Holding Our Own Governments Accountable

Corruption With Aid Money

I woke up this morning to the sounds of freezing rain and the radio talking about the big snow storm we've just been hit with again. It's the first serious distraction since the tragedy of the tsunamis that hit South East Asia just after Christmas, and seems terribly trivial by compare. That was, of course, the next thing up in the news, and remained so for the rest of the hour as various features dealt with the different aspects of the tragedy and how it would affect peoples' lives in the future.

A question arose:

"How do you know that the money you give is actually going to go to help the people affected by this tragedy?"

It's a question that's been asked a lot, but one I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on, because I give assistance through organizations that are already on the ground and have been for years, working with the people and the government in ways that allow them to provide the most direct and immediate aid where and how it's needed most. The Red Cross, Oxfam, and WorldVision are my personal choices (no longer United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which I may share a bit of thinking on in another post).

But this first question was followed by another that I hadn't considered:

"How do you hold countries accountable for delivering the aid that they promise?"

This came up in an interview with a representative from Oxfam, who said of the approximately 4 billion dollars in aid that has been pledged, they can expect to collect less than half. The feature went on to explain that a great deal of the money promised by the wealtier countries that come forward ends up being spent on administration and consultations in that country itself, rather than on the people that it was intended to help. I was disappointed, but not surprised to learn that while the larger countries may be swift to step up and promise help, that there's no clear process in place to establish timelines, or even how the money will be delivered and to do what.

Canada and Sweden are at the forefront of working to establish a set of criteria and practices to help make the process of government giving more effective and accountable. Today, government officials from the areas affected by the tsunamis are meeting in Jakarta to discuss the best ways of applying what appears to be a very generous aid package in the way that will help those who need it most. I'm certain their job would be made easier if there was something more tangible in place to help them know exactly what it is that they've been given to allocate.

While a number of countries are stepping up in a variety of ways, including forgiving the debt incurred by the affected countries, it seems a good time to be asking ourselves the question

"How do we hold our own governments accountable?"

Sue Braiden