Aid to Africa

www.actionaid.org.uk

I agree with the article in the OP - whilst so much aid is given (and, apparently, without restraint on its destination) then the African governments will not change one iota. I have heard quite a few people of African descent saying exactly the same thing as in the article but, the West always thinks it knows best - but sadly tends to make things worse. Throwing money at problems doesn't always solve them.

Are training shops set up for local people to learn a trade and then aid given to get a business up and running with financial support until it is established? I think it is practical help that the people of Africa need as much as anything else.

www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/media-centre/news/may-2014/response-to-soas-report

An article about Fairtrade. Because some people do not do Fairtrade properly does not mean it's the same for every company.
I know, for example, that Nestle tell lies on their Kitkat. It is not all fairtrade chocolate, although they do buy some fairtrade chocolate.
The scams tend to be centred around coffee, rather than other goods. That's because there are three different fairtrade symbols for coffee. That's why I said make sure you buy proper fairtrade, with the Fairtrade Foundation sign.
The article mentions Uganda in particular. On the same page as this link it mentions the fact that schools are going to use fairtrade. I think that is a good thing, and should not be discouraged just because some people think it's not a good idea.
Surely the more fairtrade we buy, the better it will be for the producing countries, and that was the whole point, trade not aid. There will be more inspectors if we make sure the fairtrade countries can afford them.
There's a very interesting book about fairtrade written by the man who set up a company called Shared Earth. I think it has the words sex toys and coffins in the title. Worth reading to find out how difficult it is to set up fair trade businesses.

Nelliemoser That is a sweeping generalisation of one continent that could equally apply to the two Americas and Central Asia but this hasn't stopped development there. It is anyway inaccurate. Certainly there are places in Africa that are arid but many more with plenty of good agricultural land and adequate rain fall.

The prevalence of tropical diseases is the result of inadequate medical resources and poor sanitation and the lack of a clean water supply. With these in place it would be no more unhealthy than any other tropical country.

It has plenty of natural resources; massive coal reserves in South Africa and other rare and common minerals in South Africa, Zimbabwe, The Congo and Angola. Oil and gas is found extensively in Nigeria, Cameroon and Angola. China is a major investor in African minerals. It is what governments do with the money they receive that is the problem.

The problem with Africa is, and has always been, poor governance and corrupt governments. Fifty years ago most South American countries were treated as basket cases with the same problems of poor governance and corrupt governments and grinding poverty and disease, Now, most have what is close to democratic government and social conditions are improving. There are still problems, but look at Brazil, a large South American country with a thriving economy and taking its place on the world stage.

Africa countries only received home rule in the second half of the 20th century, at least 100 years after the South American countries achieved independence. Give them another 50 years and they too will achieve democracy and economic success. They are no worse off for natural resources than any other continent. Many countries have sea coasts and there are plenty of land-bound countries in all the other continents.

It's thought provoking the bit about economic development, but I don't think it would work.
If the African continent was in a part of the world with a benign climate, no severe droughts every few years, no mosquitos.

None of those awful tropical diseases and other nasties, some good natural resources for industrial use they might stand a chance of some better industrial development and become economically viable.

We in Northern Europe have all sorts of natural resources which have fuelled our economic development.
Wood for building. Enough really reliable supplies of water for water power, milling etc etc. Coal to power industry lots of mineral resources Iron, Lead copper tin etc, and compared to most of Africa we are very close to the sea to have been able to use that for trade fo the last 2000 yrs.

I am sure the Geography of this continent is a huge problem, with regard to any development.

that development starts within individual communities and then the nation offers freedom from political, economic and social exploitation

The above is a very true statement and you could strip out "communities" and it would read like this: "development starts within the individual and then offers freedom from political, economic and social exploitation".

Durhamjen

Put 'fairtrade scam' into Google and you might be worried. There have been quite a few comments made in the various media forms about fair trade being abused.

A little off the subject so forgive me that bags but I was debating as to whether or not to start a thread relating to aid/charity.

I was watching a report on t.v about Cambodia. Apparently there is a decrease in orphans yet the amount of orphanages have gone up. Not because they have improved etc. but they are sprouting up to 'catch out' the tourists. They are using children to 'bait' tourists into handing over cash yet the children are not orphans, their parents may have been paid off or other ways of obtaining them that we probably wouldn't like either. It is a SCAM.

I thought this was a new story but looking it up I note this has been known for a while, hence I apologise if it has been mentioned before, I had not heard about this horrible situation.

I think I am so angry about it as the Cambodian government know it is happening but do very little to stop it. My main concern is the genuine orphanages will loose out terribly as obviously tourists will stop giving and orphanages and the kids will suffer, maybe even shut down.

As for Aid I totally agree with your post that bags. Corruption is rife. Aid/Charity money is wasted. I have mentioned before the amount of cash the charities held in the banks when they crashed and it was an eye opener. I would love to think that Aid/Charity money was used wisely but a lot of it is not.

They are not allowed to, jingle, unless it really is true. Otherwise they are breaking the law and can be fined lots of money by trading standards under the mislabelling of goods. It's good that there are many more fairtrade products in the shop.
Make sure it is the fairtrade logo, and not a spin off.
If we all did that, the government would not need to give so much in aid.
I think there is a website, Trade not aid. Or check Ethical Consumer and Ethical Superstore to find out what is and is not fairtrade, and whether companies are trying to fiddle it.

Trouble is, they're all getting to put that Fairtrade logo on things now. Hard to tell which ones really mean anything.

So why doesn't the government give aid to the charities that are working there, such as Wateraid or Practical Action? Then presumably it cannot get squandered by the Ugandan government.
Surely it's up to all of us to make sure that we buy fair trade goods, rather than rely on the government to do it for us. We can do it with many goods now in the shops.