Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become key actors in responding to poverty and related suffering in Somalia. They also play a leading role in providing health care and education. One of the aims of foreign aid is to help bring peace and security to the political and economic scene. Although the original motive behind foreign aid is institutional reform; including rule of law reform, the promotion of democratic governance and fostering economic development; one of the biggest problems with foreign aid is that it can actually fuel conflicts, resulting in the exact opposite of its intent.
Unfortunately, in Somalia, Aid funds and materials are lost to corruption through theft, misappropriation, deliberate mismanagement, and nepotism. Millions of dollars a year in aid is lost to corruption in Somalia. Corruption is an age-old problem in Africa and has its roots in colonialism; it was introduced by corrupt colonial governments. Unfortunately, little to no improvement has been made in terms of socio-economic or political development in Somalia.
Another issue with overseas aid is that it has not proven to be effective in tackling corruption. In fact, it may even make corruption worse and actually fuel conflicts in Somalia. In this case it creates long term dependency in poverty and conflict, lack of infrastructure, lack of community development and poor governance with no substantial long term improvements. It fails to address underlying causes such as accountability and responsibility. The only ones who have benefited from the atrocities in Somalia are the foreign NGOs; they needlessly increased the cost of operations for most agencies, without necessarily improving the lives of the people. A huge chunk of their budget goes to service; including cars, rent, and security. The NGOs in Somalia earn four times as much as their Somalian peers.
Furthermore, International aid has a major problem with being too controlled by the donors and organizations from rich Western countries; whereby money and resources are used on projects that are ineffective or don’t actually meet the needs of the beneficiaries. On the other hand, foreign aid can also pose a challenge to the rule of law and democratic reforms, economic policies that do not align with ‘donors’ priorities. Significant debt burdens of less developed countries have often been incurred as a result of foreign aid packages pushed by wealthier countries and Western institutions, enabled by corrupt and greedy politicians and businessmen in the recipient countries.
Most people don’t realize that loans are usually embedded within aid packages, either directly or as a condition of foreign aid donations being given in the first place! It is worthy to note that foreign aid in itself is not a problem but the circumstances and methods of distribution are. It seems that Somalia needs case studies to clarify why the intended results have or have not been achieved, considering the vast amounts of money received in foreign aid for development. As it stands, the rich are richer, the poor are poorer and nothing seems to have been achieved except for further debt for the region.
I believe aid should be conditional as with Ghana, Uganda, and Ethiopia, where conditional aid significantly lessened and controlled the misuse of aid resources. Linking conditionality to aid when it comes to political and economic reform is absolutely imperative to improve the effectiveness of aid. Therefore, if aid is given to countries without strong democratic institutions there must be conditions attached to it to create a positive impact, thus ensuring that aid received for the development falls in the right hands, is used by the right people, for the right cause.
