‘Long-term overseas aid funding will be a vital step for island’
Saturday 18th September 2010, 2:29PM BST.
A LONG-TERM overseas aid funding policy would show the island’s willingness to help some of the world’s poorest countries, a local charity founder has said.
Bridge2Sri Lanka and Bridge to Haiti creator Sarah Griffith (pictured) yesterday expressed her support for a proposed States Strategic Plan amendment ahead of this month’s debate.
The motion put forward by Deputy Matt Fallaize calls for the Policy Council to report to the States by September 2011 with a long-term funding policy to reinforce Guernsey’s contribution to overseas aid.
He wants any report to include an analysis of the island’s capability of meeting a United Nations target of contributing 0.7% of Gross National Income (or Gross National Product) annually.
Based on 2008 figures, Guernsey had contributed 0.13%.
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A target of 0.7% of GDP is hardly a huge burden. For an island as affluent as Guernsey there is simply no excuse not to support those who lack life’s basics.
My only concern would be that we ensure any overseas aid we give goes to organisations that remain accountable for the money we give. We want to make sure our donations actually reaches those in need instead of lining the pockets of corrupt tyrants and arms dealers.
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What Guernsey contributes to overseas aid is embarrassing 0.13% of GDP.I believe we contribute the least of any western country. I wish Matt Fallaize all the luck in the world with his push for increased overseas aid, he is going to need it!
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I don’t believe we should be doling out any overseas aid. Our taxes are to run the Bailiwick not get involved in everybody else’s countries. Much of it ends up in the corrupt pockets of dictators and many studies show the long term effects of aid are not positive. If people want to support charities that is their affair, I’m not happy for one penny of the tax I pay to be given away abroad.
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beanjar,
just as well the new zealanders and canadians didn’t think like you, red cross parcels, occupation,short memory.
you are a disgrace!
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Beanjar is right sadly.
The whole economic structure of the world needs changing – this is what causes much poverty in the 3rd world and beyond.
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Kevin, I think you will find that the Red Cross was, and is, a charity. As I said, I have no problem with you, me or anybody else giving their own money to charities voluntarily. Even the Nazis respected the difference between charity and government aid but I gather you have trouble differentiating the two.
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I’m struggling to find any online information about the GOAC.
As a general comment I’d like to see the GOAC propose specific projects at the beginnng of each year. And involve youth groups in assisting the completion of each project.
If public money is being gifted then the public deserve some input; be that deciding where it goes or seeing an outcome and benefit to a community.
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beanjar
I fail to see what is wrong with helping out people via our taxes ( after all a lot of our income comes from helping people avoid paying tax)who have NOTHING.Let’s,as a small country,leave the Haitians to it shall we? People like you make me cringe you live in a society where we have EVERYTHING I’m pretty bloody sure that it costs more than 0.13% of your hard earned tax bill to finance the local layabouts,baby factories e.t.c. Unfortunately for you it appeares that governments voted in by people like you and me have morals which you can’t seem to understand so I say long may it trouble you that rich western governments including our own see fit to help others in dire need after all we’re not talking about handing someone money to get a taxi to pick their dole money up are we. Your silly analogy regarding who funded the red cross parcels misses the real point and that is someone from outside this island saw fit to help us out.
By the way ever heard of Marshall Aid?
I repeat that what this government gives to overseas aid is pitiful but I feel I’ll never convince someone like beanjar so this is my last post on this thread.
I take on board however neil’s point regarding public input.
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i am confident that 99% of locals who oppose overseas aid are local-yokels with big, big problems with any human being whose skin colour is darker than their’s. (a local-yokel is a person who believes irrationally, and because of their large personal insecurity, that everyone not known to them is both inferior and – strangely – also a serious threat).
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I’m in agreement with Beanjar here, I believe he is correct.
We just cannot afford to help in this current climate, we have a black hole to fill, not to fill some foreign dictators pockets.
Thanks,
Gregory Gregson
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Whilst I appreciate that there is a problem with aid, and in particular, money reaching those in need, with a bit of careful thought and research, we should be confident that donations reach those it is aimed for.
There is always going to be an element of risk but helping the poorest and most unfortunate people on the planet should really be something we, as a wealthy place, do. I would be disgusted if local Gov’t adopted a ‘no, it’s ours’ approach to our money.
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Just send the doleheads over there to build bridges.
Herd them up with the promise of an unexpected dole payment (they’ll soon come running to EW house) bundle them into a van give them a t-shirt saying “aid from Guernsey x x” fly em over there give em a parachute and drop them
Sorted!
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Finally, the voice of sanity! Well said, Ormerman.
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blah
What are you on about?
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Looks like the UK coalition is putting us to shame on this issue
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11386861
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We should contribute IF it can be shown that every penny will be spent on those who need it – not the fat cats at the top of failing governments.
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Martino claims we are put to shame by the UK contribution……Hmmmmmmmm….not sure about that.
There’s no doubt that there is real cynicism about the corruption of the Global Aid process; piece on the news today about Pakistani Aid going walkabouts.
I’m quite sure we could select a set of aid objectives, be that Malaria or Education or possibly health and build relationships with a given country.
The idea of just hitting a UN target as a box ticking exercise without giving consideration to real concerns about its eventual use is something seemingly missing in Dep F proposal.
Didn’t Jersey pick specific projects liek school building i nAfrica in the 80s? Or did I imagine that?
