Allen Kanerva. Great opportunity ---not Aid

His children were born in Kenya and he had to pay for all the medical services needed there so when it came to the vaccines he really appreciated their value.

So often here in the West we take it all for granted and sometimes don’t even bother to get the vaccines.

He was the CEO of an N.G.O. and was looking carefully at the value of the services delivered to the people.  He was looking at Uganda, Kenya and Somalia.

He soon noted that traditional Aid often doesn’t work that well.

Disrupting the normal commercial supply routes and often only lasting as long as the administration is prepared to operate it.

Sometimes they make the situation worse not better.  He found a complete container of T shirts kept back because if they were released for free they would destroy the normal T shirt manufacturers.

We have to look beyond the first thought.

Does Aid create dependency?

He came across a school that Canadians had paid for and staffed.  He then found out that the ministry had reduced their budget but that exact amount to compensate.

The new parliament has just voted to make them selves tax free next year.

Solar cookers are well intentioned but as soon as we leave they go back to the old way of coking as that is the way they have been taught.

It is a cultural thing.  We need to consider an exit strategy before we go in with Aid.

Will this work in the long run?