Rockridge
High School
Taylor Ridge, Illinois
Teacher: Barbara Downey
Increasing
Foreign Aid Through Non-government Organizations
By Nichole Matya
12th
Grade
The
United States: a perfect image of the way government and society should be-- or
so many people in this country believe. But is our country the greatest system
mankind can develop? Until we put away our selfishness and pride, our country
will never be near the perfect New Utopia that the great philosopher Aristotle
wrote about in “Ethics” and “The Politics.” Although President Bush is
trying to increase the humility of the American people by challenging them to
give more to foreign aid, his plan is a stab at pretending to be God of the
world. Citizens of the United States should increase their contributions to
foreign aid through non-government organizations, not tax-based programs such as
the Millennium Challenge Account.
As
individuals, American citizens need to increase their donations to programs set
up to give aid to people who suffer around the world. Some may say, “But we
already give so much; we have the number one position in the world in giving to
foreign aid through non-government organizations!” However, our nation also
has more than double the second highest Gross National Product of any other
nation. Yes, Americans have set the standard for individually donating, but
there is no need to stop. We need to heighten this standard. We, as individuals,
can afford it. Every day someone in the United States buys a brand new car worth
thousands of dollars, while 35,000 children around the world die from
starvation. A family buys a million-dollar house today, while a family in Asia
flees from their corrupt government. While millions around the world are
suffering, many citizens of the United States spend a majority of their income
on housing (34.2%), apparel (4.9%), vehicle purchases (9.0%), and entertainment
(4.9%).
Many
Americans hold the attitude: “I worked for it; it is my money; I will keep it
for myself.” However, the money that a person makes is from mankind working
together to keep jobs open and profitable. For example, a man who advertises
coffee receives his paycheck because the factory workers are processing the
product. The factory workers receive their paycheck because farmers work in the
fields to harvest the coffee beans. Every job is connected in the web of the
world’s industry, a web in which all mankind plays a role. Therefore, just
because Americans, in general, make the largest profit in the web does not give
them the right to be selfish with that profit. Americans are self-centered with
their income, forgetting about the less-fortunate around the world who take a
role in giving us our fortune. If
we could be more generous with the gifts that we have been given, perhaps we
could give life to a nation in desperate need of debt relief or a child who
cries in the night from his hunger pains.
Although
American citizens need to increase their spending on foreign aid, this increase
should not come from tax dollars imposed by the American government. The
government has some successful programs in progress that already use a small
percentage of our tax dollars. The Millennium Challenge Account would take more
money from the tax that the government has collected and would spend that money
on non-American improvements. Since the government of the United States takes
money from the people of the United States, that money should be used by the
government to increase the well-being of the United States itself. By paying
taxes to the government, we expect to be provided with protection, health
benefits, and education. If someone were to move into a nursing home, he would expect to be taken care of, not the woman in the house next
to the home. He pays the money to the home to take care of him.
Similarly, we pay the government taxes to take care of us, not other countries.
One
positive aspect of the Millennium Challenge Account is that a nation receiving
the aid must make guidelines for itself. By mapping out its plan for
improvement, a nation is more likely to stick with that plan and succeed in
making improvements. However, by setting guidelines for a nation to receive our
aid, the United States is acting as God. If we deny a country aid, we are
saying, “Hey, you’re not good enough to get money from us, so we’ll just
leave you to die in misery.” Many times it is the government of a nation that
takes the nation into a downward spiral, and the individuals in that nation
cannot do anything about it. We are taking life from innocent individuals of
mankind because their government does not “meet our requirements.” It may
seem as if there is no hope for these individuals if our government does not
give foreign aid to their country, but there is an alternative: non-government
organizations.
In
general, non-government organizations (NGOs) use the donations they receive to
better the lives of individuals and small communities. Almost all of the money
NGOs collect is sent directly to the needy citizens of corrupt and
poverty-stricken nations. One group, World Vision, sent 84.1% of the donations
in 2001 to its programs to help mankind around the world, while only 15.9% was
used for fund-raising and management costs. In comparison with similar
organizations, the percentage of donations sent to these programs is average.
