هل مساعدات التنمية تشجع الفساد؟

Hello and welcome to BBC Xtra English!

Today we talk about British overseas aid.

The UK currently spends about seven billion pounds each year on overseas development.

This aid is for developing countries around the world, and is a percentage of the UK’s annual income.

One country which currently receives an allocation of this budget is Pakistan.

The BBC’s Graham Satchell went there to see how this aid is changing peoples’ lives.

He accompanied Tyra, a nurse funded partly by British aid to the house of Nergis Shahin and her one week old baby.

Nergis told Graham that with only one person earning in her household, she would have found it very difficult to take care of her new-born child or spare any money for any health services.

Without any help, a number of mothers might die in large numbers however recently the number of deaths has been falling.

But some people here in the UK feel that foreign aid may be used for the wrong reasons and corrupt governments can misuse the money.

Dr Richard Wellings from the Institute of Economics believes that countries who have developed have not done so because off development aid. Rather, they have had better trade opportunities.

Jahangir Tareen is a Pakistani politician who is also against his country receiving foreign aid.

He says that the solution is not in donors giving Pakistan money but for Pakistan to collect taxes from those who have the ability to pay them and spend them on those who do not.

Jahangir believes that money is available but corruption makes it difficult to use that money to help the needy.

Do you think that development aid does more harm than good and why? Write to us in English!
هل ضرر مساعدات التنمية أكثر من نفعها و لماذا؟ اكتب لنا بالإنجليزية

Overseas development
التنمية الخارجية/مساعدات تقدمها الحكومات لدعم التنمية الاقتصادية في دول نامية
Development aid
مساعدات التنمية
Annual income
الدخل السنوي
Earning
كسب
Corrupt governments
حكومات فاسدة
Trade opportunities
فرص تجارية
Donors
الجهات المانحة
Taxes
ضرائب

I think that the development aid is a good status for the countries which do not have any resources although the existence of corruption in governments which receive these aids.

In case 25% of these development aid reach to the poor people better than nothing.

Duraid

I think that wrong to rely on foreign aid in developing countries, but unfortunately that the aid doesn't give to the needy, but the government has stolen this aid .I think corruption is cancer ,and we have to work together to eliminate from this cancer. Many countries in the middle East receive aid from out side to build new infrastructure, hospitals, schools, universities and help people to support their families. For example in Palestine we are getting aid, but that money goes.

Mohsen, Gaza-strip, Palestine

Aid is often wasted on conditions that the recipient must use overpriced goods and services from donor countries Most aid does not actually go to the poorest who would need it the most Aid amounts are dwarfed by rich country protectionism that denies market access for poor country products, while rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country markets to their products Large projects or massive grand strategies often fail to help the vulnerable; money can often be embezzled away.

This article explores who has benefited most from this aid, the recipients or the donors

Karam Safi, KUWAIT

I think the donor must monitor where a lot of aid goes and is spent.

Mohammd Jasim, Iraq

There is a common misconception related to overseas development; this is not an aid but this is an deal with the countries like i give you money for fight terrorism or let me to do some bad thing and so on because there are so many poor countries not takes aid like others.

Mohamed Helaly, Alexandria, Egypt