Geog LORMSHuman: Development

Question: Evaluate the success of international aid given to less developed countries (LDCs) to help in their development.

International aid given to less developed countries to help in their development has been only fairly successful.

International aid given to less developed countries has not been able to increase their development rate as some of this international help is given through the form of loans. International organizations such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank are some of the organizations which aim to eliminate poverty in LDCs, but this is not possible as they only provide capital to these countries through the form of loans, hence the LDCs may have to focus on repaying the debt instead of concentrating on the development of the country. Furthermore, if the money lent to them was in the hands of a corrupt government, money would be wasted. This could lead to even more drastic situations as countries which fail at improving their development and generating revenue will now be stuck with the problem of development and a large dept. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami caused Indonesia to be in devastation, and was the further led into dept with the World Bank when they were trying to rebuild. Hence, international aid has not been successful.

On the other hand, International aid has also managed to increase the rate of development in some LDCs through various international agreements. One of these international agreements examples is the UN Millennium Project. This project had various aims such as to alleviate poverty, promote gender equality and enable primary education in LDCs, especially the Sub-Saharan African countries. Currently, some developments have been made in the LDCs. For example, the number of people living on less that US$ 1 a day has dropped by nearly a quarter of a billion, and the access of safe drinking water has also increased from 71% in 1990 to 79% in 2002. This shows that international agreements have been able to help in the development in the LDCs, and hence, international aid has been successful.

In conclusion, although poverty in certain countries have been help through the use of international aid by providing education and healthcare, it will take a long time before LDCs will be alleviated from poverty and underdevelopment. This is because the DCs would always want to stay stronger than the LDCs, with more purchasing power and technology to control the LDCs. Hence, the DCs may only give limited international aid to the LDCs so as to have greater stronghold over them, thus hindering the rate of development. Hence, international aid will not be very successful in helping LDCs develop.