Executive Summary on Africa

Developed countries need to give more of their income towards aid for poor countries and make sure the aid they give is real aid.
The Real Aid packet focused on the actual amount of money developing countries receive from the world. The term “real aid” refers to money that goes directly to the countries without any expectations or attachments for the citizens receiving the aid. In contrast “phantom aid” is money that never materializes for poor countries, but is instead directed at other purposes within the aid system. Phantom aid includes money that is not targeted at poverty reduction, tied to goods or services from the donor country, or aid that is poorly coordinated. In 2003, at least 86 cents in every dollar of U.S. aid was phantom aid. This is due to it being so heavily tied to the purchase of U.S. goods and services and because it is so badly targeted at poor countries. At least 61% of all money donated is phantom aid. And real aid in 2003 accounted for just US$27 billion or only .1% of the combined donor income.
The reason for the high percentage of phantom aid lies in the process of assessing the aid given by countries. The donors aren’t held responsible for the promises of aid they have made. Therefore many goals adopted by countries are very rarely met. Such as the “Pearson report” a target adopted by the UN that expected .7% of countries income to go towards foreign aid. But of all the countries that adopted it through the UN only five: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg reached the target. None of these countries are part of the G7, which are the seven most developed countries in the world.
To address this problem, we as a class do not necessarily have to use any money at all. We should rather write numerous letters notifying our statesmen and representatives that we are aware of our country’s poor action, and to put pressure on them to work towards change. If we do donate money towards developing countries, we should heavily research the organizations that we are donating to in order to make sure they are using the money most effectively and to avoid turning our money into phantom aid.