NGOs use the money they have raised for the hurting citizens in nations needing
aid.
Through
NGOs, not the Millennium Challenge Account, American citizens, as individuals,
need to give to foreign aid. If Americans would look at their hearts, we would
see that this nation is selfish with the wealth it has been given. Not only
should we recognize our self-centered attitude, but we should also work to
improve the living standards for all of mankind by giving donations to NGOs.
President Bush is correct in pointing out a need to increase foreign aid;
however, his plan to use American citizens’ money through their tax dollars is
an incorrect use of the money we pay to be taken care of by our government.
While our government needs to step down, we, as citizens of the United States,
need to step up to the challenge.
Bibliography: “GNP.”
On-line. Internet. 1 Feb. 2003. Available WWW:http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/gnp.html
“GNP.”
On-line. Internet. 1 Feb. 2003. Available WWW:
“GNP.”
On-line. Internet. 1 Feb. 2003. Available WWW:
“World
Vision.” On-line. Internet. 1 Feb. 2003. Available WWW:
QUESTIONS:
Q1: President Bush claimed that most funds for development do not come from international aid. He mentions three things that do fund development. What are they?
Three funds that do fund development are from domestic capital, from foreign investment, and from trade.
Q2:
President Bush reminded his audience that successful development in a third
world country requires more than funds. What two items did he mention in this
regard?
In order to have successful development, necessary elements are security from chaos and violence and literacy, good health, and ability to work.
Q3:
When is money sometimes counterproductive, according to President Bush?
Nations are given money but do not use that money to enact sound policies. Instead, the money subsidizes bad policies, delays reform, and crowds out investment. Therefore, instead of helping a nation, the money hurts it.
Q4:
Describe the Millenium Challenge Account and include in your description what is
anticipated from donors and recipients.
The Millennium Challenge Account is a proposal made by President Bush to increase foreign aid from developed nations. A nation must meet eligibility requirements in order to receive aid and must map out the goals that it will work toward. It is anticipated that the contributions from donors will increase to $5 billion by fiscal year 2006, and recipients will better their society by adopting the reforms and policies that make development effective and lasting.
Q5:
What are the three broad standards that President Bush expects the leaders of
the developing nations to adopt?
President
Bush expects countries receiving aid to adopt standards of ruling justly,
investing in their people, and encouraging economic freedom.
Q6:
Describe President Bush’s challenge to development banks and explain why or
why not you favor it.
President Bush challenged development banks to give up to half of the funds they are devoting in grants instead of giving the funds in loans. By giving grants instead of loans, a struggling nation is given a new hope. The morale of the nation will boost, and when they do succeed, they will not have to pay back loans that will once again take them into severe debt.
Q7:
What percentage of our national income (GNP) do
you think the United States government committed to foreign aid in 2002?
First answer this question and then
use the Internet to find the answer.
I
think 20% of our national income was spent on foreign aid in 2002. The actual
percentage of income committed to foreign aid in 2002 is 0.1%.
Q8:
Describe and defend a “Me First” attitude.
“Me First” says that the GNP should be spent to perfect the United States before we contribute to other nations. The United States has problems of its own. Our money should be spent on this country to fix domestic problems before helping the rest of the world.
Q9:
Describe and defend a “Mutual Benefit” attitude.
“Mutual Benefit” says that our income should be spent on bettering other nations as well as ourselves. We are all a part of mankind, and the money we have should be used to help other men that suffer as much or more than we do.
Q10:
Describe three unsuccessful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American citizens.
1. The Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program was supposed to have nineteen countries complete a system to relieve heavy debt by the end of 2002. In reports, however, eleven of the nineteen did not do so.
2. Kosovo Women's Initiative was a program created through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999. The program was supposed to ensure that women’s needs were met as the men came home from war, but the funds were not properly used.
3. Development Credit Authority (DCA), a program created by USAID, was supposed to assist financial development by controlling credit. However, the program only used 16% of its 2001 funding to help nations control credit.
