ESSAY 1
“Graduating” from development assistance is actually its goal. If you look at
the list of countries that used to receive emergency relief or U.S. assistance to
provide school lunches, for example, you see Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Germany, Italy—not countries we now consider poor. Some “alumni” now fund
school lunches in other countries themselves, and all purchase goods from the
United States.
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Myths
Realities
Myth: Development assistance is a
big part of the U.S. budget and is fueling our record budget deficit.
Why Support Development Assistance?
There are two main reasons.
First, it’s the right thing to do. With the U.S. economy still struggling, many
Americans have their hands full meeting their own family’s needs and perhaps
contributing to food pantries or charities that help their communities. But
Americans have always cared about people who are hungry overseas, too.
Even in tough economic times, the American government provides half the
world’s food aid, and Americans as individuals respond generously to appeals
to help people such as survivors of the devastating earthquake in Haiti or,
earlier, the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Sometimes, though, we see skeletal Somali babies and other suffering
people in the news and realize that disaster assistance, crucial as it is, may
be too little, too late. It’s also important to help people prepare in advance.
Development assistance may be used to build hospitals and roads or to train
doctors and nurses—all important in normal times, but even more essential
in case of disaster. Natural disasters happen in developed countries too, most
recently in Japan, but resources and planning help make people more resilient.
That’s why there was widespread starvation in Somalia but not in Japan.
Several problems collided to cause the famine in Somalia—armed conflict
played a huge role. But one key step in overcoming chronic hunger and
preventing famine deaths is enabling people to develop a “plan B” or even
a “plan C” for feeding their families when something goes wrong with
“plan A.” This can work even in very poor countries. Ethiopia, noted for
its devastating famines of the past, is currently suffering from the same
drought as neighboring Somalia. However, peace and a measure of economic
development mean that unlike Somalia, Ethiopia hasn’t lost 100,000 of its
people, mostly young children, to malnutrition.
Second, it’s the smart thing to do. Already, half of U.S. exports go to
emerging markets. People in developing countries become customers of the
United States once they are able to develop their local economies and generate
surplus income. It makes sense to invest in the future by ensuring that
potential customers have sufficient nutr itious food. After all, a malnourished
population is ill-equipped to build a prosperous economy.
Many African countries, in particular, have enjoyed strong economic
growth for several years now. For 2012, experts again predict high economic
growth rates—5.75 percent for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, far higher
than anticipated for the United States and Europe. Eight of the world’s 10
fastest-growing economies are in Africa.
If you visit a developing country, it’s hard to miss another potential asset:
children are everywhere. Half of Africa’s population is younger than 20,
Reality: Development assistance
is less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget, so cutting it would not help fix the
deficit. It does, however, save millions
of human lives every year.
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Myth: Not much progress can
be made against a problem as big as
hunger.
Reality: In less than two genera-
tions, global hunger has been cut in
half. Instead of one person out of
every three suffering from hunger and
malnutrition, it’s now one person out
of every six—still far too many, but a
big improvement.
The global situation is now one where
there’s a heightened sense of momentum, more commitment and leadership, and better knowledge of “what
works.” The United States is leading
the way with new initiatives such as
Feed the Future, which focuses on
agriculture and nutrition.
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Myth: It’s a waste of time and money to give development assistance,
because it never gets to the people
who need it.
Reality: In recent years, there
has been much more emphasis on
transparency and adherence to strict
accounting standards. It has become
increasingly difficult for anyone to
make aid money “disappear,” lost to
corruption. There are many examples
of children, families, and communities
who have benefited from development
programs. And, of course, there are
the longer-term results just mentioned: the rate of global hunger has
been cut in half.
www.bread.org/institute
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Development Works 7