The short-sightedness of cutting aid

There’s a report in the Observer this morning about Andrew Mitchell’s draft policy proposals for international development. It concerns vouchers for schools and hospitals in developing countries. Like Andrew, I don’t have any qualms about whether access to health, education and other services are privately, publicly or third-sector provided. I do want them to be provided in a fair, sustainable and effective way.

I don’t have any inside track on what the proposals are, but I think it’s worth making a few things clear.

Number one – the 0.7% of GDP target for international development is not a “bid to promote compassionate Conservatism” – it’s an agreement that most developed countries around the world have signed up to. It was set in 1970 – nearly 40 years ago! Yet by 2005, only five countries met or exceeded this. If we don’t abide by international agreements, we have no right to expect others to do so.

It’s a drop in the ocean of government spending, and if properly targeted, spent and monitored could in fact reduce costs for developed countries’ governments. For example, I was watching Stephen Fry’s HIV & Me programme the other day (it’s EXCELLENT. Sad, but excellent). One woman from Uganda was featured; she came to the UK, was diagnosed HIV positive, and is now appealing against deportation because her visa has run out. She won’t get the drugs she needs in Uganda. I think she had appealed 4 or 5 times. If she goes back, she will probably die fairly soon after.

I don’t believe that we have any sort of case to send her back to die; I do believe that if aid money was properly spent and third-sector organisations such as Bill Clinton’s Foundation (which has negotiated agreements for developing countries to buy antiretro-viral drugs at cost price) were given proper support, she could return to Uganda safely. In short, we live in a global village, and what happens on the other side of the world can and does have a significant effect on us.

And finally, it’s a moral cause – it is disgusting that there are still children dying of malnutrition, dirty water and preventable diseases. We forget, living in Britain, just how appalling some people’s lives really are.

Aid is not the answer to everything. More important in the long-term are foreign investment and trade. But aid is a vital part of the development spectrum, and should not be cut for selfish reasons. Or if you have to think about it selfishly, at least understand that slashing aid now will lead to far greater problems for you at home in the future.

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1. A short story from Serbia