Foreign Aid in Africa - Coursework Example

Foreign Aid al Affiliation Foreign Aid in Africa The approved question considered in this analysis is the query on whether massive aid is the best strategy for saving Africa. Pros for the International relations Question Massive foreign aid into Africa has several benefits to the region.i The health situation in the most parts of Africa is very wanting. There is high morbidity and mortality rate as the infant mortality rate all over Africa is on the rise. Through the foreign aid, the governments of the African countries have a better chance of saving the lives of their citizens. The foreign aid also provides expensive and modern diagnostic hospital equipment and also other modern equipment that enable the health facilities in the countries to have better management of their children (Anyanwu, 2012). A healthy nation translates into a more developed country that can participate actively in development processes.ii Another major advantage of the foreign aid into Africa is the case of the provision of food to areas that have famine. A large portion of the African region has a hot and dry climate that contributes to cases of famine. These regions do not have the capability of farming their own food and the population cannot fully rely on their government that has to concentrate the revenues of the country into other problematic and developmental areas. Foreign aid enables the governments buy food for the population in the famine areas. In Kenya, for example, the government has had a huge reliance on foreign aid to feed population in famine areas that are a total of five out of eight municipalities in the country. The foreign funds also act as a means to save lives in the case if a disaster in the African countries and in emergency situations (Asongu, 2013). Most African governments barely have funds set aside for emergency cases in the country because they often have deficit budgets on an annual basis. Further, foreign aid has had a lot of impact in the development of African countries. The aid has assisted in funding major developmental projects in Africa. Due to the political wrangles and issues of security in African countries, there are a lot of refugees in the area and displaced persons. The foreign aid is of great help to these displaced families and the refugees as they set up camps in foreign land of the neighboring countries. Cons for foreign aid in Africa There are a lot of skeptics for the massive foreign aid to Africa. Foreign aid causes a lot of dependency on the donor countries by the countries that receive the foreign aid. Through creating a dependency on foreign aid, some African governments that receive the foreign aid may not put enough efforts to free themselves from the donor money. It creates a laxity in these governments (Peiffer & Englebert, 2012). Another issue raised against the foreign Aid to Africa is that it does not help the people it intends to help. In the case that the aid was for disaster victims, there tends to be a lot of corruption in such a way that only a fraction of the money actually helps the intended people. This is a case of mismanagement of the foreign aid, either from the politicians in the government or the employers handling the finances. There does not exist accountability and transparency when handling donor money. Further, there have been claims that the development foreign aid does not even benefit the countries receiving the aid. The development projects may lead to other amenities such as water and food having more cost (Herbst, 2012). There are also of debt servicing cases, inflation increase and deregulation issues that have made the foreign aid seem unhelpful the countries receiving them. The foreign aid may be a loan that has a lot of restrictions and high interest, causing more stress to the government. Discussion of the Pros As a result of foreign aid, there have been positive results in the health sector in the countries that receive foreign aid. The infant mortality rate in Kenya, for example, has plummeted over the years thanks to foreign aid in the health sector. There is better management of the killer disease in Africa such as malaria and HIV/AIDS (Balde, 2011). Many donors have helped in providing malaria nets to pregnant mothers, enabling them to take better care of themselves and their babies who are at a risk of getting malaria. The expanding funding into the health sector over the years, from 7.9 billion dollars in 1995 to $26.9 billion in 2010 has helped many countries in the East African region fight diseases. The development foreign funding to Africa, especially by the United States has enabled many African countries build schools, infrastructure and have development programs that improve the economy. These developments have translated to better education standards in the countries and the people can now use that knowledge to advance the economies of their countries. The African countries have also gained the capacity to participate more in trading activities (Booth, 2012). Additionally, there have been several disasters and emergency situations in Africa. The foreign aid received by the country have enabled the government ensure fast response to the disaster areas and to offer