“Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it, ... The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty”(Peter Eigin, 2005, Chairman of Transparency International)

“The impact of the large scale rampant corruption is that people who should not live in poverty are living in poverty. Roads, hospitals, schools, electricity and other social and economic infrastructures that should be provided with the money are never provided. Children die because of lack of food and lack of essential medicine in the hospitals. Unemployment becomes high because money does not circulate for people to have access to loans that could be used to establish their own businesses. Inflation becomes high and prices of food are put beyond the limit of the ordinary people. In the end the entire economy suffers” (Adusei, 2011).

CONTROVERSY World Aid & Corruption......

World Corruption index

CONTROVERSY Aid money to Africa....

EGYPTSince 1981, $80 billion in International aid was given to Egypt. Mubarak’s accrued wealth totaled $70 billion, held in Swiss banks and London property (Glennie, 2011).

NIGERIAWhile Britain has poured £102million into education during the last seven years, and is due to spend £126million more by 2019 (User, 2012), $280 billion from oil proceeds has been stashed away with help of Barclays, Lloyds and UBS (Glennie, 2011).

AFRICA The Economist reported that 80 percent of the funds lent between 1970 and 1996 "flowed out as capital flight in the same year......this amounts to about 40 percent of Africa's privately held wealth” (Werlin, 2005).

CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE President Nguesso owns 16 luxurious houses in Congo, 24 properties in France, 112 bank accounts and various sports cars, while his country received $183m from Britain in aid. 70% of Congo-Brazzaville live on less than $1/day (My Continent Africa, n.d.).

GABON President Bongo’s family has the biggest property portfolio in France – 39 properites in exclusive area of Paris and French Riviera, 70 French bank accounts, and at least 9 luxury cars worth total €1.5m. Upon election, 2009, he bought a €200,000 Bentley. Last year he bought a $120 million 14 bedroom townhouse in Paris (My Continent Africa, n.d.) Gabon has received €193m in aid from the EU (EC, 2012).

World Bank Caught in Controversy Over Suspect Carbon

Credits

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20100907/world-bank-caug

ht-controversy-over-suspect-carbon-credits

World Bank Document Raises Controversy in Philippines

http://www.freedominfo.org/2012/01/world-bank-document-raises-contr

oversy-in-philippines

Tuesday's papers: Loan controversy hits the World Bank

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/tuesdays-papers-loan-discu

ssions-and-candidates-views-israel

Outrage as World Bank funds power

lines linked to controversial dam

http://www.survivalinternational.org/ne

ws/8483

World Bank controversial Program-for-Results (PforR) proposal raises

alarm bells

http://www.forestpeoples.org/topics/world-bank/

CONTROVERSY IMF/World Bank.....

CONTROVERSY IMF/World Bank.....

Controversy over World Bank trade & poverty

estimateshttp://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/2005/12/c

ontroversy-over-world-bank-trade-poverty-estimates.

php

Ethiopia, Kenya: World Bank Approves Controversial

Loan

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/ethiopia-kenya-wo

rld-bank-approves-controversial-loan

CONTROVERSY Department for International Development.....

ICELAND a country officially wealthier than the UK and which refuses to re-pay £2.3 billion owed to Britain in the credit crunch, receives funding for at least three projects and receives about £4.2 million including £400,000 for a scheme to promote tourism.

CROATIA received £120 million in 2011 while the west African state of Mali, whose population is four times the size but 20 times poorer, was given £13.5 million from the EU.

RUSSIA has more than 100 billionaires, but was given £40 million in aid, including £240,000 for an arts project in St Petersburg.

CHINA Brussels has committed £30 million to 22 aid projects in China, a country with almost 150 billionaires, despite DfID closing its Chinese aid programme over a year ago.

(Mendick and Gillligan, 2012)

“Countries including China, Russia, Brazil, Iceland and Barbados are benefiting

from funds intended to help the world’s poorest”

GEORGIA is to get £80 million including £400,000 for a mayoral project in Tbilisi, which gives the capital responsibility for organising “Sustainable Energy days.”

TURKEY in 2011, the economy enjoyed one of the fastest growth rates in 2011, but was the biggest recipient of EU aid with £620 million.

RWANDA’s alleged support of M23 Rebels in Congo.... “UK stops £21m aid payment to Rwanda amid concerns about its role in the conflict in

Democratic Republic of Congo” (Doyle, 2012)

VIDEO : RWANDA’S SUPPORT OF M23 REBELS:http://www.channel4.com/news/rwanda-kagame-congo-british-aid-money

CONTROVERSYDiverted Aid Money......

Britain is increasing its aid to Congo by £18m to help (NNN-ANGOP, 2012).

The rebel advance in recent weeks has made tens of thousands of Congolese homeless.

While some 30,000+ people were living in make-shilft tents at the IDP Camp at Petionville Golf, Tennis and Country Club........

an announcement was made to build a 173 room, $45 million Marriott Hotel in Port-au-Prince,

expected opening date: 2014

(DeLollis, 2011)

HAITI’S HOTEL BOOM........ Progress or Trickledown Economics ?

See: http://nacla.org/blog/2012/5/4/haiti’s-hotel-boom-progress-or-trickledown-economics

CONTROVERSY Financial Aid versus Financial Development

CONTROVERSYAid Organizations themselves....

SALARIES: An expatriate aid worker will be paid on average four times more (and sometimes much more) than a local employee doing a similar job, with local salaries pushing workers below the poverty line (ESRC, 2011).

The cost of a full-time expatriate consultant working in Afghanistan is.... some 200 times the average annual salary of an Afghan civil servant “The cost of a full-time expatriate consultant working in Afghanistan is around $250,000”(Straziuso, 2008).

$23 MILLION ART CEILING

Foreign Aid Money Spent on art ceiling at U.N. Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland (Fox News, 2008).

‘POVERTY BARONS’UK – DFID (Department for International Development) paid almost £500million last year to ‘consultants’, mostly British, many of whom earn six, even seven-figure incomes, courtesy of the taxpayer (Gilligan, 2012).

Dambisa Moyo’s “DEAD AID: Why aid is not working

and Why there is a better way”

“Moyo’s critique of foreign aid thus depicts aid as a corrupting agent, which trains, on the one hand, a culture of aid-dependency with little or no financial discipline, and destroys, on the other hand, the maturation of political democratic systems in Africa” (Nadal, 2011).

CONTROVERSYAid Dependency.....

CONTROVERSY IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT....

The act of providing assistance to developing communities can be immensely rewarding – it allows us to explore our own attitudes towards life itself and gives us a connection to our fellow human beings on this planet we call earth, while we share a mutual experience. However, the controversial issues regarding International Community Development assistance are complex and not without divisive opinions.

While aid continues to be a means of dealing with emergency situations caused by natural disasters and civil unrest, and to assist developing nations to create better living conditions for the citizens of a country, it cannot be denied that there has been abuse in its delivery. Humanity is full of contradictions – We are all capable of choosing to live a life of principle or of deceit, depending upon the circumstances facing us. I believe it is up to each individual to ‘find a path’ through the obstacles that confront us and, hopefully, make choices that benefit others as well as ourselves.

This course on controversy in ICD has given great insight into the ‘cracks’ that exist within the world of humanitarian assistance....I have come to realize that is also questionable whether or not charitable aid is the only answer to international development.......Perhaps this controversy serves as a wake-up call to explore alternative solutions to the issue, so that future endeavors to assist our fellow human beings will meet with greater success.

Valerie Kae Ken

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood” (Covey, 1989)

References

Adusei, L. (2011). MG – Modern Ghana. Corruption in Africa: Where does the buck stop? Retrieved December 13, 2012, from

http://www.modernghana.com/news/311705/1/corruption-in-africa-where-does-the-buck-stop.html

Covey, S. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney. Free Press.

Delollis, B. (2011). USA Today Travel. Marriott announces first hotel in Haiti. Retrieved from

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/11/marriott-announces-first-hotel-in-haiti-port-au-prince/574010/1

Doyle, M. (2012). BBC News. UK Politiks. UK stops £21m aid payment to Rwanda. Retrieved December 12, 2012 from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20553872

Elgin, P. (2005). Spoken Gems. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://spokengems.blogspot.ca/2005/10/peter-eigen-corruption-is-major-cause.html

EC. (2012). European Commission. Development and cooperation – EUROPAID. Gabon. Recent Assistance. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/country-cooperation/gabon/gabon_en.htm

ESRC. (2011). Economic and Social Research Council. Press release: Breaking the silence on aid workers salaries. Retrieved December 13, 2012,

from http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/15603/Breaking_the_silence_on_aid_workers_salaries.aspx

Fox News. (2008). Foreign aid money spent on $23m art ceiling at U.N. Human Rights Council. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454191,00.html

Gilligan A. (2012) The Telegraph. Poverty barons who make a fortune from taxpayer-funded aid budget. Retrieved December 13, 2012, from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9545584/Poverty-barons-who-make-a-fortune-from-taxpayer-funded-aid-budget.html

Glennie, J. (2011). The Guardian. Povertymattersblog. Could Africa’s lost billions end poverty at a stroke? Retrieved December 13, 2012 from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/feb/28/aid-africa-capital-flows-corruption

Mendick, R. and Gilligan, A. (2012). The Telegraph. British still giving hundreds of millions of pounds in aid to wealthy countries.

Retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9560326/British-still-giving-hundreds-of-millions-of-pounds-in-aid-to-wealthy-countries.html

My Continent Africa. (n.d.) Is corruption in Africa a new cancer? Retrieved December 12, 2012, from http://mycontinent.co/corruption.php

Nadal, P. (2011). Be Late. Foreign aid as contagion: On Dambisa Moyo’s dead aid. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://belate.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/review-summary-dambisa-moyo-dead-aid-2009

NNN-AGOP (2012). UK stops £21m aid payment to Rwanda. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from

http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v3/read.php?id=MjEzOTYz

Straziusco, (2008). RAWA News. Afghan aid money spent on high salaries. Retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/03/25/afghan-aid-money-spent-on-high-salaries.html

Werlin, H. (2005). Corruption and foreign aid in Africa. Retrieved December 13, 2012, from http://www.relooney.info/0_NS4053_466.pdf

Photos

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/16935515@N00/408881039

Slide 2: Nicodds. Photo taken June, 2011. Cpi map of world by corruption perceptions index. Image retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicodds/5785975948/sizes/z/in/photostream

Slide 3: Futureatlas. Photo taken March, 2010. African stability map. Image retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/4406787103

(Photos Cont’d)

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/4834553392

Slide 6 #1: Harneis, J. Photo taken June 2007. Fleeing the conflict, Masisi. Image retrieved December 12, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16935515@N00/1318903794

Slide 6 #2: Sdemetriou. Photo taken June 2009. CNDP war-wounded 7. Inage retrieved December 14, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65397239@N00/3644563203

Slide 7 #1: No name given. Photo taken Jan, 2010. IDP camp at Petionville golf, tennis and country club. Image retrieved December 13, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidg/4334056521/in/photostream

Slide 7 #2: Chamber BCLC (Business Civic Leadership Center) Photo taken November, 2011. Marriott Hotel. Image retrieved December 13, 2012, from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74170538@N08/6679455249

Slide 8: Ferre, J.M. Photo taken June 2009. World art cultural event. Image retrieved December 13, 2012, from

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Slide 9: Attawy, J. Photo taken July, 2011. Talibé. Image retrieved December 14, 2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/attawayjl/5945897698