Eliminating poverty is a complex task. It requires not only knowledge, political will and access to technology, but also the money to put the right policies into place. As many nations in the developing world lack the resources to put their country on the development track, they receive assistance from developed countries.
International aid is one way of assisting developing countries in their fight against poverty. One major type of international aid is development aid – a donation given to support economic development in developing countries. Short-term international aid used to alleviate suffering caused by a humanitarian crisis such as an earthquake or famine, is called humanitarian aid.
In 1970, industrialized countries promised for the first time... (more)
Eliminating poverty is a complex task. It requires not only knowledge, political will and access to technology, but also the money to put the right policies into place. As many nations in the developing world lack the resources to put their country on the development track, they receive assistance from developed countries.
International aid is one way of assisting developing countries in their fight against poverty. One major type of international aid is development aid – a donation given to support economic development in developing countries. Short-term international aid used to alleviate suffering caused by a humanitarian crisis such as an earthquake or famine, is called humanitarian aid.
In 1970, industrialized countries promised for the first time to spend 0.7% of their GNI on Official Development Assistance (ODA). But when the target was included in the Millennium Declaration in 2000, only a handful of countries had actually lived up to their word.
Governments are similarly reluctant to grant debt relief to less developed countries. Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt owed by developing state nations to governments of industrialized countries and international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank.
Supporters of debt relief argue that much of the debt was incurred by dictatorial regimes and that the people in developing countries shouldn’t be burdened with these debts, especially as the money was often spent on prestigious projects that didn’t benefit the poor. Opponents of debt relief, however, argue that it is a blank cheque to often-corrupted governments.
In 1996 the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was launched to provide systematic debt relief for the poorest countries, whilst trying to ensure that the money would be spent on poverty reduction. Debt relief has also been included in the MDGs as a way to finance the various policies needed to reduce poverty. (
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