the needed assistance to the victims, especially faster means of transport to hospitals. The foreign aid has, therefore, enabled ensure the safety of African countries. Due to the aid received by the government, there has been a possibility of the government to buy more food and store it for emergency cases such as the time of famine. The people have the assurance that they will have a roof over their head in the case there are safety issues in the country and they have to look for safety in other areas. Discussion of the cons The growth in African even after the pumping of foreign aid into the countries has been at a minimum.iii There are fears that the African Countries will not manage to attain the United Nations millennium development goals in the set timeframe. Instead of the foreign aid helping Africa, it has managed to increase the dependency rate of Africa on their donor countries. With the examples of Uganda and Ghana who have a 50% dependence on foreign aid in their annual budget, the foreign aid only help Africa continue to lag behind the rest of the world (Resnick, 2012). There are many mismanagement cases of the aid given to Africa through prevailing cases of bureaucracy and corruption.iv These negative aspects lead to a decreasing standard of living in Africa where majority of the populace live below the dollar on a daily basis, and yet the country receives aid (Asongu, 2012). Further, investors do not have the confidence to invest in Africa because there does not exist transparency in the management of funds. Further, in the case when the foreign aid is in the form of a loan, the donors tend to impose high interests especially if there were cases of mismanagement and money laundering with foreign aid previously handled by the same government (Gibson et al., 2015). This was the case when the Nigerian president, Obasanjo asked for further funds from Switzerland and yet some of his state officials were under the custody of London police due to allegations of money laundering. Support for my Position Africa is not yet in a position to fully support itself in such a way that it can reject all foreign aids. The continent should utilize the aid in developmental projects so that it can manage to break free from reliance on the foreign aid. The foreign aid in Africa has managed to help several sectors in the countries (Carbone, 2013). The major issues, however, that Africa should adhere to is proper management of the funds through having a policy of transparency and accountability of the utilization of the funds. The health situation in Africa is still fragile, especially with the recent outbreak of Ebola. Africa needs the help of the foreign aid in preventing and treating such diseases. I, therefore, support the existence of the foreign aid, as a strategy of enabling Africa becomes an economic hub in the future. Africa has a lot of potential due to the various natural resources in the continent. Through proper utilization of the funds afforded to them, Africa can manage to have a free economy. References Abugre, C. (2010). Why foreign aid is important for Africa. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/13/aid.africa.abugre/ Anyanwu, J. C. (2012). Why Does Foreign Direct Investment Go Where It Goes?: New Evidence From African Countries. Annals of Economics and Finance, 13(2), 425-462. Asongu, S. A. (2012). On the effect of foreign aid on corruption. African Governance and Development Institute WP/12/031. Asongu, S. A. (2013). On the effectiveness of foreign aid in institutional quality. African Governance and Development Institute WP/13/017. Baldé, Y. (2011). The Impact of Remittances and Foreign Aid on Savings/Investment in Sub Saharan Africa. African Development Review, 23(2), 247-262. Booth, D. (2012). Aid effectiveness: bringing country ownership (and politics) back in. Conflict, Security & Development, 12(5), 537-558. Carbone, M. (2013). Between EU actorness and aid effectiveness: the logics of EU aid to sub-Saharan Africa. International Relations, 27(3), 341-355. Gibson, C. C., Hoffman, B. D., & Jablonski, R. S. (2015). Did Aid Promote Democracy in Africa? The Role of Technical Assistance in Africa’s Transitions. World Development,68, 323-335. Herbst, J. (2012). Responding to state failure in Africa. New York: Routledge. Mohamed, M. R., Kaliappan, S. R., Ismail, N. W., & Azman-Saini, W. (2015). Effect of foreign aid on corruption: Evidence from sub-Saharan African countries. International Journal of Social Economics, 42(1), 47. Peiffer, C., & Englebert, P. (2012). Extraversion, vulnerability to donors, and political liberalization in Africa. African Affairs, 111(444), 355-378. Resnick, D. (2012). Foreign aid in Africa: Tracing channels of influence on democratic transitions and consolidation (No. 2012/15). WIDER Working Paper. Wako, H. A. (2011). Effectiveness of foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa: Does disaggregating aid into bilateral and multilateral components make a difference? Journal of Economics and International Finance, 3(16), 801-817. Wamboye, E., Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. S. (2013). Economic growth and the role of foreign aid in selected African countries. Development, 56(2), 155-171. Notes Read More