Transcript The Politics of Aid - St. Aidan's High School

Study Theme 3E:
The Politics of
Development in
Africa
NB – South Africa is not
included in this unit
1
By the end of this unit students should
be able to:
Describe
the problems in Health care,
education and water supplies
Describe and evaluated the economic, social
and political problems facing African Countries
Describe & evaluate the role of UN & its
agencies
Describe & evaluate the role of NGOs
Describe & evaluate the role of the UK Govt –
Dept for International Development (DFID)
Be aware of the role of the AU, EU & G8
2
The Exam



You can’t refer to South Africa
You must know the difference between an NGO
& a UN agency. E.g. Oxfam & UNICEF
You must be able to refer to specific countries,
their problems & attempted solutions.
You must do 1 question form International
Issues (Study Theme 3-ST3) in the Exam
 You can do your fourth question form
International Issues(ST3) or from UK
Politics(ST1)
3
 In ST3 you will also be taught the USA option

Glossary
Developed Country
a “rich” country like the USA or UK
Developing Country
a “poor” country like Sudan
NGO
a non-governmental organisation like
Oxfam or Save the Children Fund
Bilateral Aid
aid given by one country to another
Multi-lateral Aid
aid given by an organisation like the
UN or EU (more than one country)
Learn also the terms on P14 of the LTS Booklet
4
Characteristics of Developed/Developing
Countries
Developed Countries




High levels of literacy
High GNP per capita (UK)
High life expectancy
Low population growth
rate ( UK 0.3%)
Developing Countries




Low literacy levels
Low GNP
Low life expectancy
High Population growth
5
Try to add to these lists as you go through the Study Theme.
Remember Africa
is a Continent of
over 50 countries.
6
Government Policy
Water
supplies
Climatic Change
Unfair Trade
& Cash Crops
Land Tenure
Over-farming
What are the main
problems for
development in
Africa?
Civil War
Health care/
Disease
Population Growth
Education
Debt
Poverty
7
Disease : Aids
HIV/Aids is major problem across this
region.
In every one of the affected countries,
the population has already been weakened
by the virus.
In Zambia, 1 in 5 adults is HIV positive.
This affects the population as it reduces
the number of able-bodied workers.
In many countries the older generation is
left to care for the young.
8
2005 Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS Report
People with HIV: 25.8m
% of world's HIV cases: 64%
New cases: 3.2m
Aids deaths: 2.4m
•Only 1/20 HIV children in developing countries receives
the treatment they need. (Oxfam Report)
•Most of HIV-positive children die before they are 5.
•60%+ of all people with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
•Despite falls in adult HIV prevalence apparently under
way in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, there is little
evidence of declining epidemics in this region as a whole.
More Info:
9
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/health/2005/aids_crisis/default.stm
AIDS is not just a direct killer but a major contributor to
famine, according to aid agencies. Some countries are
expected to lose a quarter of their agricultural workforce to
AIDS by 2020. Early deaths deprive new generations of
knowledge about farming methods, while food consumption in
10
families hit by HIV/Aids drops by up to 40%
Malaria
Malaria, an ancient disease, threaten
40% of the world's population. Official
studies suggest rates of between 350 500 million a year.
•It is preventable & curable, but can be fatal if not treated.
•It kills 1 million+ people a year - mostly young children in subSaharan Africa.
•Africa accounts for over 90% of reported cases of malaria.
• 10% of African hospital admissions are for malaria, as are
20-30% of doctors' visits.
•Africa’s malaria-related illness & death rates are increasing.
•Bill Gates donated $50 million to research a possible vaccine
11
against malaria.
2005 World Report on Malaria by UNICEF & WHO
http://www.who.int/malaria/includes_en/whomalariapublications19982004.htm
12
Malaria in Africa – The Facts:
•Costs Africa an Est. US$12 billion
yearly in lost GDP, it could be
controlled for less $s than this.
•Cause of 20% of under 5s deaths
•10% of overall disease burden.
•Uses 40% of public health expenditure, 30-50% of inpatient
admissions in areas with high malaria transmission.
•Sub-Saharan Africa is prone to Plasmodium falciparum, the most
severe & life-threatening form of the disease.
•Sub-saharan Africa is home to the worst (most effective) species
of mosquitoes for transmitting the disease.
•Many African countries lacked the infrastructures & resources
13
necessary to mount sustainable campaigns against malaria.
Malaria results in lost life and lost productivity. Malaria also
hampers children's schooling and development through both
absenteeism and the permanent damage associated with Malaria.
The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) global partnership was formed in
1998. In 2000 African leaders met to translate RBM's goal of
halving malaria rates by 2010 into real action. The Abuja
Declaration, April 2000 set interim targets and significant progress
has been made since the agreement:
•Clear targets for the % of people with access to treatment,
protective measures
•20 African countries have reduced or stopped tax on insecticide
nets
•Prevention & management of malaria in
pregnancy programmes
•Improving the prevention of,
response to, malaria epidemics
and
14
UN World Water Development Report
Almost 20% of the world's population still lacks
access to safe drinking water because of failed
policies, lack of resources and environmental changes.
•The report warned, regions such as sub-Saharan Africa would
be likely to meet the UN MDG of halving people without access
to safe drinking water by 2015.
•One billion people are without access to clean drinking water.
•The authors said failure to provide adequate supplies and
sanitation was directly linked to poor health and low quality of
life among the urban poor, which could act as a trigger for
social unrest and conflicts.
•Poor water quality is a key cause of poverty. Around 3.1m
people died in 2002 as a result of diarrhoeal diseases and
15
malaria, 90% of whom were children.
http://www.unesco.org/water/img/header_delta_3.jpg
Education
Everywhere, education is a key to change and selfimprovement. At the present rate, Africa will miss key targets
for reducing poverty by more than 100 years. Universal
primary education for all would not be provided until 2130.
According to the Global Campaign for Education, the world's
richest countries are failing to provide the funds needed for
education in the developing world.
Education & Gender
Often in Developing countries the education of girls is a low
priority. Where families have to pay for school education it is
boys who get and girls who go without.
16
Adiatou Issaka is 12 years old and can’t read or write. She
lives in Niger, one of the poorest countries on earth. She is
one of 1.3 million children in Niger who don’t go to school.
Adiatou’s local school is full and she spends her days pounding
millet grain, fetching firewood and water. ’Sometimes the work
is very very hard,’ she says. ’I want to learn to read and write.’
G8 countries currently spend $639m a year on basic education,
about half the cost of one Stealth bomber. For the cost of
just one of the Cruise missiles fired on Baghdad, around 100
schools could be built in Africa.
Across Africa, where education is such a scarce commodity,
girls like Adiatou are losing out, as their brothers are usually
given priority. In a knowledge-driven world economy, Africa’s
education crisis is stunting its development. Education –
particularly for girls – has a major role to play in the war
against poverty. It can open doors to better health, increased
17
income and independence.
Cash Crops
Many African countries are
encouraged by the World Bank
and IMF (International
Monetary Fund) to grow cash
crops
 Cash crops include tea, coffee,
cotton and cocoa
 International prices of can vary
and farmers are often left with
not enough money to buy food
for their families.
 The price paid to farmers is
rarely fair

