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Monday, May 31, 2010

Justine's International development assistance challenge or failure

The topic I chose: International development assistance CHALLENGE or FAILURE due to location or exclusion.

Which is worse the natural disaster or greed?

In 2008, the last week of April, probably one of the worst natural disaster that ever hit Asia and Burma (also known as Myanmar), is the Cyclone Nargis. The cyclone was so devastating, so much so that it took more than 138, 000 lives, many more are believed to have died from the aftermath of landslides. The damages incurred also went up to a whooping US $10.1 billion. The United Nations (in short, UN) was one of the first in the scenes to provide aid and assistance to the victims of the cyclone.

The UNICEF World Food Program, that was developed to provide the basic necessity of food to people who are living in hunger and the threat of starvation was quick to respond. They raise a significant amount of money, with partners such as USAID giving them US $251, 000 to get supplies of food aid for the victims of the cyclone. Sadly, these supplies of food aid face many obstacles to reach the people. As the Junta, the military government of Burma refused to receive assistance from the international organizations.

Which is worse the natural disaster or greed?

If you watch the video above, you would understand better. The Junta stopped and confiscated many of this food aid from reaching the people. Many other international doctors, nurses and disaster relief workers were turned away too, as they were not given access and visa to help the people. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested to speak to the Junta directly in hopes to turn the situation around, but he was ignored and failed to do so. It is not until many days later that the Burmese Junta agreed to take money, food, medical supplies from the international organizations, but the catch is they want to handle, and distribute it themselves.

Here is a perfect example of challenges faced by the International organizations, due to the bad location of relief assistance. Instead of allowing aid to reach the people immediately the government was more concern about their pride and cease to meet the needs of their people. They were more into “what can I get out of this?” rather than “what can I give in this disaster?” Hence the people are the ones who suffered most, in the span of those days, many could have been saved.

I believe the real issue here that caused this situation is Pride and Greed. The only reason why the Junta would only take the money, food, medical supplies, and not let the international organizations distribute it themselves is because they are most probably using it for their own benefit. In truth there is no transparency of how the money was going to be used by the Junta, and how many people they really help they just show their general in one relief centre giving out a few boxes of the food aid (probably the ones from the UNICEF, WFP). This is sad but true, the location where assistance efforts are made is very important, as there are many corruption and greed all around. Sometimes, these aids never really reach the people, but the hands of corrupt officials. I dare not say that Juntas are corrupt, but why no transparency?

The exclusion of letting international relief workers into to disaster zone, by not giving them visa is also a sensitive issue. The expertise and help they could provide was dire and could have better assist the victims, as they have the experience and professionalism in this field.

I would have recommended that instead of just giving out these money and aid, there could have been more negotiations, of how they could have a more collaborative approach to aid the disaster together. Yes, the Junta had the power to confiscate the food aid. But the money (which the Junta requested for) is still in the hands of the international organizations. Instead of just giving them the handouts, they could have withheld it and use it as a carrot and stick approach. They could also have an agreement of transparency of how the money will be used, before they gave it to them.

In this way, I believe the people of Burma would have been better helped.

If you watch the video above, you would understand better. The Junta stopped and confiscated many of this food aid from reaching the people. Many other international doctors, nurses and disaster relief workers were turned away too, as they were not given access and visa to help the people. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested to speak to the Junta directly in hopes to turn the situation around, but he was ignored and failed to do so. It is not until many days later that the Burmese Junta agreed to take money, food, medical suppliers from the international organizations, but the catch is they want to handle, and distribute it themselves.

In this way, I believe the people of Burma would have been better helped.

702 words

Done by: Justine Lee

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