Do we help or hinder ?

[Macca]

In the past I have read articles of how foreign aid sometimes gets into the hands of the wrong people or stories of the locals being ignored and overwhelmed by those who are "only trying to help"

This article gives a long term view of what happened after the Tsunami, I find it quite thought provoking. In all good conscience we feel the need to help financially after a disaster but it seems that NGOs were quite unpopular because of their "we know best " attitude.

<<"NGO?" recalls Rasheed Yousuf of the weeks and months following the tsunami, "we'd never heard of this thing called 'NGO', but suddenly it seemed like there were hundreds of NGOs all around us, all telling us what to do, how to live, how to build our houses, how it was time to come into the modern world.">>

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2...for-centuries-until-the-big-waves-came/?cs=12

 

[kathryn d]

Interesting story.


So many people think throwing money at a problem is the solution.

Usually, it is the corruption.

 

[TMNT]

What I dont get is when countries like North Korea threaten US or whoever with nuclear missiles, yet the day before these exact countries just provided them with a billion dollars in funding or aid or support

 

[Macca]

Interesting story.


So many people think throwing money at a problem is the solution.

Usually, it is the corruption.

As it is the anniversary of the tsunami the papers have a number of stories, in the Telegraph which is a pay for view story, there is an article by Tim Costello saying that in Aceh shortly after the tsunami it was "like the gold rush days", with NGOs setting up flags all over the place.

In the rush to be seen to be doing something, houses were built without clear title being established, this in turn led to many disputes as people returned to their land to find other people living in a house that had been built in the wrong spot.

The main anti corruption Army officer in Indonesia was in charge of Aceh and there was a surprisingly small amount of corruption (for Indonesia) in the rebuild.

Because of the huge sums of money donated they just kept building things, many of these buildings are now unused and in fact are becoming derelict.

I don't know the answer but it does seem to me that there are too many charities these days, this must effect how much money actually gets to the needy, all of the offices and staff have to be paid for first.

 

[thatbum]

I don't know the answer but it does seem to me that there are too many charities these days, this must effect how much money actually gets to the needy, all of the offices and staff have to be paid for first.

I work broadly in the community services sector, and I wouldn't say there are too many of them.

But I think the issue is that there are many that are quite poorly managed. And it can be hard to tell which is which from a funder's point of view.