Educating, Cultivating, and Mobilizing Young People
I’m Madelyn Swift, a senior at UNC Chapel Hill studying Economics and International Studies, as well as a horse enthusiast. I think the beauty of a student run organization is that we don’t allow the world to tell us no or that our dreams are too big. After seeing an AIDemocracy documentary on foreign aid, I knew it was exactly the type of organization with which I wanted to be involved to make a difference and learn from other motivated individuals.
Although it is imperative that people in dire need of food get immediate relief and assistance, there needs to be long term solutions put in place to avert future crises. One cannot predict a huge drought, but the rainfall in in East Africa has been low for the past two years, partially as a result of human induced climate change. By the time five regions of Somalia were officially declared to be experiencing famines in July 2011, 3.7 million people were already in need of emergency aid and 10 million were affected. Yet, in August 2010, USAID … [Read more...]
In 2007, CARE International, a large aid organization, turned down $46 billion worth of grain a year from the US government. In doing this, CARE was protesting the US policy of monetized food aid. Monetized food aid, in this context, essentially entails American grain being shipped to charities across the world, who then sell this grain to fund their own anti-poverty projects. Charities receiving grain are incentivized to sell below market prices, depressing prices for local farmers. Instead of reaching the poorest, this grain tends to support those … [Read more...]
During the Accra Agenda for Action in 2008, 100 governments committed to making aid more transparent, results oriented, and accountable to those receiving aid. Advocates of the subsequently defined SMART Aid principles have produced or highlighted some SMART Aid projects. For instance, DFID, the UK’s Department for International Development, in tandem with the Malawian government, supports a subsidy that provides fertilizer to increase corn production. This has decreased Malawi’s reliance on emergency food aid, increasing their food security. … [Read more...]
