Poverty - Endlessly tragic and seemingly an endless problem. Decades have passed and countless countries have continued to receive foreign "aid". Whether this aid is beneficial or apart of the problem is the main concept tackled in Poverty, Inc. an 2014 documentary about foreign aid and the industry behind organizations who want to "help".
Foreign Aid Doesn't Work
The overall statement made in Poverty, Inc. is that the way we currently help poorer countries does not work. The system currently in use, "paternalism", is patronizing and traps the citizens of these countries in an endless cycle of poverty. The image that is put out by these NGOs is that Africa is barren and its inhabitants are helpless.
In the documentary, there are countless examples of NGO's, governments and other organizations trying to help by sending food, clothing, crops, etc. in hopes of helping these poverty stricken places. These gifts often have an unintended opposite effect, the gifts mess up the long term economy of these areas. In the 80's, the U.S. subsidized rice for organizations to send to places like Haiti to fight hunger. However, the free rice caused the farmers of the area to lose their years worth of work as they could not sell their crops. This then forced farmers out of their farms and the price of rice to drop drastically. Now, Haiti does not have adequate agricultural workers/farmers producing these items and undermines economic value in their society. Same thing happened with the social entrepreneurship movement, TOMS, the shoe brand destroyed the market for cobblers in these areas and people do not have incentive to make or buy other shoes.
New Colonialism
This cycle of foreign aid keeps countries like Haiti, Tanzania, Uganda and countless others trapped in poverty. The documentary gives the name "New Colonialism" to this process of affluent white countries keeping Africa in poverty and reliant on the aid. People in these countries have no options in choosing how to live, there are little jobs, no help from their judicial system, and little incentive for entrepreneurship. Foreign aid has suppressed local markets and lowered the price of food and other commodities.
**Why Don't Things Change? **
So why? Why do these NGOs stay and funnel more and more money into aid? There are two main points as to why, that are mentioned in the documentary. One - Image. Two - Industry. Firstly, image, these NGOs and governments paint a false portrait of these countries. People believe that the people are unable to help themselves and cannot take care of themselves. Which is false - these countries are rich in resources and filled with smart- hardworking people. It is the centuries of colonization and suppressive cycles forced onto the countries that keep them in poverty. Secondly, there is now an industry for these subsidies, tax write offs and bureaucracy nightmare. Herman Chinery - Hesse tells his story of his team losing a government contract to another government because they paid a substantial amount in foreign aid. Even though his team was the better choice they ended up being sub-contracted for less pay and with the hardest part of the project.
The Consequences
Time and time again foreign aid suppresses a free-market economy and does not give the people of these countries the chance to rise above. Another focus of the documentary is jobs. A couple looking into adopting realize a large percentage of "orphans" in Haiti have parents. These parents seemly do not have the means to keep their children and put them into orphanages for shelter, food, and education. From this the couple build the Apparent Project in order to help break the cycle of suppressive poverty in Haiti. They focus on education and job training to help people in Haiti.
It is extremely hard to be an entrepreneur in Haiti. Small business loans, land/property and licensing and permits are time consuming and nearly impossible for aspiring entrepreneurs in Haiti. Not having easy access to these things creates a power imbalance that stops people from rising above poverty and building a business. Overall, the film uses plentiful examples and expertise to showcase that foreign aid as we know we it does not work but it won't stop.
Thoughts
Overall, I found the documentary to be revealing and I wonder why I hadn't seen this revelation before. It is quite common for our government and other organizations or businesses to treat the problem but not solve it. Getting to the root of the problem proves to be difficult for many. This is a concept I have seen played out in U.S. and never applied to the foreign aid situation. I feel for the people of these countries and although there are projects and foundations that are working towards helping people get jobs and build businesses, there is still a long way to go for these people to have complete freedom of choice for themselves. These programs usually teach the citizens some sort of art and it sells, but currently that is their only option. Since they can not farm or produce or commodities for profit. If they want to make and earn their living they are usually forced to be some sort of artist.
One of the problems with image and Africa made me think of a TedTalk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "the Power of Single Story", in which she talks about why this happens and that it happens to everybody. Hearing a single story from these NGOs gives people a false image of what the country and its people are actually like. It is important for us to challenge our views, and it is important for people to change. I am against paternalism in my own government, so why is it okay that we do it to other countries? Just because we do something with good intent, does not mean the consequences will be good. The people of the countries are smart and want the opportunity to work, earn and create a better life for themselves. Simply dumping rice and shoes in their countries will not solve the problem. Giving them the space to create their own markets and connecting them to the global economy will raise their standard of living.There is now an industry for these organizations and with the power in their hands, they will not willingly let go. Receiving tax free money to "help", would make it lucrative to never solve the problem because solving the problem would mean no more money.
Works Cited
Poverty, Inc. .Michael Matheson Miller. PovertyCure. 2014.