistan</a> like they did in the 1990s – with an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/11/asia/afghanistan-taliban-justice-cmd-intl/index.html">iron fist</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.interregional.com/en/non-inclusive-governance/">Taliban’s interim cabinet</a> includes no women or members of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. And there are reports that the Taliban are already <a href="https://8am.af/eng/taliban-evicted-indigenous-hazaras-from-daikundis-gizab-400-families-displaced-so-far/">forcibly displacing people in Hazara communities</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/world/asia/afghan-girls-schools-taliban.html">not letting girls go to school</a>.</p>
<h2>4. What’s happening to Afghanistan’s aid?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-afghanistan-the-us-again-gets-to-choose-how-it-stops-fighting-165058">U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal</a> precipitated the collapse of the Afghan government and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-taliban-is-crucial-in-understanding-their-success-now-and-also-what-might-happen-next-166630">Taliban’s takeover</a>, disrupting aid delivery. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/24/investors-dilemma-abandon-billions-spent-or-work-with-taliban">Thousands of foreign aid workers</a> and their Afghan former colleagues have left the country.</p>
<p>The few exceptions include a handful of humanitarian aid programs: the <a href="https://twitter.com/NRC_Egeland/status/1426852062889926657?s=20">Norwegian Refugee Council</a>, the <a href="https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/afghanistan-how-the-red-cross-and-red-crescent-are-helping.html">Red Cross</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/MSF_Afghanistan/status/1426907379812159500">Doctors witout Borders</a> and the <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/afghanistan-wfp-continues-deliver-winter-and-humanitarian-crisis-loom">World Food Program</a> are all <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/can-the-world-get-aid-to-afghanistan/">still operating in Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>In August 2021, the <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/taliban-takeover-world-bank-and-imf-halt-aid-us-freezes-afghan-assets/">U.S. froze more than $9 billion</a> of Afghanistan’s assets. Nearly all sources of Afghanistan’s aid, including the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/eu-pulls-afghanistan-funding-will-work-with-taliban-if-rights-respected.html">European Union</a>, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral organizations, stopped disbursing assistance.</p>
<p>“The economic and development outlook is stark,” the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/overview#1">World Bank observes</a>.</p>
<p>On Sept. 13, 2021, the U.S. Agency for International Development said it would dispatch <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/sep-13-2021-united-states-nearly-64-million-additional-humanitarian-assistance-afghanistan">$64 million in new humanitarian aid to Afghanistan</a>, channeling it through nonprofits and U.N. agencies. But it’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/10/1044912355/the-taliban-says-u-s-has-agreed-to-provide-humanitarian-assistance-to-afghanista">not clear</a>, according to the Taliban, that this money is flowing yet.</p>
<p>In October 2021, the European Union pledged 1 billion euros, about <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_5208">$1.2 billion, in humanitarian aid and other forms of support</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/22/pakistan-eases-travel-restrictions-aid-afghanistan-taliban">Pakistan</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58496867">China are providing emergency aid</a>, as have a few other countries, including <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/qatar-dispatches-humanitarian-aid-to-afghanistan/2368127">Qatar</a>.</p>
<p>China and Pakistan are teaming up with Russia, Iran and India, along with some former Soviet Central Asian countries, to advocate for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/20/russia-hosts-taliban-for-talks-but-warns-no-recognition-for-now">U.N. to recognize the Taliban</a> government, which could facilitate the flow of more aid.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Boxes of aid from Qatar arrive in Afghanistan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428098/original/file-20211023-9457-eny8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Officials unload packages of Qatari humanitarian aid in Kabul on Sept. 17, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/officials-unload-packages-as-qatari-aircraft-carrying-news-photo/1235327089?adppopup=true">Qatari Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. What are some of the consequences?</h2>
<p>The Taliban have not yet shown that they can actually govern Afghanistan.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/the-interview/20211005-taliban-not-victorious-in-afghanistan-s-panjshir-region-parallel-govt-official-says">Resistance groups are forming</a>, and <a href="https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/isis-is-becoming-a-new-threat-in-afghanistan-says-us-president-joe-biden/videoshow/85551889.cms">ISIS-K poses a significant threat</a> to their ability to keep control of the country.</p>
<p>Perhaps more important, the Taliban <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/business/economy/afghanistan-taliban-financial-crisis.html">lack the money and expertise required</a> to satisfy the basic needs of the Afghan people.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Thousands of Afghan <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/hundreds-of-afghan-teachers-call-on-taliban-to-pay-their-salaries-report-2583709">public servants are demanding their unpaid salaries</a>. Afghans who used to work for nongovernmental organizations have <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/26/1030691740/aid-groups-wonder-whether-to-stay-or-go-as-taliban-takes-over-afghanistan">lost their jobs</a>, as have <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210909-afghans-fear-for-jobs-and-money-after-taliban-takeover">many others</a>.</p>
<p>An estimated <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/countries/afghanistan/">14 million Afghans</a> were already having trouble getting enough to eat before the disruption of aid. That situation is now <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/half-afghanistans-children-under-five-expected-suffer-acute-malnutrition-hunger">growing more dire</a>, according to UNICEF.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166804/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohammad Qadam Shah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar from Afghanistan outlines what more than $150 billion in assistance did and didn’t accomplish in two decades following the arrival of U.S. troops un 2001.Mohammad Qadam Shah, Assistant Professor of Global Development, Seattle Pacific UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652982021-08-11T12:29:32Z2021-08-11T12:29:32ZCredit ratings are punishing poorer countries for investing more in health care during the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415530/original/file-20210810-19-178x8bn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=175%2C146%2C4607%2C3105&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Morocco wanted to spend more on health care. As a result, its credit rating was cut. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakMoroccoVaccination/14a66c3698cb4f118b52942707c17d6a/photo?Query=Morocco%20covid-19&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=210&currentItemNo=53">AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2020/07/recovering-from-covid19/">depends on sustained investment</a> in health care and social services. But while rich countries like the U.S. <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Fiscal-Policies-Database-in-Response-to-COVID-19">can borrow and spend relatively easily</a>, low-income nations face a major obstacle: their credit ratings. </p>
<p>A credit rating, like a credit score, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-credit-ratings-matter-and-why-they-cant-be-ignored-69361">is an assessment of the ability of a borrower</a> – whether it’s a company or a government – to repay its debts. Lower credit ratings drive up the cost of borrowing.</p>
<p>This threat prompted <a href="https://group30.org/publications/detail/4799">some poorer countries to avoid tapping investors</a> for vital financing during the pandemic, while other governments that made plans to spend more on public services <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ratings-sovereign-idUKKBN2B92OY">were hit with credit ratings downgrades</a> from private companies. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://sase.confex.com/sase/2021/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/17513">forthcoming research</a> shows that when credit ratings fall, countries tend to spend less on health care. This should be a cause for concern as the delta variant of the coronavirus <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">drives up case counts across the world</a>. </p>
