Foreign Aid Policy in Poor Countries

Running Head: FOREIGN AID POLICY IN POOR COUNTRIES
FOREIGN AID POLICY IN POOR COUNTRIES
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1FOREIGN AID POLICY IN POOR COUNTRIES
Foreign aid is a diverse and dynamic concept with a benevolent perception of doing good
for the people. It is related to the money and services for the people loaned or aided by the
government, organisation and the individuals to help the poor people and countries (Urquía-
Grande, Rautiainen and Pérez-Estébanez 2017). Moreover, it can be argued that the purpose of
foreign aid is associated with the notion of developing an effective measure for the development
of the poor or backward people who really want financial or material aid. A sense of equality and
benefit in the name of social and economic upliftment are considered to be the main purpose for
the foreign aid in order to bring more efficacy into the practice of development (Taffet 2012). It
is a juxtaposition of the term development and always sets for the progress of the people.
Therefore, the focal point of foreign aid is associated with the practice of establishing an
effective means for the betterment of the people only. Country or region is identified as a just
medium through which the rich countries, institutions and individual personalities are aiding the
backward and wretched people for the socio-economic upliftment.
Based on this argument, the essay is going to reflect on the primary objective of the
foreign aid and establish an argument on the basis of focus of the international aid on the people
or the country. In course of the discussion some theoretical observations are also incorporated in
response to figure out the real objectives of the foreign aid and its actual projection on the
development of the poor countries. Therefore, the essay also cats its focus on Democratic
Republic of Congo in the African continent. One of the major reason behind choosing Congo as
the case study is based on its extreme poverty measure.
Before going into the illustration of the ideal focus of the foreign aid on the poor people
or the counties, it is essential to understand a thorough analysis on the present case scenario of
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As far as the poverty statistics in Congo is concerned, it

2FOREIGN AID POLICY IN POOR COUNTRIES
can be argued that the out of almost 77 million people in Congo 80% of them live below the
poverty line (Tyrrell 2018). In the international sphere, the country ranks medium in human
resource development and the population well-being. In addition to this, disproportionate
urbanisation is also an obvious outcome of the country that leads to dismantle the process of
establishing an effective organisational practice. The well-being of the population can be defined
in terms of the basic requirements in the name of sanitation and medical services. The political
conflict is also damaged the equal opportunity for the population and renders effective
development in the process of overall progress of the country. For instance, in 1990s,
participating in the African War degenerated the socio-economic cohesion within the country
and as a result of that the political conflict fervour ethnic clashes all around the country
(Swanson 2015). Moreover, the international clash between communism and Marxism further
extended the violence and atrocities within Congo. As a result of that the impact can be seen in
case of the health and poverty for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Waterborne diseases are
common such as diarrhoea, cholera and malaria. There are several transnational framework in
the name of The World Bank and the African Bank. Moreover, the developed countries were
also stretched their hands for the aid of the country. However, a pertinent question arises in the
name of the efficacy of the foreign aid that are supposed to eradicate poverty in a permanent
process.
In course of the understanding, it can be argued that there is huge importance to evaluate
the efficacy and the objectives of the foreign aid policy in course of developing an effective
means of progress in the social and economic aspect of Congo. In this regard, the ethical
principles of foreign aid is an important to analysis in order to understand the ideal motive and
the real motive of the international foreign aid motives. According to the research of Yanguas

3FOREIGN AID POLICY IN POOR COUNTRIES
(2017) it can be stated that Utilitarianism is the best possible ethical principle that the foreign aid
donors are considered while investing money in the under developed and developing countries.
This normative ethical theory is resembled with the practice of establishing the argument on the
locus of right or wrong and solely focused on the outcomes (Einarsdóttir and Gunnlaugsson
2016). The intrinsic value of good is the mainstay of the Utilitarian principle. Therefore, it is
important for the people to culture their thoughts in a way of developing a sustainable and
benevolent practice that is associated with the development of the society and the people.
Therefore, the main focus of Utilitarianism harbours in the concept of development and
happiness.
In this context, the notion of better goods for most of the people is the primary argument
that Utilitarianism focuses deeply (Cameron 2016). The Utilitarian philosophy is rightly
associated with the foreign aid policy as the purpose of the foreign aid is to help the poor people
in the backward countries (Remer 2017). The motive of generating foreign aid policy is not only
associated with the notion of fostering an economic equality all over the world but the practice is
also politicised by the developed countries in order to shape their self-interests in the
international arena. It can be stated that politicising the foreign aids contradict the ethical vision
of the practice (Swanson 2015). As a result of that the perspective and purpose of the
government will also be changed at the same time. In this regard, the international community
spends more than $1 billion as the UN Stabilising Mission in Congo. However, it is pertinent to
get sceptic about the actual impact of the foreign aids on the society and people of Democratic
Republic of Congo (Chin'anga 2017). The rate of women molestation and rape has been
escalated into a great extent that the foreign aids are not enough to mitigate the social threat.
Fractured democratic possibilities within the country due to different interests of political parties.