STWR - Share The World's Resources

Can progressives in good conscience demand increased foreign aid under the new Director of Foreign Assistance, Randall Tobias?

Americans concerned about global hunger, disease, and deprivation have long argued that our country should take leadership in providing development assistance to impoverished populations abroad. After 9/11, even more citizens pointed to foreign aid as a means to create strong international ties, promote democratic institutions, and build a safer world. That the U.S. should catch up with European countries, which provide much larger infusions of foreign aid relative to the size of their economies, seemed like a reasonable and timely demand.

As it turns out, we might want to be careful what we wish for.

Currently, the Bush administration is overhauling the structures through which the U.S. provides such assistance, and there are reasons to fear that the changes will not be for the better. Under the banner of "transformative diplomacy," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is promising an aid program that is more overtly politicized than ever--one tied less to the ethical imperatives of alleviating poverty than to the White House's short-term political and military objectives.

Representatives of 96 member countries of FAO participating in the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) which concluded today in Porto Alegre recognized “the essential role of agrarian reform and rural development to promote sustainable development” of the planet.

Africa and the Neocolonial Development Mirage “We will have to rely on ourselves, our own resources and our efforts” Thabo Mbeki The United Nations summit of 14 – 16 September in New York has ended without the agenda of Africa’s development occupying central debate.

Like the media – hyped G8 summit of 6 – 8 July on Debt Relief in Gleneagles; Scotland, the UN Summit once again derailed the focal issues of the Millennium Development Goals (universal Primary Education, eradication of poverty, gender equality, reducing child mortality, environmental sustainability, fight against disease etc) in favour of reforms of the United Nations, and definitions of terrorism.

Established in September 2000, the Millennium Development Goals provided an economic vision that would ensure that poverty is reduced by half by the year 2015. Ten years before 2015, economic experts are already predicting that these goals will not be met as many countries (12 out of the 18 countries are from Africa), have already fallen off track. Only the Mauritius Island and Botswana stand head high in Africa. Economic experts lay the blame on the inequitable character of world trade and the dismal governance and development orientations imposed on Africa leadership, by Western multinational establishments.

UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of...$7 trillion (and solve the world's problems at a stroke)

The following is a statement from Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America, on Secretary Rice's announcement of USAID restructuring.

Secretary Rice announced a momentous overhaul of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that will certainly change the way the US helps the poor across the world. The steps she has proposed as part of her "Transformational Diplomacy" initiative posting more diplomats in poor countries and crisis zones, focus on teaching more languages used in the developing world, and ensuring that the State Department can evolve to face a post-Cold War world are to be commended.

As an international organization committed to long term solutions to poverty and hunger, we want to see US taxpayer money used as effectively as possible to make the biggest difference for the billion people across the world that struggle to survive on just a dollar a day. As an independent organization that does not pursue or accept USAID funding but works alongside USAID initiatives, we recognize the magnitude and importance of this restructuring.