18
•In Sudan farmers were encouraged to
grow cotton & sugar.
•In Tanzania farmers receive about £7
a month for the coffee they grow – the
price paid to coffee farmers has not
risen in 50 years but the profits made
by coffee companies such as Nestle
have increased.
•Farmers are not growing crops they
can live off of in difficult times.
• Every year the developed countries
give £35 billion in Aid to the developing
nations but the developing nations lose
out on £500 Billion in unfair Trade.
19
The Debt issue
G8 'failing to meet aid pledges'
Adapted from David Loyn BBC 9/6/6
Oxfam has criticised the G8 for adding debt write-off into
the total development figure to make it look better. The G8
countries made a commitment to increase development
spending by $50bn a year by 2010.
The raw data showing a $21bn increase in development
spending in 2005 over 2004 looks like real progress.
But Oxfam says 80% of that figure was in the one-off
cancellation of debt to Nigeria & Iraq.
The beneficial effect to a country in cutting repayments and
interest paid out in a single year on debts is much less than
20
the overall capital figure that is written off.
Cont…
Debt cancellation has made a real difference. "Across Africa,
lifting the burden of debt is allowing millions of $ to be
directed to fighting poverty". But in lumping it in with other
development payments the money is being double counted.
"This may mask a failure to increase the underlying volume of
real aid in line with Gleneagles."
The UK Govt. disputes this. It points to projects like an
agreement to finance African education over 10 years, moves
towards access for all to Aids drugs, & a new Financing Facility
for Immunisation as signs of progress since Gleneagles.
30 years ago the most developed countries committed
themselves to paying 0.7% of GNI for development assistance.
Britain's budget [without debt repayments] is less than ½ this.
International Development Secretary, Hilary
Benn, said: "The government is on track to
meet the 0.7% target by 2013."
21
Over- Farming
(also Deforestation & desertification)
Rapid increases in population have led to
increased demand for food
 Farmers no longer leave land fallow
 Crop yields decrease
 Trees & hedges are uprooted as marginal land is
farmed
 As the land becomes exhausted it cannot sustain
the the grasses & bushes which bind the soil. The
topsoil is eroded.
 E.g. 1900 40% of Ethiopia was covered in forests
but by 2000 it had dropped to 4% -it is still falling