Q11:
Describe three successful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American citizens.
1. Samaritan’s Purse is a non-government organization that works in more than 100 countries around the world to help provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education to needy children.
2. World Help is a non-government organization that builds churches, distributes Bibles, and sponsors needy children in eleven countries around the world.
3.
Church World Service is a non-government organization that provides
opportunity for the less-fortunate people of the world by offering education for
peace, promoting integrity, meeting basic needs and providing opportunities to
succeed.
Q12:
Steve Radelet, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, believes we
can do both—take care of our own people and lend a helping hand to citizens of
less developed countries. Explain why you think we can or cannot offer aid to
both.
We can offer aid to both our country and other less developed countries because our nation has a high GNP. While continuing to give foreign aid to other countries, we can increase the well-being of our own nation. It has been proven that we can do both, because we do both at the present time.
Q13:
What do you think about Mr. Radelet’s assertion that “the administration is
leaning towards a system in which eligible countries would write proposals (or
business plans) describing their objectives and strategy, how they would use the
money, the benchmarks used for evaluation. Giving recipient countries this
responsibility is a revolutionary change in U.S. foreign assistance.”?
Giving recipient countries the responsibility of planning their own development strategy is an excellent idea. By giving them the opportunity to set their own goals, a nation is more likely to strive to achieve those goals. If a developed and wealthy nation, such as the United States, were to give the nations goals, the goals would probably be unreasonable and the nation would not feel as obligated to reach those goals.
Q14:
Which of Mr. Radelet’s three concerns regarding the MCA concerns you and why?
2.
The make-or-break requirement may unnecessarily eliminate some countries.
The requirement to receive aid is like a line and a nation is either above or
below the line. Because of failing to meet eligibility requirements, a nation
might not make it above the line. The problem is that failure to meet
eligibility might be an error made by the person calculating the requirements.
If a nation that deserves the aid is turned down, we may be allowing a nation to
suffer because of our own error.
Q15: There is evidence of an increase in negative world opinion towards U.S. foreign policy, not necessarily the American people. To counter this negative perception of the U.S. some people want the U.S. to concentrate more on weapons of mass assistance (WMA) and less of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Please comment.
The United States has enough WMDs to destroy the world. However, we keep spending money on them just to “intimidate” the other nations of the world. This money is being wasted for intimidation, when it could be used to save the lives of suffering men in a third world country.
Q16:
What does the World Bank recommend as the United State’s “just and
appropriate share” to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015? Do you
think our citizens can afford that kind of increase? Defend your views.
The World Bank recommends that the United States increase its foreign aid to $10-$15 billion dollars annually. The citizens of this country can afford that increase if we spend less on conveniences for ourselves and more on suffering people. We are selfish with our income in this nation and need to recognize the need others have.
Q17:
What do you think about the request of Faith Action for People Centered
Development Policy’s request that tax dollars be used to fund, not only
government-sponsored foreign aid programs, but “that funds also go to NGOs and
grassroots organizations.”?
Tax dollars should not be sent to NGOs or grassroots organizations because if one group is sent money and not another, it would be a form of discrimination. Also, American tax dollars should be used to improve this nation, not to better the lives of everyone else around the world.
Q18:
How many countries would be affected positively by health-related investments
according to the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH)?
83
countries would benefit from health-related investments.
Q19:
According to the CMH, how much would be gained annually between 2015-2020 due to
saved lives and increased economic growth, if an increased investment were made
in global AIDS and other health services?
Between 2015-2020, $360 billion would be gained annually if investment in health services were increased.
Q20: Use the Internet for your research and name the two congressmen who introduced H.R. 4524. Give a 2-line synopsis of that bill.
Congressmen
Christopher Smith and John LaFalce introduced the H.R. 4524 bill. Also known as
the Debt Relief Enhancement Act, the bill will help reduce the severe debt of
certain countries. The outline includes addressing health crises, such as AIDS,
and forming strategies to reduce poverty.
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