<h2>Punished for health care spending</h2>
<p>A wide gap has emerged between rich and poor countries in terms of how much they are spending to fight the coronavirus’s impact and shore up their health care infrastructure. </p>
<p>Governments in rich countries <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-to-balance-debt-and-development/">have provided trillions of dollars</a> in direct and indirect support for their economies, on average about 24% of their gross domestic product. Developing economies, on the other hand, have been able to spend only a tiny fraction of that, an average of about 2% of their GDP. </p>
<p>Recent research found that a country’s credit rating <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w27461">was the largest factor</a> in how much a government spent on COVID-19 relief. That is, the lower a country’s rating, the less it was able to spend on health care and other social services. </p>
<p>For instance, Ivory Coast and Benin are the only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa that <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-to-balance-debt-and-development/">have been able to borrow in international markets</a> since the pandemic began. Others chose not to borrow, at least in part, it seems, <a href="https://group30.org/images/uploads/publications/G30_Sovereign_Debt_and_Financing_for_Recovery_after_the_COVID-19_Shock-_Preliminary_Report_1.pdf">out of fear of the ratings downgrades</a> that might result. This has prevented them from financing much-needed spending. </p>
<p>The fear is justified. Countries that planned to increase spending, such as Morocco and Ethiopia, were punished for it. Morocco’s credit rating, for example, was downgraded to speculative grade, or “junk,” by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/morocco-rating-fitch-idUSL8N2HE5YL">Fitch</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-02/morocco-cut-to-junk-by-s-p-kn0qnt09">Standard & Poor’s</a> because of its plan to spend more on social services. <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/08/17/analysis-how-do-credit-downgrades-affect-short-term-government-borrowing">The ratings cuts will make it much harder</a>, and more expensive, for it to borrow from international investors.</p>
<p>And Moody’s Investors Service <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-bonds/update-1-moodys-downgrade-over-g20-common-framework-hits-ethiopian-bonds-idUSL5N2N52KD">slashed Ethiopia’s credit rating</a> after the country sought debt relief from a <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About/FAQ/sovereign-debt#Section%205">new Group of 20 program</a> so that it <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-07/ethiopia-in-negotiations-to-restructure-1-billion-more-of-debt-kqte6iuj?sref=Hjm5biAW">could spend more on supporting</a> its economy and citizens.</p>
<p>Overall, despite spending far less during the pandemic, poorer countries <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ratings-sovereign-idUKKBN2B92OY">were much more likely than wealthier ones to see their credit ratings cut</a> by Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s – the three biggest private credit rating agencies. </p>
<p>Low-income countries are therefore forced to choose between keeping their credit ratings stable and undertaking critical social services spending. </p>
<p>In my own research, which is currently under peer review, I looked at ratings changes across a group of 140 countries from 2000 to 2018. I found that downgrades in credit ratings lowered public spending on health care. </p>
<h2>The IMF’s rating system</h2>
<p>Even the International Monetary Fund, which is the main global agency that oversees development finance, uses a rating system that tends to penalize governments for any increase in public spending. That includes spending invested in their health care systems. </p>
<p>The IMF evaluates the creditworthiness of countries through a system it calls its <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/16/39/Debt-Sustainability-Framework-for-Low-Income-Countries">debt sustainability framework</a>. Countries are classified into three levels of “<a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/16/39/Debt-Sustainability-Framework-for-Low-Income-Countries">credit capacity</a>” - strong, medium or weak. </p>
<p>Weak countries are deemed to have a low ability to handle additional debt based on their current levels of indebtedness. No distinction is made <a href="https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2017/12/debt-sustainability-review-tinkering-around-edges-crises-loom/">between debt</a> that was a result of important long-term investments in social services like health and education and debt incurred by more wasteful spending. Countries are then required by the IMF to improve their ratings as a condition of aid, such as by putting the focus on debt repayment, short-term economic objectives and across-the-board spending cuts. </p>
<p>An op-ed in The Lancet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70377-8">blamed similar IMF-induced austerity</a> in the early 2000s for a reduction in health care spending in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, leaving them susceptible to the Ebola crisis in 2014. The three were the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/19/guinea-ebola-outbreak-declared-over-by-who">worst-affected countries</a> in an epidemic that lasted two years and led to over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html">11,000 deaths</a>. </p>
<h2>Ratings reform</h2>
<p>The IMF recently announced a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/politics/g20-imf-vaccines.html">plan to issue US$650 billion</a> in reserve funds that low-income countries can use to buy vaccines and expand health care. While that should help more countries not to have to choose between credit ratings and the well-being of their citizens during the pandemic, it’s only a short-term fix.</p>
<p>A recent United Nations report <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/46/29">urged reform of how private credit ratings agencies are regulated</a>, arguing they lack accountability and make it hard for poor countries to fulfill their human rights obligations. A proposal to put a moratorium on the sovereign credit ratings of debt-burdened countries during crises <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-emerging-debt-ratings/credit-downgrade-buffer-proposed-for-poor-nations-seeking-debt-help-study-idUSKCN2DG0US">would also help provide a buffer</a>. </p>
<p>Permanent changes in how the IMF and private credit ratings agencies evaluate debt, however, may be needed so that they’re not penalizing countries for making important investments in health care and other public services. That would help countries can build their health care infrastructure so that they aren’t caught off guard by the next pandemic.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>._]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ramya Devan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Low-income countries that sought to spend more on health care during the pandemic have been hit with ratings downgrades, while others avoided borrowing entirely.Ramya Devan, Professor of Economics, Stockton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1606042021-05-18T20:09:40Z2021-05-18T20:09:40ZWhile rich countries experience a post-COVID boom, the poor are getting poorer. Here’s how Australia can help<p>The latest <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/03/23/world-economic-outlook-april-2021">IMF</a> and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eap/publication/uneven-recovery-east-asia-and-pacific-economic-update-april-2021">World Bank</a> reports show a global economic boom gathering steam. This is thanks to <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/un-covid-19-could-lead-lost-decade-development">US$16 trillion</a> in fiscal stimulus packages spent mostly across the world’s rich nations since the pandemic began.</p>
<p>After the reversal of 2020, the global economy is now projected to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/07/imf-upgrades-australias-post-covid-economic-outlook#:%7E:text=The%20world%20economy%20is%20expected,possible%20downside%20and%20upside%20risks.">grow by 6% in 2021</a>, powered by strong growth in the US and China, which are forecast to grow by 6% and 8%, respectively. </p>
<p>Australians are not missing out, thanks to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/11/federal-budget-2021-papers-reveals-huge-cost-of-covid-australian-government-economy-economic-stimulus-packages">A$311 billion</a> in public spending. The <a href="https://budget.gov.au/index.htm">federal budget</a>’s GDP growth forecast is 4.25% in 2021. Unemployment is forecast to fall to below 5% by mid-2023.</p>
<p>Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, we should consider the risks the pandemic continues to pose, not only to our recovery but the global boom the world’s rich nations have generated. </p>
<h2>New variants could lead to COVID surge</h2>
<p>As a rich nation surrounded by developing countries, Australia can see these risks around its region, not only in India, but also Southeast Asia and the Pacific. </p>
<p>The first of these risks is that all our forecasts and projections assume the progress of successful vaccination programs, not only in Australia but around the world. Yet, the virus is potentially adapting more quickly than developing countries are able to vaccinate their populations. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-ways-to-vaccinate-the-world-and-make-sure-everyone-benefits-rich-and-poor-155943">3 ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits, rich and poor</a>
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<p>The B.1.617 virus variant has become the dominant strain in India and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01274-7">spread to some 40 countries</a>, including many in Southeast Asia. </p>
<p>Indonesia is particularly vulnerable. The vaccine rollout here has been sluggish, with <a href="https://vaksin.kemkes.go.id/#/vaccines">just under 14 million people</a> having received their first dose so far. The government has set an ambitious target of vaccinating <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/mixed-reception-to-indonesias-ambitious-covid-19-vaccination-drive">181 million people</a> by next March, but it will struggle to reach this target.</p>
<p>Although the government prohibited travel during the recent Eid holiday, data suggests at least <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/indonesia-seen-risk-covid-19-timebomb-after-eid-travel-2021-05-17/">1.5 million left homes before the ban</a>, causing one epidemiologist to warn of a COVID “timebomb” in the country.</p>
<p>The government is already warning the appearance of the B.1.617 variant (and others) could cause the country to <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/05/15/new-covid-19-variants-may-jeopardize-recovery-economists.html">miss its growth target</a> of between 4.5% and 5.3% this year, if the poor are unable to work due to new mobility restrictions.</p>
<h2>Millions more have fallen into extreme poverty</h2>
<p>The second risk to a post-pandemic global recovery is many developing nations are simply not benefiting from the start of the economic rebound. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has reduced per capita GDP by <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eap/publication/uneven-recovery-east-asia-and-pacific-economic-update-april-2021">as much as one-fifth</a> in these countries. </p>
<p>Last year, <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/gaef3534.doc.htm">100 million people</a> — mostly in South Asia — were on the brink of extreme poverty. This could rise to as many as <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/10/07/covid-19-to-add-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021">150 million people</a> this year. As a result, millions of children could drop out of school this year around the world.</p>
<p>The Pacific Island countries have been badly affected, not only by the economic effects of border closures, but in the case of PNG, by the virus itself. With many reliant on tourism, commodities, and remittances, the Pacific Island countries’ economies <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eap/publication/uneven-recovery-east-asia-and-pacific-economic-update-april-2021">shrank</a> by 11% in 2020 collectively. </p>
<p>Fiji’s GDP contracted by a massive 19%, while in typhoon-affected Vanuatu, the economy shrank by 10%. </p>
<p>The effects on human development outcomes are immediately obvious. In PNG, <a href="http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/459511607010120078/pdf/Papua-New-Guinea-High-Frequency-Survey-on-COVID-19-First-Round-Results.pdf">52% of families</a> surveyed by the World Bank in 2020 indicated they were sending fewer children to school because of reduced incomes. </p>
<p>More broadly, across East Asia and the Pacific, students are <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eap/publication/uneven-recovery-east-asia-and-pacific-economic-update-april-2021">expected to lose</a> 0.8 Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS) — a measure that combines quantity and quality of schooling — between January 2020 and December 2021. This is almost half their school time over two years.</p>
<h2>Australia’s aid spending still not enough</h2>
<p>Unlike Australia, many developing countries cannot free up large amounts of public money to invest in stimulating their economies. For them to join in the global recovery, they will need assistance.</p>
<p>Australia’s response is helping to some extent. Australia invested an extra <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/corporate/portfolio-budget-statements/pbs-2021-22-aid-budget-summary">A$479.7 million</a> in international development spending in 2020–21 above its notional baseline allocation of <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview202021/AustraliasForeignAidBudget">$4 billion per annum</a>. </p>
<p>In 2021–22, it is projecting a total investment of <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/australia-s-2021-aid-budget-focuses-on-past-promises-99880#:%7E:text=Announced%20as%20part%20of%20the,respond%20to%20COVID%2D19%E2%80%9D.">$4.34 billion</a>. This is still extra, but it represents a cut in real terms of 5% on the previous year. </p>
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<p>Compared to other wealthy nations, however, Australia is still not giving much. Australia’s investment in Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a proportion of gross national income <a href="http://devpolicy.org/aidtracker/trends/">is 0.21% in 2021–22</a>, much lower than the <a href="https://acfid.asn.au/media-releases/covid-19-spikes-across-asia-australian-aid-falls">OECD average of 0.32%</a>.</p>
<p>Given the scale of need and the pace of developments in our region, Australia will very likely offer more as the financial year progresses.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-asia-how-to-ensure-progress-on-reducing-poverty-isnt-reversed-by-coronavirus-146169">South Asia: how to ensure progress on reducing poverty isn't reversed by coronavirus</a>
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<h2>Greater stimulus spending and social protection schemes</h2>
<p>But Australia also needs to do much more to mobilise other forms of funding to assist its neighbours’ economic recoveries. </p>
<p>One thing Canberra is doing right is investing some of its ODA in social protection schemes around the region, including an <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/australia-s-2021-aid-budget-focuses-on-past-promises-99880">A$18 million Partnerships for Social Protection package</a> for the Pacific that will scale up assistance to vulnerable households. </p>
<p>Australia has also issued a <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/insights/australias-a$1.5-billion-covid-related-loan-to-indonesia">concessional loan to Indonesia</a>, which it stipulates includes money for strengthening Indonesia’s health and social protection systems.</p>
<p>On top of this investment, Australia should use its access to global forums to advocate for more assistance to developing countries, especially in Asia and the Pacific. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-facing-a-terrible-crisis-how-can-australia-respond-ethically-159992">India is facing a terrible crisis. How can Australia respond ethically?</a>
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<p>One such forum is the <a href="https://www.g7plus.org/">G7+</a>, where Australia says it wants to promote prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific. </p>
<p>Another is the coming <a href="https://www.g20.org/">G20 summit</a> in Italy in October, where Australia will have an opportunity to advocate for debt relief and restructuring for developing countries. This will allow them to free up cash for stimulus schemes like JobKeeper and JobSeeker, which protected many of us in Australia over the past year.</p>
<p>Australia is already meeting with the United States’ new aid administrator, Samantha Power, to discuss more cooperation on this front, including through the informal Quad alliance (which also includes Japan and India). </p>
<p>Australia should also continue to advocate to multilateral banks and funding agencies to invest real cash in new and additional stimulus packages and social protection systems around the region. </p>
<p>These systems could fund universal child benefits to keep children schooled and properly fed, protecting the advances our neighbours have made over the past 40 years of economic development. </p>
<p>Key to our own security and prosperity is our neighbours’ resilience to shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. </p>
<p>Australia will need to allocate more money from its own coffers — and encourage more giving from the rest of the developed world — to stimulate our neighbours’ economies. Only then will we see a global economic recovery where everyone benefits — not just the wealthy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amrita Malhi works for Save the Children. </span></em></p>Many developing countries cannot free up public money to invest in economic stimulus packages. For them to join in the global recovery, they will need assistance.Amrita Malhi, Visiting Fellow, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs; Senior Adviser Geoeconomics, Save the Children, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1607102021-05-17T15:47:13Z2021-05-17T15:47:13ZInternational aid to Africa needs an overhaul. Tips on what needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400750/original/file-20210514-23-1odk6ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many African countries still rely heavily on <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.511.8554&rep=rep1&type=pdf">foreign aid</a>. However, several studies have shown that <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8705862/bauer.2009.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">foreign aid has failed to deliver sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction</a>. </p>
<p>The fact that foreign aid as currently practised has failed to achieve its poverty reduction targets in Africa is clear from the data. Over <a href="https://borgenproject.org/10-quick-facts-about-poverty-in-africa/">75%</a> of the world’s poor live in Africa today. In 1970 the figure was 10%. Some forecasts suggest it could rise to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/accelerating-poverty-reduction-in-africa-in-five-charts#:%7E:text=%20Accelerating%20Poverty%20Reduction%20in%20Africa%3A%20In%20Five,much%20better%20leveraged%20to%20accelerate%20poverty...%20More%20">90% by 2030</a>. </p>
<p>Africa is the only continent in the world where <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03946-2_2">official aid inflow outstrips private capital inflow</a> by a large margin. This is problematic since no country in the world has achieved substantial development based on reliance on aid. </p>
<p>This points to the need for reform.</p>
<p>There are two sides to the debate on <a href="https://www.lejournalinternational.fr/Foreign-aid-is-hurting-not-helping-Sub-Saharan-Africa_a2085.html">foreign aid to developing countries</a>, in particular <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03946-2_2#FPar1">in sub-Saharan Africa</a>.</p>
<p>One is that Africa’s aid-dependent economic model <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w20685/w20685.pdf">provides “free” money</a> which prevents countries from taking advantage of opportunities provided by the global economy. </p>
<p>The other is that foreign aid is not a problem by itself, but misallocation of resources, corruption, and bad governance limit Africa’s ability to use aid. As South Korea’s ambassador to South Africa <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03946-2_2">has argued</a>, aid is ineffective in places where there is bad governance, and unnecessary where there is good governance. </p>
<p>The arguments against aid point to gaps in the management of foreign aid. Recipient countries <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w20685/w20685.pdf">pour aid money</a> into poor and inefficient white elephant projects that neither foster growth and development nor build good institutions. And there’s <a href="https://www.lejournalinternational.fr/Foreign-aid-is-hurting-not-helping-Sub-Saharan-Africa_a2085.html">misuse of the money</a>. </p>
<p>The aim of this article is to provide some key pointers to reforms that should take place. Timely reforms of foreign aid can help to achieve significant growth and poverty reduction in Africa.</p>
<h2>An old debate</h2>
<p>Nearly 50 years ago the well-known Hungarian-born British development economist, <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8705862/bauer.2009.pdf">Peter Bauer</a>, strongly criticised government-to-government aid as neither necessary nor efficient. He argued that it posed the danger of promoting government power, destroying economic incentives as well as eroding civic initiatives and dynamism. </p>
<p>In 2009 the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo challenged many assumptions about aid in her book <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan-Whiteside/publication/38091995_Dead_aid_Why_aid_is_not_working_and_how_there_is_a_better_way_for_Africa/links/558c058d08aee43bf6ae0fe3/Dead-aid-Why-aid-is-not-working-and-how-there-is-a-better-way-for-Africa.pdf">Dead Aid</a>. She argued that aid had not merely failed to work but had compounded Africa’s problems. </p>
<p>New York University economics professor William Easterly has also been an opponent. He argues that poverty results from an absence of economic and political rights, and that only the restoration of these will address the issue.</p>
<p>The arguments put forward by these critics point to the fact that official aid creates dependency, fosters corruption, encourages currency overvaluation, and doesn’t allow countries to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the global economy. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/coep.12418">recent study</a> highlighted the marginal effect of aid on promoting growth in Africa. The research, done by Alabama State University economics professor Shaomeng Jia and Mississippi State University associate professor of economics Claudia R. Williamson, was based on extensive data from 1962 to 2013. </p>
<p>They found that, in the absence of good governance and institutions, aid had minimal impact on delivering long-term growth. </p>
<h2>Reform ideas</h2>
<p>One way to reform foreign aid is to de-link African institutions from an aid-dependent economic model that has made many governments think of aid as a source of income. </p>
<p>Instead, African countries should promote private sector development, entrepreneurship, and improving the tax culture. </p>
<p>Another way could be to adopt the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshall-plan-1">Marshall Plan</a>. This innovative foreign aid model was introduced by the US to assist 16 European nations build their economies and strengthen democracy following the devastation of World War II in 1948. </p>
<p>Finally, the way aid priorities are set needs to be overhauled. If aid is going to foster growth and development, the following five key points need to be taken on board.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Economic and foreign aid must be directed to achieving sustained growth in per capita income by encouraging a shift from agrarian-based production to manufacturing and a technologically sophisticated service sector. This will require African leaders to re-think their economies, become more democratic, be open to change information and develop their own self-dependent programmes.</p></li>
<li><p>Bilateral or multilateral collaborations must be established with countries that have already pushed the technology frontier. International aid needs to be in line with this.</p></li>
<li><p>Both the national and foreign policies of governments need to target a development programme that can embrace growth and that leads to eventual reduction in reliance on aid. </p></li>
<li><p>Poverty and underdevelopment are exacerbated by natural disasters. This points to the need for humanitarian aid to be directed to helping countries reinvest in resilience. In addition, developed nations must follow cooperation and diplomacy to solve problems like conflicts rather than using aid to pressurise governments.</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign aid reform needs to be designed to strengthen the <a href="https://au.int/en/cfta">agenda of the African Continental Free Trade Area</a>. The pact, agreed in 2018, establishes one of the <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2020/arz/afcfta-secretariat-commissioned-accra-free-trade-set-begin-january-2021#:%7E:text=AfCFTA%20Secretariat%20commissioned%20in%20Accra%20as%20free%20trade,people%20with%20a%20combined%20GDP%20of%20%243%20trillion.">largest free trade areas in the world</a>. Lessons learned from the Eurozone trademark as well as cooperation with the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/global-trade-wto-ngozi-okonjo-iweala/">World Trade Organization</a> would also be valuable. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Taking these issues into consideration would go a long way to help reform foreign aid for growth and development and achieve the <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview">2063 agenda</a> of the Africa Union.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tigist Mekonnen Melesse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The way foreign aid is disbursed needs to be revisited to avoid the traps it’s fallen into in the past.Tigist Mekonnen Melesse, Post-PhD Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1599922021-05-04T20:06:54Z2021-05-04T20:06:54ZIndia is facing a terrible crisis. How can Australia respond ethically?<p>India’s COVID-19 crisis has revived a longstanding debate about whether foreign governments should come to the aid of countries facing major economic or humanitarian challenges and, if so, what kind of help they should provide.</p>
<p>There’s a common assumption foreign aid produces undoubted benefits. But there’s actually <a href="https://academicjournals.org/article/article1379931879_Andrews.pdf">limited evidence</a> that it does. <a href="http://econ4life.com/assets/why-foreign-aid-is-hurting-africa.pdf">Increasing data</a> suggests it may perpetuate existing inequities and inefficiencies, enable corruption, and generate adverse cultural and economic effects. </p>
<p>There are serious questions about the underlying causes of India’s crisis. There’s evidence the Modi government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/01/india-covid-crisis-government-ignored-warnings-on-variant-scientists-say">repeatedly ignored warnings from public health experts</a> and refused to plan for the predicted increases in need. Instead, it pursued a public discourse of misinformation, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/fraud-nation-critics-blast-indian-government-s-promotion-traditional-medicine-covid-19">promoted fake cures</a>, withheld health data, intimidated journalists, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-in-india-how-the-modi-government-prioritised-politics-over-public-health-160016">encouraged super-spreading events</a>. </p>
<p>Government officials also <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-its-about-time-the-indian-government-took-responsibility-for-the-covid-crisis/a-57358906">continue to deny</a> the existence of shortages of vaccines and other medicines. These facts suggest there are underlying structural obstacles, which aid contributions would be unlikely to reverse.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-in-india-how-the-modi-government-prioritised-politics-over-public-health-160016">COVID in India: how the Modi government prioritised politics over public health</a>
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<p>But the moral arguments about the obligations humans have to each other are well established. So is the principle that we should come to someone’s aid if they’re in need. We are also bound by mutually beneficial values such as equity, justice, solidarity and altruism. Consequentialist philosophers, who argue the only things that matter are outcomes (rather than principles, obligations or intentions), claim foreign aid generally provides more benefit than harm overall.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the fact we have a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11098-020-01566-0">moral obligation to rescue someone from harm</a> provides little or no guidance about what kind of help or assistance is thereby required.</p>
<p>We should enter into discussions, led by the Indian people, about what kinds of support are likely to make a difference.</p>
<p>As imperfect as the outcome may be, Australia might genuinely be able to help in areas such as assisting the development of expertise and infrastructure, and advocating for the relaxation of vaccine patent restrictions.</p>
<h2>Here’s how Australia can help</h2>
<p>Last week, Australia <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/scott-morrison-pause-flights-india-covid-outbreak/100098322">committed to sending an initial support package</a> of ventilators, oxygen, and personal protective equipment to India.</p>
<p>If we choose to act further, we should do so in a generous and compassionate manner, but also with prudence and circumspection. We should be realistic about the limited options available to us. Aid cannot be given with conditions attached — for example, that it be directed preferentially to those in greatest need.</p>
<p>What’s more, it cannot be contingent on the enforcement of a value system that’s contrary to those presently in authority. Foreign donors have no straightforward right to insist on the abolition of corrupt or counterproductive policies and practices in the countries they’re supporting. </p>
<p>However, there are options available to us that can ensure we actually make a difference — and some of these may appear to undermine our own interests.</p>
<p>Top health officials have suggested wealthy countries, which have contracted to purchase many more vaccine doses than they need, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/15/global-officials-urge-rich-countries-to-donate-coronavirus-jabs">should urgently donate excess vaccines</a> to middle- and lower-income countries such as India. Some people may argue that, because of our present lesser need, Australia could donate its entire stock of available vaccines. However, this wouldn’t likely be of much benefit given the logistical, political and structural impediments described above.</p>
<p>Instead, we should draw on our experience over the past year in developing effective processes for responding to the pandemic. We should offer to provide India with expertise about quarantine measures, hygiene, masks, and vaccine education campaigns. Our experts and policymakers could respectfully advise on appropriate economic and social policies. </p>
<p>What’s more, we could call for the relaxation of patent and other intellectual property restrictions. These have, since the late 1980s, imposed severe limits on the ability of poorer countries to produce vaccines and pharmaceuticals developed in the United States and Europe. Although India is the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/18/978065736/indias-role-in-covid-19-vaccine-production-is-getting-even-bigger">world’s largest vaccine producer</a>, the current demand <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56912977">obviously exceeds supply</a>.</p>
<p>What vaccines are available are much less likely to find their way to poorer sections of India’s population than wealthier ones. This is partly because of insufficient government support, but is also exacerbated by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/10/australia-urged-to-back-plan-to-let-poor-countries-make-cheap-copies-of-covid-vaccines">refusal of rich countries</a> (including Australia) to allow the relaxation of the strict patent laws that prevent state-of-the-art vaccines being manufactured cheaply and efficiently in developing countries. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/over-700-health-experts-are-calling-for-urgent-action-to-expand-global-production-of-covid-vaccines-159701">Over 700 health experts are calling for urgent action to expand global production of COVID vaccines</a>
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<p>There’s already a well-tested mechanism for suspending patent restrictions in an emergency, known as the “<a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/healthdeclexpln_e.htm">Doha Declaration</a>”. This was negotiated in 2001 in response to the urgent need for increased access to newly developed HIV medications. This instrument is ready to use and could be implemented rapidly. Australia should announce its unqualified support for the immediate application of the Doha Declaration to COVID vaccine production. </p>
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<h2>But that’s not all</h2>
<p>India’s huge pharmaceutical industry has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/india-covid-crisis-disrupting-coronavirus-vaccine-supplies/100100324">previously provided vaccines and medicines to developing countries</a> — many of them in Africa — largely funded by the World Health Organization. The Indian crisis has left these countries vulnerable, through no fault of their own.</p>
<p>Rather than merely responding to the crisis in India, largely self-inflicted by its own government, we should also turn our attention to the increasingly urgent needs of those countries that now face their own major emergencies as a consequence.</p>
<p>Regardless of what anyone does, many people will still die. All that’s open to us is to act ethically in accordance with our own values, informed by knowledge about the complexity of the multiple forces at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Lipworth receives funding from the National Health & Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Kerridge and Paul Komesaroff do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Providing foreign aid is not always straightforward. But here are some practical ways Australia might be able to help India.Paul Komesaroff, Professor of Medicine, Monash UniversityIan Kerridge, Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of SydneyWendy Lipworth, Senior Research Fellow, Bioethics, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1577942021-04-07T13:34:57Z2021-04-07T13:34:57ZForeign aid can help stem the decline of democracy, if used in the right way<p>Democracy is having a hard time. In India, once the world’s largest democracy, the pandemic has hastened the country’s <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/covid-vs-democracy-indias-illiberal-remedy/">slide toward authoritarianism</a>. In the US, the Trump administration’s attacks on democratic norms reached new lows when the former president, backed by the Republican party, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-election-why-democratic-legitimacy-remains-at-stake-148572">refused to accept his loss</a> in the November 2020 elections. </p>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/foreign-aid-can-help-stem-the-decline-of-democracy-if-used-in-the-right-way-157794&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>In fact studies show democratic norms are in decline worldwide. Freedom House recently argued that <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege">democracy has been declining since 2005</a>, while the <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/en/">latest report</a> from the Varieties of Democracy Institute reveals that 68% the world’s population now live in autocracies.</p>