22
World's dry regions set to expand
Increasing desertification is threatening global efforts to
tackle poverty and hunger, a 2005 UN report stated. .
•10-20% of drylands are already degraded unless practices
change these areas will become unproductive.
•“The number of people affected by desertification is likely
larger than any other contemporary environmental problem."
•Drylands cover 41% of the planet's land surface, and are
growing. They are home to over two billion people, including
the world's most impoverished, in areas such northern Africa.
•As land dries up, it becomes unsuitable for farming. This
exacerbates poverty and creates environmental refugees.
Hundreds of thousands of people will be in need of new homes
over the next 30 years as the Earth dries up.
23
Climate change
Christian Aid Report - The Climate of Poverty: Facts, Fears and
Hopes, warns that 184 million people in Africa may die as a result
of climate change by 2100. Climate-induced floods, famine,
drought, conflict & a growth in areas infested by malaria-carrying
mosquitoes could cause a huge rise in deaths & could reverse
recent gains in reducing poverty.
Its report says rich nations must aid poorer ones to adopt nonfossil-fuel energy sources such as solar power.
Author, John McGhie, said that for $50bn (£26bn) the whole of
sub-Saharan Africa could go solar-powered. $50bn is the amount
the continent would have to pay on extra fuel bills from oil."
The Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon dioxide emissions does not
require major developing nations to make reductions. 24
War
¤Civil War – a war between factions inside one country
¤Disrupts and destroys both food production and distribution
¤1.5 million+ people killed in the 20 year long civil war in Sudan
¤Planting of Landmines injures civilians – limiting some of the
workforce and prohibits the use of the mined land for
farming. e.g. Angola 1997 (Est. 26 000 civilians worldwide killed
or maimed by landmines each year)
¤Scorched earth policy –e.g.Ethiopia 1980s. The deliberate
burning of land/crops to prevent their use by an advancing
enemy (Sudanese Govt has been accused of this Darfur)
¤War creates refugees who are often farm workers - they are
then unproductive and dependent on aid e.g. people from Sudan
leaving for Chad or Ethiopia escape the fighting (2006 still an
25
Est. 2 million refugees from Darfur)



The movement of refugees in a war situation can rapidly
change making it hard to plan aid - 2002 October – Ugandan
Army had to organise emergency evacuation of 400,000+
civilians caught up in fighting against LRA.
Interrupts the economy - less food & less of a range of
food in all affected areas (prices increase dramatically)
Money diverted to military – 1997 Angola spent $390 million
on its military
¤ Fear - farmers (often women) too scared to go out and
work the land especially if they have to travel
 Food Aid may be attacked or hijacked – In Uganda attacks
on the World Food Prog. stocks in Lira town prevented them
from sending the food where it was desperately needed
2004. WFP trucks hijacked in Darfur Dec 2004.
 War interrupts normal family/neighbourhood support
networks
26
"Civilian populations were the target of both
parties to the conflict - the government troops
had an interest to force civilians to leave rural
areas and take them to areas under their
control." Mr van der Borgt of MSF says.
The conflict looked to have ended
in 2002 when the leader of the
rebel forces, Savimbi, was killed.
However fighting and violence
have continued, most recently Feb
2004 –LRA rebels slaughter at
least 200 people at a camp for
27
displaced persons.
Choose a country to look at:
Sudan
 Angola
 Mozambique
 Ethiopia
 Somalia
 Sierra Leone

