Week 10 Politics of international aid

1. Week 10 Politics of international aid Development aid and development funding: International philanthropy or political gain?

2. What is development? What are the characteristics of a “developed country”? What are the characteristics of a “developing country”? - Even responses to these questions are steeped in politics and ideology

3. What is development?? 200 Countries, 200 Years, in 4 Minutes – a history of development? Hans Rosling - Gapminder.org

4. Development approaches, indicators, measures • Economic development • Social or human development

5. Development progress? - numbers from Bill Wolfensohn, former head of World Bank • 6 billion people on the planet in 2000, • 1 billion of those have 80% of the income, 5 billion have 20% • Of those 5 billion, 3 billion live on less than $2 per day • Of those 3 billion 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day. And half of those are starving – they cannot feed themselves or their children. (and 1 trillion dollars in development aid in the last 50 years to get these outcomes)

6. In 1500 and 1815, China and India had 50% of global GDP. After world war 2 they had 1.2% In 2050, they will again have reached 50% of global GDP • In 2050 (with 9 billion people) 80% of world income will no longer be with US, Europe and Japan – they will only have 35% of the world’s total wealth. • In 2050 50% of income will be in China and India, 65% in Asia. Average wages will be $2-3000 per capita in Africa, $30-40000 per capita in China and India, and $80-90000 in Europe and US. • By 2050 there will be 9 billion people in the world and 2/9ths of these will be living in extreme poverty. (mostly in Africa) “We cant have 2/9ths of the world population in this situation” -- Bill Wolfensohn WHY? (or WHY NOT?)

7. “People will use the inadequacies of income to stimulate problems . . . [this information] will enable those of malevolent intent to stir up trouble”Bill Wolfensohn Is development aid a security issue? Political imperative? human right? Actionaid reference “Action on Rights”, People’s movement for HRE “The Human Right to Development”

8. Political questions for development aid • Who gives what to whom, and why?- Australia’s position as • Who decides what to prioritise in the provision of aid?

9. What should be a greater aid priority? • Maternal healthcare or AIDS prevention? • Infant mortality or universal primary education for girls? • Reduce malnutrition or achieve equal representation of women in decision making? • Education infrastructure (building new schools) or providing immunisation against preventable diseases? • Food aid or infrastructure linking rural area to urban centre?

10. Places most dependent on development aid (US$ million) • 1. Solomon Islands 66.5 • 2. East Timor 52.9 • 3. Burundi 45.6 • 4. Sao Tome 45.2 • 5. Eritrea 36.6 • 6. Sierra Leone 28.8 • 7. Congo Republic 28.5 • 8. Malawi 27.8 • 9. Palestinian Territories 27.4 • 10. Rwanda 26.7

11. Biggest givers of international aid Amount (US$ mil.) Proportion of gross national income (%) • 1. United States 21,753 0.16 • 2. Germany 12,267 0.37 • 3. France 9,940 0.39 • 4. Britain 9,921 0.36 • 5. Japan 7,691 0.17 • 6. Netherlands 6,215 0.81 • 7. Spain 5,744 0.41 • 8. Sweden 4,334 0.93 • 9. Italy 3,929 0.19 • 10. Canada 3,922 0.28

13. Millennium development goals8 goals, 21 quantifiable targets, 60 indicators • Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women • Goal 4: Reduce child mortality • Goal 5: Improve maternal health • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases • Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability • Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development • http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml