Developing Countries Describe the Difference

¶ … Developing Countries Describe the difference between official development assistance (public foreign aid) and private development assistance from nongovernmental organizations (NGO's)? Give some examples of each. Indicate some examples of donor NGO's and some of their recipient nations. Which type of aid is more desirable from the perspective of recipient countries? Explain your answer.

For much of the 20th century, public foreign aid to developing nations often had ulterior strategic motives on the part of the donor nation, such as that of the Berlin airlift to the surrounded city in the midst of Soviet-occupied East Germany by the United States. Gradually, "the close connections between economic aid and counterinsurgency programs, mainly in Vietnam and Latin America…led to a redefinition of U.S. assistance programs in the 1970s.

The 1973 New Directions initiative stressed meeting the basic needs of the poor rather than implementing development strategies, and new human rights provisions limited the delivery of military aid to repressive governments" (Barry & Oringer 1997). There was also an effort to coordinate official U.S. aid efforts with international organizations such as the United Nations. But once again in the 1980s, the Reagan Administration began to "shift back toward the coordinated use of all forms of U.S.

foreign aid -- development, political, food, military, and even humanitarian assistance -- to promote U.S. national security objectives: namely to roll back communist, nationalist, and leftist advances" (Barry & Oringer 1997). As part of its anti-leftist agenda, the U.S. used its influence through the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to require nations to implement capitalist reforms, such as deregulating and privatizing formerly nationalized industries.

Although institutions such as the IMF and foreign governments have dominated the world scene in terms of aiding the developing world, Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO)s are also fairly old institutions, and encompass such well-known organizations as Oxfam and the Rotary Club. NGOs often have values of social justice to uphold as part of their mission statements. Unlike foreign governments, their aims are specific and theoretically less self-interested, and unlike the UN, IMF, and World Bank, they do not strive to advance a particular ideology or broad world interest.

They often have a particularly defined mission, although some NGO's missions are broader than others. NGO's aims may encompass the relief efforts of the Red Cross, "conserving the environment, contributing to development projects or simply battling with governments over human rights issues" ("NGOs," BBC, 2009). For this latter type of cause, many governments find NGOs "a nuisance or even a threat to their interests," although the same contention could be made about foreign aid that is contingent upon the government taking certain economic actions ("NGOs," BBC, 2009).

However, other governments appreciate the hands-on approach of NGOs, who offer immediate assistance as well as financial aid where it is needed. In terms of disaster relief, NGOs have proved especially useful. "NGOs are the rapid respond unit of humanitarian disasters all over the world. Members of these unique organizations put their lives on the line to operate in volatile areas during conflicts, and providing unconditional services to poverty stricken people.

While the UN is rambling about the pros and cons of moving into trouble spots, the NGOs are always the first to deploy," wrote one Liberian in response to a BBC article on NGOs in Africa ("NGOs," BBC, 2009). In some provinces of Africa that are torn apart by civil strife and can provide few social services to the people, NGOs like UNICEF can provide immediate assistance to address specific concerns such as health care.

Foreign aid from a government to an area of the world where there is a total breakdown of civil order would not be as effective, as it would need to proceed through more conventional government channels and might ne met with suspicion. In debating which is more desirable for a particular nation --.