Find out what their civil war was about
Find out the impact the war has had on Development
28
Darfur Region of Sudan
Sudan has experienced continual Civil War for 25 years.
The long running war between the North and South has
ended but at the same time conflict was growing in the
Darfur Region.In May 2006 the main sides in the Darfur
War signed a peace agreement but smaller rebel groups
have still to sign. Est. 70,000 people have been killed and
2m forced from their homes.
The Sudanese government
is accused to backing the
Arab Janjaweed militias in
it’s attacks on the black
population. The
Government denies
involvement.
29
Problems in Darfur:
•Refugees in large numbers – starvation and malnutrition
common in the refugee camps- easily for people suffering
these problems to develop other illnesses as they are so weak
•Many men away fighting, dead or fled land leaving crops
untended
•UN and NGOs have been attacked and some NGOs have been
forced to quit the area e.g. Save the Children in Dec 2004.
•Scorched earth Policy? There have been many reports of the
Government planes deliberately destroying crops in rebel
controlled areas
•Use of terrorism to make people flee the land – killing of
children, raping of women
•Many areas in Darfur are difficult to access especially during
30
the raining season
Dec 29th 2004 -UN suspends food aid for Darfur
because of fighting.
The World Food Programme stopped its deliveries when
road closures prevented 70 trucks carrying rations for
some 260,000 people reaching Darfur.
Despite an April ceasefire, clashes between rebels, progovernment militias and the army continue.
The UN has called Darfur one of the world's worst
humanitarian crises, with some two million refugees
relying on aid handouts since the conflict began nearly
two years ago.
Truck theft - In another incident rebels have stolen 13
WFP trucks carrying food aid over the last two weeks of
Dec 2004. Security continues to deteriorate and the
African Union troops sent to protect the ceasefire
31
monitors are having little impact on the fighting.
Cholera in Sudan
Southern Sudan has suffered over 500 cholera deaths since
January 2006. Another 13,800 people have been affected by
the disease in the region.
WHO has warned the epidemic could spread to Sudan's
neighbours, the agency confirmed reports it has spread to
Darfurin June 2006, where 2.5m refugees live in squalid
conditions and close proximity.
Other countries in the region have seen isolated infections,
but in Angola to the west, fatalities have reached 1,200 since
January and 35,000 others have been made ill.
WHO are delivering treatments - consisting of sugar and salt to the affected areas. The medicine is essential for replacing
the fluids and minerals the body loses when cholera strikes.
BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//1/hi/world/africa/5076306.stm
32
Zimbabwe
The Policies of Robert Mugabe
Zimbabwe has been suffering because of
the seizures of white owned farms by
supporters of Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
Many white farmers have deserted their
farms & others have been warned to leave
their land by early August of 2002.
This policy has led to a big drop in grain
production which has not been helped by a
lack of rain.
6M people need food aid. The country also has the highest
33
rate of HIV/Aids amongst these countries.
Radio Broadcast: Why the number of
hungry children is set to grow
Listen to the broadcast
Take notes on: Why the numbers of the hungry will
increase in sub Saharan Africa
 How many African children are likely to be
hungry in the year 2020?
 What changes in world trade does the
International Food Policy Research Unit
want?
34
Drought
Severe drought has been
causing problems across
Southern Africa. In
Zambia there has been
total crop failure in the
south of the country. In
2000/1 maize production
fell by 30%. This meant
there was little to store
for this season.There is
a similar picture in
Eastern Zambia.
Malawi, Swaziland &
Lesotho have also suffered
35
from drought.
Mozambique in 2002
After two years of devastating floods, a drought is now
affecting parts of the country.
Rivers have dried up. Crops wither in the fields. Malaria &
cholera are rampant.Nearly 600,000 people in Mozambique
need food aid.
It is estimated that almost 14% of the population are
affected by HIV/Aids. Along the main road between
Zimbabwe & Malawi the rate is more than 20%
It has affected the middle generation
most.Many grandparents are left to
care for the children.
A dried-up river bed
36
Locust
Jan 2005 - Locusts and drought have obliterated
agricultural production in Mauritania, leaving
400,000 people in urgent need of food aid, the UN
food agency says. Mauritania was the country worst hit
by last year's locust invasion in West Africa.
Some 60% of Mauritania's population will not have
enough to eat this year, says the World Food Programme.
The WFP appealed for $31m to fund a two-year aid
project.
37
The IMF in Malawi
Officials in the government of Malawi
claim the the MFI told them to
sell-off food surpluses in 2000 in
order to reduce its debt.
76% of Malawians lack food & more than 300 people have
already died of hunger this year.
The IMF has denied that it gave this advice.It claims that
the government took this action on the advice of an EU
food consultant. It also claims that the government sold
the food reserve which government policy says should
always be kept in reserve.
Malawi had expected a bumper crop in 2001. When it
became clear that this would not happen, grain prices rose
38
by 400%.
Both floods & drought are being blamed
for the food shortages.
The worst affected countries are:Malawi
Zimbabwe &
Zambia.
Angola is also badly affected after decades of civil
war.
39
Tsunami 26/12/04
Somalia is the worst-hit African state, with damage
concentrated in the region of Puntland, on the tip of
the Horn of Africa.
water destroyed 1,180 homes, smashed 2,400 boats
and rendered freshwater wells and reservoirs
unusable, the UN said in a report on 4 January.
300 Somalis are known to have died, with thousands
more homeless and many fishermen still unaccounted
for.
About 50,000 people have been displaced.
Aid: The UN has called for $13m to help tsunami
victims. Aid agencies with small ground operations in
Puntland have delivered food and relief supplies, as has
a German Navy helicopter. Somalia is anarchic and has
few roads, presenting aid agencies with a major
40
challenge.