Humanitarian Aid in Africa:A Question of Sustainability

sustain-ability: ability to maintain a balance without depletion of resources

EIESL Purposes of community norms are: • To engage, sustain and deepen conversation. • Ensure safety even when participants may experience

discomfort or disagreement. • Support meaningful cross-cultural conversation.

-Speak your truth

-Ethics is Messy

-Expect and Accept Non-Closure

THE ETHICS OF INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT

Objectives

1. Understand our motivations for helping• The history of aid• How do we benefit from being aid providers?

2. Examine the +/- ways in which aid influences a community’s political, social and economic practices• Analysis contains key points proposed from the

book Dead Aid3. Discuss the lasting impact of our projects

• Examine our community partnerships what do they need from us?

• Interactive activity4. A new direction for sustainability

• Visioning: how would it look?

Giver? Receiver? Sustainable?

Presentation Focus: to examine the implications of aidand to consider the potential benefits and consequencesof it’s perpetuance

Sometimes there are more questions than answers…

Are we helping ourselves?

Where does the notion of helping come from?

Who takes responsibility?Are we helping others?

Do we prioritize others’ needs over our own?

What if there is a better way?

Why isn’t aid working?

How did I become an expert?What skills am I lacking?

Who sees the benefit? When?

Who is the giver?

Who is the receiver?

Choose a question that stands out.You have a one minute free write to explain its significance to you personally.

History

•1960s – The Decade of Industrialization•1970s – The Shift to a Poverty Focus•1980s – The Lost Age of Development•1990s – A Question of Governance•2000s – The Rise of Glamour Aid

The “Scar” on the World’s Conscience •Africa’s per capita income is lower than in the 1970s, leaving people in the same level of poverty as 40 years ago•700 million Africans live on less than $1 US dollar per day•Sub-Sarahan has the highest proportion of the world’s poor ~50%•Life expectancy stagnated at ~ 50 years•High child mortality rates 1/7 children dies before the age of five•50% of the continent remains under non-democratic rule

The Developed World’s Response:

Aid

1. Humanitarian or Emergency Aid – aidmobilized and delivered in response tocalamities or catastrophes

2. Charity-based Aid – aid dispersed by charitable organizations to people or organizations on the ground

3. Systematic Aid – aid payments made directly to the government

Three types:

An African Economist’s Perspective

Dambisa Moyo

The Potential Success of Aid

1. Proponents argue the Marshall Plan that dispersed aid to rebuild Europe proves aid can be successful.

2. Past recipient countries of aid have advanced with economic success (i.e. China, Chile, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, etc.)

3. Conditionalities allow for strategic programs of implementation (i.e. introducing widespread malaria nets)

The PotentialConsequences of Aid

1. Silent killer of growth creates a vicious cycle of dependency and economic suppression2. Corruption surrounding aid causes civil strife and prevents stable governments/ democratic rule3. Conditionalities or “strings” attached to aid often impose cultural or social impracticalities. They can be damaging to current situations and often, due to corruption are ignored regardless.

Fitting in this idea of Sustainability

sustain-ability: ability to maintain a balance without depletion of resources

Unpacking the term

-What does sustainability mean to you?

-Why is this term loaded?

DiscussionIs Aid a Sustainable

Element of African Culture?Why or why not?

Things to consider:-UBC students engaging in ISL projectsare contributing resources (financial,time, work)-As ISL becomes more popular, more students become involved in communities around the worldThis creates an awareness for the issuesthat affect people and a need to continue“helping”

Interactive Activity-We are going to split the table in half and have a debate!

-Five minutes to prepare-Everyone to present 1.5-2 minArgument-2 minute rebuttal/questions-1 minute close

ConclusionThe best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.The second best time is now.

-African proverb

-Aid continues to be an important aspect of development-The sustainability of its programs will largely depend on resources (people, money, time, energy) and the manner and consistency of how these resources are distributed