<p>More countries have slid down the democracy ladder in the last decade than have moved up. States such as Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela that enjoyed a period of growing democratic norms now see a dramatic freefall in political freedoms. Several countries in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East are moving towards authoritarianism, while Brazil, Mexico and South Africa have recently experienced deterioration of democratic institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graph showing gradual increase in democratic institutions in different world regions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391933/original/file-20210326-15-10qd5sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regions are assigned a score based on the political systems within them, from zero for closed autocracies to values closer to one for liberal democracies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel M Gisselquist and Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, based on V-Dem's electoral democracy index.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>This entails not just loss of civil liberties and political rights for those in “backsliding” countries, but also a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/09/liberal-international-order-free-world-trump-authoritarianism/569881/">major shift in the international liberal order</a>, with potentially far-reaching consequences for economic progress, prosperity and peace worldwide.</p>
<h2>Champions and sceptics of foreign aid</h2>
<p>These trends alone could make the case for investing in <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/rejuvenating-democracy-promotion/">promoting democracy</a>, through democracy aid: foreign aid specifically to support core democratic processes and institutions including elections, political parties, civil society groups, the media and human rights.</p>
<p>The use of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/13/trump-fraud-republicans-iri-ndi-osce-americas-democracy-demotion/,">diplomatic carrots and sticks</a> also plays a role. For example, in 2019 Sweden launched its <a href="http://www.swemfa.se/drive-for-democracy/">Drive for Democracy</a>, which made democracy central to its foreign policy including security, development and trade. Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, recently advocated for a “<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-wants-us-eu-to-forge-marshall-plan-for-democracy/a-56181438">Marshall Plan for democracy</a>”, while US President Joe Biden has called for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/biden-democracy-summit.html">Global Democracy Summit</a>. </p>
<p>But we should not paint too rosy a picture of democracy aid. Since its origins in the US Marshall Plan of 1948, foreign aid has been closely linked to the strategic political considerations and interests of the donor country. The implications and potential impact this has on local needs deserves careful attention. </p>
<p>In fact, a number of researchers have long claimed that foreign aid is actually bad for democracy. US economist William Easterly argues that <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/03/10/the-new-tyranny/">foreign aid empowers dictators</a>. Other research lays out the ways in which aid can <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/13/why-trying-to-help-poor-countries-might-actually-hurt-them/">weaken local accountability</a>, <a href="https://deborahbrautigam.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2004-foreign-aid-institutions-and-governance-in-subsaharan-africa.pdf">governance processes</a> and state institutions. </p>
<p>Equally, there is research that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438781500111X">challenges these positions</a>, showing <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democratic-trajectories-in-africa-9780199686285?cc=fi&lang=en&">how effective democracy aid specifically</a> can be. For instance, support that facilitated <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/changing-dynamics-foreign-aid-and-democracy-mozambique-0">Mozambique’s transition from war to peace</a> and multiparty politics in the early 1990s, or symbolic and financial assistance in support of multiple <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/beyond-electoral-democracy-0">free and fair elections in Benin</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Globe showing countries colour-coded by government type" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393580/original/file-20210406-13-1umuc5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democracy Index 2020, from the Economist Intelligence Unit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Democracy_Index_2020.svg">The Economist/Jackinthebox</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New insight into aid’s effectiveness</h2>
<p>Our new <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/effects-swedish-and-international-democracy-aid">study</a> built on existing evidence to create a new analysis of the impact of democracy aid in 148 countries between 1995–2018. Our approach married quantitative analysis to the <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/does-aid-support-democracy">large amount of research on democratisation</a> to present a framework that addresses how aid should, in theory, support democracy.</p>
<p>We had three main findings: first, aid specifically aimed at improving democratic infrastructure and institutions has a modest but positive impact overall. This impact is clearer than for the impact of development aid generally, but there is no evidence that either has a negative impact on democracy on average. </p>
<p>Second, aid aimed at supporting civil society, media freedom, and human rights seems to be the most effective in terms of its impact on democracy. Third, democracy aid is more effective at supporting ongoing democratisation than at halting democratic backsliding. </p>
<p>In short, democracy aid works, but it’s not magic. The sums invested are usually pretty modest in comparison to the funds available to domestic opponents of democracy, such as in electoral autocracies like Russia, Nicaragua and Turkey. And democratisation of a country tends to be a long, hard road – demonstrating that something has a specific impact along the way is a challenge.</p>
<h2>A three-point plan for supporting democracies</h2>
<p>The international community needs to staunch democracy’s global decline, and our analysis identifies some clear recommendations.</p>
<p>First, maintain and consider increasing democracy aid. It surely will not work everywhere, but the evidence shows it can be effective. At the same time, domestic expectations need to be managed.</p>
<p>Second, recognise that prematurely cutting democracy aid can increase a country’s risk of democratic backsliding into authoritarianism, at which point it is harder for aid to help. This means we should reconsider the role of aid in middle-income countries. It is many of these countries in Latin America, eastern and central Europe that have seen sharp cuts in development and democracy assistance over the past decades, where there is now a pronounced slip into authoritarianism.</p>
<p>Third, direct aid toward the core elements of democracy: human rights, democratic participation and civil society, and a free media. A <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazette-media-freedom-health-check-70-world-no-free-press/">recent analysis</a>, for example, reveals 70% of the world lives in countries with limited media freedom. Assistance to other areas can support democracy as well, but this is where the best democratic returns on investment can be made.</p>
<p>Which nations among the international community can we expect to act? Embroiled in its own domestic politics, the role of the US in promoting democracy <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/10/01/can-u.s.-democracy-policy-survive-trump-pub-77381">remains in question</a>, although the new Biden administration <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/02/04/remarks-by-president-biden-on-americas-place-in-the-world/">has signalled</a> a more active position to push back the advance of authoritarianism. Against this backdrop, support for democracy from the heart of Europe is now more important than ever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was supported by the Swedish Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA). Findings and conclusions are those of the authors, not EBA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was supported by the Swedish Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA). Findings and conclusions are those of the authors, not EBA.</span></em></p>How can democratic nations help fledgling democracies and others struggling against the tide of autocrats?Rachel M Gisselquist, Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityMiguel Niño-Zarazúa, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, and Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583332021-04-06T14:37:11Z2021-04-06T14:37:11ZCuts to UK research funding threaten critical human rights projects across the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393568/original/file-20210406-23-qiqns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Human rights defenders speaking out for women march through an informal settlement in Nairobi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56473067">There have been</a> recent controversial cuts to the UK’s aid budget – slashed from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5% last month – which have undermined the country’s commitment to “be a force for good in the world”. The cuts will have a devastating impact on the provision of services in humanitarian crises, <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/uk-s-aid-budget-to-yemen-slashed-by-nearly-60-99281">such as in Yemen</a>, and it will also affect vital research projects. </p>
