Foreign aid is not a waste of money
Telegraph -- We must aim to abolish the need for aid, but that time has not yet come, argues Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As public spending cuts have an impact across European and North American countries, the debate over the value of overseas aid is reaching new levels of intensity, no more so than in the United Kingdom where the Coalition has pledged to ringfence and increase the aid budget to reach 0.7 per cent of its Gross National Income from 2013. The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan adds a new and urgent perspective, tragically showing how even a rich and developed nation can find itself in need of external humanitarian assistance...
Food prices down from record high
BBC -- Global food prices fell in March after eight months of rising to record highs, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Its index of global food prices, which measures monthly changes for foods including cereals, meat and sugar, averaged 229.8 points in March, down from February's record of 236.8 points. Unrest in the Middle East and the natural disaster in Japan dented demand for grain, depressing the price. The UN warned the fall could be a blip. A top official at the agency told the Reuters news agency that global food prices were expected to begin rising again soon as demand begins to bounce back...
The business of putting yourself out of business
CIPE Blog -- With concern over national debts rising, many donor countries are looking for ways to scale back spending wherever they can. With this trend, foreign aid and other development programs are under scrutiny for being nonessential to domestic needs. Disregarding the many shortcomings in arguments for cutting development aid, the politicians may be on to something: is foreign assistance meant to last forever? At an event in Washington, DC, I asked a similar question to a panel of distinguished experts in the field. They collectively held years of working in large development and humanitarian aid agencies, ranging from Oxfam to the United Nations. I wanted to know, how can those working in development achieve the goal of recipient countries funding and implementing their own public development projects? ...
Ghana ranked 11th friendliest country
Africa News -- Africa News reports that West African nation Ghana has been judged the eleventh friendliest country in the world, according to a survey by the reputable Forbes international magazine. The report said that makes the country with a population of about 24 million one of the preferred tourism destinations around the globe. According to an article on the official Ghana presidency website, the former British colony was the only African country to rank high in the Forbes survey. The survey, which was done in consultation with a cross-section of world travellers in 2010, found that Ghana is one of the "most welcoming nations"...
No comments:
Post a Comment