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I appreciate where both you and Truth Man are coming from Neil and I agree that it would be good to be ‘connected’ with the aid project(s) that our money goes to – not least so we can see that it is being used properly.
But 0.13 per cent of our GNP compared with 0.5 per cent (rising possibly to 0.7 per cent) for the UK? That is quite shameful really.
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0.13% spent well is better than .5% wasted. But like I said in the opening post I can’t find any detail, online about the GOAC, so this could all be hypothetical.
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Yet again I agree with you Martino – this is getting to be a habit! I also see the concerns of Neil and Truth Man.
Isn’t it true that that local charities can apply for some of the Overseas Aid money? Perhaps this is an avenue we should look to increase? After all, shouldn’t we be supporting local people who are working on overseas development?
@Le Andrew – yes the world economy should change and become more equitable but that doesn’t mean we should stand idly by and let those in poverty starve whilst we wait for that day.
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Yes, I think accountability is the bottom line here. We should be paying more but we are a small enough ‘nation’ to pick dedicated projects so that we can oversee exactly where our overseas aid goes to!
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All you folk who think giving a huge amount of money to foreign aid is ‘shameful’ have a simple solution, donate as much of your own money to charity as you wish. Why do you insist on giving my money away for me? I support charities, but only once I know the money goes to the right place. Did any of you receive a mailshot from the ‘Starlight Foundation’ the other day? I was thinking about donating to that one until I saw that the person in charge drew a salary of $334,000 in 2007. Maybe that’s OK by you, but not me.
The purpose of our taxes is not to buy Rolls Royces or torture equipment for some foreign tyrant, they are supposedly to run our islands. There are plenty of services right here that are supposedly ‘under funded’ and I’m not interested in supporting foreign aid, corruption, repression, politics or wars.
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I think Neil makes a good point: there is probably scope for a greater measure of public input in exactly which projects are funded by our overseas aid and development budget. I shall raise that point when my amendment is debated.
Ensuring that aid is delivered into the right hands and not misused can never be straightforward. But my understanding is that the Overseas Aid Commission works directly with project leaders on the ground, which significantly reduces the likelihood of contributions being misdirected.
Neil writes: “The idea of just hitting a UN target as a box ticking exercise without giving consideration to real concerns about its eventual use is something seemingly missing in Dep F proposal.” I think there may be a degree of misunderstanding about what is proposed in my amendment.
I am not suggesting that we should hit any target, set by the UN or anyone else, as a box ticking exercise, but rather that instead of making contributions to aid and development overseas in an arbitrary, slightly ad hoc fashion, we should set a long-term policy with clearer aims and objectives, having thought more thoroughly about the appropriate level of annual contributions from this community. I cannot remember the last occasion when the States debated its overseas aid policies in any depth whatsoever.
If the amendment is successful, the Policy Council will be required to present a report setting out a long-term policy, which report shall include an analysis of the pros and cons of Guernsey committing to the internationally-acknowledged 0.7% of GNI/GNP target.
The amendment contains nothing more radical than that.
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Great to see our local Daily Mail readers out in force again, concealing their racist views behind carefully worded platitudes.
Can’t wait to read a post from our favourite Vale Deputy on his pet subject!
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We have our own worries here at present with the states looking for ways to fill the money gap. We should not increase the overseas funding (UK is doing that for us) Dont these countries have their own governments or are they too busy preparing for wars. Get your priorities right.
Every year, for many years now theses countries are wanting our help, but it doesnt matter how much help they get nothing seems to change. They keep on having kids which adds to the problem, maybe the women (and men) should be sterilized to avoid this in the future.
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Blah and Trainor, would you care to supply your names and addresses so that those of us you have branded as racists have the opportunity take this further? Or will you only make your appalling and unfounded accusations whilst cowering behind an alias? You are the only people to have brought race or colour into this discussion. You are short sighted, ignorant and bigoted. I don’t believe in government aid overseas – anywhere – regardless of race, colour, religion or anything else.
The effect of foreign aid is nowhere near as straightforward as you think. Bridge2Sri Lanka was mentioned in the article and is no doubt a very well intentioned organisation. I was in Sri Lanka after the tsunami and can tell you that Tamil areas were generally the worst affected. At the time, instead of helping the Tamils, the government was actually engaged in a civil war with them. Most reporters agreed that foreign aid was chanelled only to non-Tamil areas which supported the government. So indirectly it helped the Sri Lankan government to win their civil war. The story is similar in very many places in receipt of Aid, you just need to be informed. Foreign Aid is not the way I want my taxes spent.
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Trainor:
Racist views? Where? Who? I would be more than happy to point the finger at anything mildly racist, but I do not see the evidence here in this thread.
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beanjar – no probs – i am happy to put you in my 1% and at a stroke you are free of my branding. better now?
(ps – i assume you would have firmly refused the £millions of UK governent aid, post 1945 that helped the island to quickly recover from war time military occupation, in order to protect the UK tax payer?. foreign aid is fraught with problems but still saves more lives than it takes. we all have to give up taxes for stuff we get nowt from – that’s democracy and civilisation. your method is to put the wagons in a circle and fingers in your ears and hope s*** never happens to you).
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I find it perverse that there is talk of increasing Overseas Aid, when we are cutting back on disability allowances because we cannot afford them. Should not charity begin at home?
And please do not say they are different budgets. It is all taxpayers money.
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