<p>UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the body that controls research funding in the UK, has told universities that projects under the <a href="https://www.ukri.org/our-work/collaborating-internationally/global-challenges-research-fund/">Global Challenges Research Fund</a> (GCRF), part of the UK’s official development assistance, <a href="https://www.ukri.org/our-work/ukri-oda-letter-11-march-2021/">are to be defunded</a>. This is due to a budget shortfall of £120million (US$166million), amounting to a 70% reduction for the financial year 2021-2022. </p>
<p>The Global Challenges Research Fund brings together researchers from the UK and low- and middle-income countries to develop research-led solutions to tackle pressing global issues, such as inequality, poverty, injustice, and the climate crisis. Removing funding from these projects puts people in highly vulnerable situations. <a href="https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/04/01/ten-reasons-to-restore-oda-research-funding/">These cuts affect all 800 currently funded projects</a>.</p>
<p>Not only does this cause research projects that already are in progress to be halted, if not terminated, but it will also impact future funding opportunities.</p>
<p>This will have huge implications for researchers and critical research topics all over the world. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.rights4time.com/copy-of-surfacing-time">our own Global Challenges Research Fund-supported work</a> focuses on ending impunity for sexual violence in Kenya. The political landscape in Kenya means that this budget cut has come at an especially critical time for our project: next year is an election year. </p>
<p>Sexual violence has been associated with election periods in Kenya and is used as a <a href="https://phr.org/our-work/resources/breaking-cycles-of-violence-gaps-in-prevention-of-and-response-to-electoral-related-sexual-violence-in-kenya/">form of political intimidation</a>. Our work increases the capability of human rights defenders in Kenya to <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/igi/igi-transforming-how-sexual-violence-is-reported-kenya-min.pdf">document and monitor</a> sexual violence incidents in real time. Our research can, therefore, help to identify perpetrators of election-related rape, deter crimes, and determine areas where critical services are needed to support survivors.</p>
<p>However, unless the cuts are reversed, more women and children will suffer. UK Research and Innovation has left it up to individual universities to decide by April 16 which Global Challenges Research Fund projects will be terminated, and which of the remaining projects face a budget cut of between 50% to 83%. </p>
<h2>Critical research</h2>
<p>Our team, which includes the <a href="https://wangukanjafoundation.org/">Wangu Kanja Foundation</a>, the Survivors of Sexual Violence in Kenya Network (hereafter, the network), and researchers from the University of Birmingham, <a href="https://www.careresearchproject.com">have been combating sexual violence</a> <a href="https://www.careresearchproject.com">through</a> the fund.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393572/original/file-20210406-19-1kdd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wangu Kanja</span></span>
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<p>Lack of data and weak statistical and technical capacity in countries such as Kenya mean incidents of sexual violence <a href="https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-021-01613-9">are seldom</a> brought to the attention of international audiences. An estimated 17-25% of girls <a href="https://www.unicef.org/kenya/reports/The-2019-Violence-Against-Children-Survey">experience sexual violence at least once</a> before the age of 18. Further, historically, survivors have not been “at the table” when prevention and protection policies are developed. Policies are thus <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X19300841">often inadequate and poorly executed</a> due to the lack of political goodwill and inadequate resources.</p>
<p>To this end, the Network developed a mobile application in 2018 to collect data from rape survivors across all 47 counties in Kenya. This provides systematic and high-quality data about incidents. The Kenyan government does not systematically record cases or track them.</p>
<p>The lack of official government data contributes to the collective oppression of sexual violence survivors. The work of the survivors’ network is evidencing the scale of these violations and helps to amplify the voices of survivors. </p>
<p>Global Challenges Research Fund cuts threaten to undermine <a href="https://www.careresearchproject.com/interview-training">this hard, important work</a>.</p>
<h2>COVID-19</h2>
<p>The network also recently <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/3964124#.YGWI_69KjIW">sought</a> to identify <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/3964124#.YGWI_69KjIW">new patterns of sexual violence</a> in Kenya during COVID-19. The results paint a worrying picture for the year ahead. We found that patterns of violence were shifting in the wake of the pandemic. Vulnerability to sexual and other forms of gender-based violence were being exacerbated, particularly for girls and women.</p>
<p>For instance, child victims now appear to be four years younger compared to before the pandemic. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2021.630901/full">Our research</a> is enabling us to urge policymakers to ensure children have access to alternative safe venues when schools are closed, and that Kenya’s COVID-19 emergency management and recovery plans include alternative emergency routes for accessing vital services.</p>
<p>Worryingly, our report also identified an increase in violations (rapes, murders, beatings) by police and security forces throughout the pandemic.</p>
<p>These findings are especially important around elections, which have historically been marred by widespread sexual violence and other human rights violations. Most survivors did not receive urgent medical attention and post-rape care. Those who are supposed to protect people from harm committed the most horrific acts.</p>
<h2>Letting down our partners</h2>
<p>Removing vital support to survivors and defunding our ability to track cases and hold perpetrators accountable will only serve to worsen the problem, both next year and in the decades that follow.</p>
<p>The stakes could not be higher. Survivors of sexual violence in Kenya rarely receive psycho-social support. Rape is highly stigmatised in Kenya, and victims are left to cope on their own.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.careresearchproject.com/interview-training">Our research</a> is also adapting Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-protocol-on-the-documentation-and-investigation-of-sexual-violence-in-conflict">protocol</a> so that it can be used by human rights defenders in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X19301330">low-resource environments</a>. The protocol provides guidance on documenting and investigating sexual violence in conflict so that perpetrators can be brought to justice. </p>
<p>Cutting our project – and others like it – means losing a genuine opportunity to change this situation. </p>
<p><em>The Wangu Kanja Foundation (WKF) is a 15-year old registered non-profit NGO in Kenya that assists survivors in accessing post-rape care services.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather D. Flowe holds UK Research and Innovation GCRF grants.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nic Cheeseman and Wangu Kanja do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Removing funding from research-led projects puts people in highly vulnerable situations.Wangu Kanja, Affiliated Researcher, University of BirminghamHeather D. Flowe, Reader in Forensic Psychology, University of BirminghamNic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1565772021-03-11T04:11:31Z2021-03-11T04:11:31ZAs the world’s attention and money are absorbed by the COVID pandemic, peacebuilding suffers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388675/original/file-20210310-23-hc5lq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/AP/Hussein Malla</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Resources critical to peacebuilding and to countries vulnerable to conflict have been significantly reduced as a result of COVID-19.</p>
<p>In conflict zones from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/berlinale-documentary-reveals-life-in-war-ravaged-ukraine/a-52540981">Ukraine</a> to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/ngos-warn-humanitarian-aid-shortage-amid-harsh-temperatures-and-rising">Syria</a>, hundreds of thousands of people are “<a href="https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/CARE_10-most-underreported-humanitarian-crises-2020.pdf">suffering in silence</a>”. These conflicts risk becoming “<a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/03/24/coronavirus-challenges-humanitarian-aid">forgotten crises</a>”, and are intensifying as states and non-state armed groups utilise the pandemic and a distracted international community for their own strategic advantage.</p>
<p>The figures are alarming. For instance, foreign direct investment <a href="https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/diaeiainf2021d1_en.pdf">“collapsed” in 2020</a>, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), falling by 42% to an estimated US$859 billion (compared with US$1.5 trillion in 2019). Many humanitarian organisations have also recorded a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/why-covid-19-reshape-global-crisis-funding/">dramatic drop in donations</a> from private individuals and fundraising activities, or <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/exclusive-coronavirus-hits-development-pros-livelihoods-97143">expect private donations will decline</a> as the global recession hits.</p>
<p>Profound cuts to foreign aid are anticipated as countries continue to invest heavily in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40258-020-00580-x">COVID-19-related activities</a> while facing severe <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20301856?via%3Dihub">economic recession</a>. </p>
<p>Already, several governments, including the UK, have announced <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/uk-aid-to-be-cut-by-2-9b-this-year-97766">major cuts to aid budgets</a> in light of COVID-19. A decline in public support for foreign aid, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3613320">typical in times of financial crisis</a>, is also likely to encourage cuts. This in turn is likely to have a negative effect on peacebuilding, which is <a href="https://www.conducivespace.org/new-report-act-now-on-localisation-covid-19-implications-for-funding-to-local-peacebuilding/">already underfunded</a>.</p>
<p>Evidence suggests that committed foreign aid being redirected from peacebuilding programs into efforts to deal with COVID-19 is likely to have even more of an impact on the ground than a decrease in foreign aid. The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lukas-Linsi-2/publication/343448935_The_Covid-19_Pandemic_Continuity_and_Change_in_the_International_Political_Economy/links/5f2aaf0c458515b729041ffa/The-Covid-19-Pandemic-Continuity-and-Change-in-the-International-Political-Economy.pdf">UK, US, France</a> and<a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/pbs-2020-21-dfat-aid-budget-summary.pdf">Australia</a>, for instance, have announced a reorientation of their aid commitments to medical infrastructure.</p>
<p>A further reduction in funding and troops for UN peacekeeping missions is also likely. This is in turn predicted to <a href="https://theglobalobservatory.org/2020/05/examining-longer-term-effects-covid-19-un-peacekeeping-operations/">reduce the capacity of peace operations by 30-50%</a> over the next year or two.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buying-a-coronavirus-vaccine-for-everyone-on-earth-storing-and-shipping-it-and-giving-it-safely-will-all-be-hard-and-expensive-149221">Buying a coronavirus vaccine for everyone on Earth, storing and shipping it, and giving it safely will all be hard and expensive</a>
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<h2>Declining funds hit aid organisations hard</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://monash.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b3jiDAUq0El27rf">global survey</a> of organisations engaged in peacebuilding was conducted to assess the impact of these cuts on the ground. In the survey, 62% said they or their organisation had experienced a reduction in funding for peacebuilding work. In addition, 71% said COVID-19 had, or was likely to have had, a negative impact on the financial security of their organisation. <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/covid-19-job-losses-accelerate-in-development-sector-survey-results-say-97946">Other global surveys</a> have had similar results.</p>
<p>Reduced funds will also inevitably affect employment and job security for these organisations. The survey found 74% felt their work was more precarious, while 56% knew of someone in the sector who had lost a job as a result of the pandemic. </p>
<p>On top of this, 75% said the focus of their work has changed. They referred to “strong signals” given by donors to “pivot” activities towards COVID-19-related issues, even if <a href="https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/make-or-break--the-implications-of-covid-19-for-crisis-financing/nrc_make_or_break_implications_covid19_crisis_financing_ov.pdf">other needs were perceived to be more pressing</a>.</p>
<h2>Impact on conflict zones</h2>
<p>The reduction in resources comes when they are most needed. This is because COVID-19 and its effects (economic shocks, unemployment, extreme poverty and vaccine inequalities) worsen conflict situations. These negative impacts are likely to intensify as the pandemic persists.</p>
<p>Following a short decline after the pandemic was declared in March 2020, <a href="https://acleddata.com/#/dashboard">conflicts in several countries increased again</a>. This notably often takes the form of violence against civilians by state forces and militias. </p>
<p>Escalating insecurity has already been witnessed in several conflict zones – <a href="https://carnegie-mec.org/2020/04/14/syria-and-coronavirus-pub-81547">Syria</a>, <a href="https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/covid-19-and-crimes-against-the-poor-in-colombia/">Colombia</a>, <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/14/somalia-and-coronavirus-pub-81532">Somalia</a>, <a href="https://jmvfh.utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/jmvfh-6.s2-CO19-0010">Yemen</a>, <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/OXAN-DB252984/full/html">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/05/28/dans-l-est-du-burkina-faso-des-villages-assieges-par-les-terroristes_6041076_3212.html">Burkina Faso</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/25/kabul-sikh-temple-siege-dozens-killed-in-attack-claimed-by-isil/">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3603248">Philippines</a> and <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Covid-19-and-Conflict-in-Kachin-State_EN.pdf">Myanmar</a> – as states and non-state armed groups exploit the pandemic to their own strategic advantage.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388676/original/file-20210310-13-1p5ejax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Countries where there is conflict, such as Afghanistan, are suffering as other countries divert funds away from foreign aid to fighting the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/AP/Rahmat Gul</span></span>
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<p>Many of the ceasefires declared in response to the United Nations secretary-general’s call for a <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20018.doc.htm">global ceasefire</a> in March 2020 have <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/whats-happened-un-secretary-generals-covid-19-ceasefire-call">fallen apart</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-governments-foreign-aid-cuts-put-girls-education-at-risk-150983">UK government's foreign aid cuts put girls' education at risk</a>
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<h2>From pivoting to preparedness</h2>
<p>COVID-19 has exposed weaknesses in global governance, especially in terms of preparedness and threat mitigation. To address these weaknesses, countries need to <a href="https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/make-or-break--the-implications-of-covid-19-for-crisis-financing/nrc_make_or_break_implications_covid19_crisis_financing_ov.pdf">invest in preparedness</a>, be aware of the complex interconnectedness of security threats, and avoid knee-jerk reactions to singular risks that divert attention and resources away from longer-term threats. </p>
<p>There is also a need to communicate more effectively to the public about how aid budgets are spent. This includes stressing how aid programs benefit donor as well as recipient countries, given public opinion can be a key factor in determining whether aid budgets are reduced. </p>
<p>The increased risk of armed conflict, as a result of the diversion of resources and attention towards COVID-19, has global repercussions. So, too, does the difficulty in controlling COVID-19 within conflict zones and beyond their often-porous borders, until a widely accessible vaccine becomes available to the most disadvantaged people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Gordon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID-19 has diverted international attention and resources away from peacebuilding. This increases the risk of global insecurity and instability.Eleanor Gordon, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.