Aid agencies warned about future support

THE era of large scale government support for aid agencies is coming to an end, a British development specialist has warned.

Government funding bodies in the West are likely to take a much more critical approach to aid in the future, according to Mr Michael Edwards, who worked with Oxfam and Save the Children for 15 years. He was speaking after a weekend seminar on development in Dublin.

Mr Edwards said there were a lot of "myths" concerning the effectiveness of non governmental organisations. NGOs liked to think they were cost effective, but in reality their record was "extremely patchy".

"Many NGO programmes make a small difference in a small area but because they are not connected to wider forces, they collapse once the organisation leaves," he said.

Thus, for example, many admirable agricultural projects in developing countries collapsed because they did not take into account unfavourable government policies affecting farmers.

"Success stories are relatively few and far between, but they do exist. If we learn from them, we can improve the situation."

In his address to the seminar, which focused on linkages between the study and practice of development, Mr Edwards called for stronger links between researchers and aid workers. There was also a greater need for more research to be conducted independent of the aid agencies and governments, he said.

"Aid is basically interfering in people's lives. In no other sphere of life would you be able to interfere so much and with so little accountability." NGOs had to be made more accountable, not just financially, but also for their effect in people's lives.

The key question for aid workers, he said, was whether they were really serving others in the best way possible, or whether it was themselves and their institutions they were "helping".