The sour taste of aid snobbery
BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.333.7566.505 (Published 31 August 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:505All rapid responses
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Daniel Magnus in his Personal View (1.)describes his experience of
the Kenya Orphan Project - started by a group of medical students. This
illustrates the underlying reason for "Aid snobbery", which is, sadly,
all too prevalent.
When aid is provided by an organisation or individuals to meet a
perceived need the motivation and resources belong to the donors who all
too easily feel they are proprietors of the project. On the other hand
when assistance is provided at the request of those living in the country
concerned aid is being provided to help people living there with their own
project rather than one imposed from outside. This needs willingness on
the part of aid workers to fit in with a scheme that may not be quite as
they would like.
One of the most outstanding examples of sucessful schemes providing
medical help to developing countries at their own request is the Tropical
Health and Education Trust (THET - www.thet.org). THET has started many
schemes linking hospitals and associated rural health centres in Africa
with hospitals in the UK who provide the trainig and and visiting
specialists needed.
Paul K Buxton. Retired Consultant Dermatologist, working in Ethiopia.
Corhampton SO32 3LN
1. The sour taste of aid snobbery BMJ 2006; 333:505
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
The Even Sourer Taste of Aid Naivety
Sir,
“Aid snobbery” as Daniel Magnus rightly points out can be destructive
and counterproductive. But “aid naivety” is equally dangerous: the
simplistic notion all aid is good aid, and that any step is a step in the
right direction(1).
Aid must be about more than filling (aid-giver’s!) hearts with
“warmth and hope”. What some might perceive as “big business” aid, others
would argue is a striving for humanitarian work to be more professional,
more accountable, more sustainable, more effective – and, dare I say, more
cost-effective. However generous an aid budget, resources will never be
unlimited. They must be used wisely for optimal impact. Competition for
these resources, if well managed, can do much to enhance eventual
programme quality. Surely better than avoiding competition altogether so
as not to risk upset feelings.
I currently work in the “suffocating bureaucracy” and “bed-sharing”
government sector that is (snobily!) rubbished in this article. Does it
make me an aid snob if for example:
i) I regret when my ward is left even shorter staffed than usual because
yet another government nurse has left to work for a rich international
NGO.
ii) I wonder whether the money spent on a plane ticket for a few-weeks
worth of expatriate health worker might have been better spent on half a
year’s salary for a local health worker.
iii) I despair at a seeming preference for organizing workshops at posh
hotels over ‘on the job training’ by those willing to get their hands
dirty, and strengthen existing services from within.
No project is perfect. Perhaps the best way to improve things would
be for all of us to be more self-critical of our own projects than of
others’. We must indeed engage with the global problems of injustice and
suffering. But we must do so with careful thought beforehand and even more
careful reflection afterwards.
Yours,
Dr Marko Kerac
mkerac@hotmail.com
1) “The Hungry Man” Oren Ginzburg. www.hungrymanbooks.com
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests