Food+Aid+Bad

Food Aid Bad 2/10/09 WFP = World Food Program  Relief food aid plays a clear and crucial role in saving lives and limiting nutritional stress in crisis caused by conflict and natural disaster, like Southern Sudan, there is a lot of scope for better practice and improved performance in emergency feeding interventions.  Examples: During the conflict between [|communism] and [|capitalism] in the twentieth century, the champions of those ideologies, the [|Soviet Union] and the [|United States], each used aid to influence the internal politics of other nations, and to support their weaker allies. Perhaps the most notable example was the [|Marshall Plan] by which the [|United States], largely successfully, sought to pull [|European] nations toward capitalism and away from communism.  Examples: An earthquake in 2003 in [|Bam, Iran] left tens of thousands of people in need of disaster zone aid. Although aid was flown in rapidly, regional belief systems, cultural backgrounds and even language seemed to have been omitted as a source of concern. Items such as religiously prohibited pork, and non-generic forms of medicine that lacked multilingual instructions came flooding in as relief.   __Examples: __ Food aid is delivered to Kenya in the form of a shipment of [|corn] from America. Portions of the corn may be diverted by corrupt politicians to their own tribes, or sold on the black market at prices that undercut local food producers. Kenyan recipients of donated Western clothing will not buy clothing from local tailors, putting the tailors out of business. Secret government bank accounts concealed foreign aid money destined for private purposes.  <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Financial aid is in most cases more efficient than food aid as an instrument for funding food assistance activities like school meals or food for work or in providing balance of payment or budgetary support for general development. <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">WFP should concentrate its operations and work on emergency and relief logistics. This would require a redefined role with appropriate resources and professional capacity to become the UN's humanitarian and rehabilitation logistics and food support agency. <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The UK and other EC member states might be released from obligations to provide bilateral food aid as part of the EU's contribution under the Food Aid Convention but would instead accept responsibilities under a Code of Conduct for participating in responses to humanitarian crises and supporting WFP in its redefined role.
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Mixed Motives: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Food aid is used as a political tool and not a pure altruistic act. Food aid is used for propping up friendly governments and having political or trade conditions for aid, which some consider neocolonialism.
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Inneffective: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Food aid agencies aren’t effective.
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Damages economy **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: Food aid hinders economic growth. <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> Aid is distributed by local politicians, finances the creation of corrupt government and hollows out the local economy.
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">What Should Change: **