Political promises and memes

You may recall that I have blogged here, here, and here about Australia’s failure to live up to its promises to raise Foreign Aid to 0.7% of GDP. So, you will know that I am pleased to see that Kevin Rudd has announced a timetable for a Labor government to meet this target. He specified 0.5% by 2015-16. It is still a bit vague, but at least he is talking about it!

Kevin Rudd in Darfur, 2006

In an interview on the ABC’s World Today program , Rudd said:

It is in our own interests to tackle poverty in our own region, as part of a wider strategy to deal with the impact of terrorism, climate change pandemics and refugees potentially on Australia.

I have the impression that Rudd is an excellent manager who has a good grasp on the detail of bringing about better practice. He has this to say about helping countries in our region to achieve universal primary education.

For example, in education we would negotiate a timeline to meet a target of universal… truly universal primary education. This in turn will go to the need for comprehensive audits of the state of the region's primary school infrastructure, including the adequacy of teacher training and the adequacy of curricular.

I'm looking forward to fresh approaches to effective government.

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Megan at Imaginif has tagged me in a meme ‘Bloggers for Positive Global Change’. What is a meme? Basically, it is a chain of recommendations – I am tapped on the shoulder by someone, and I then tap others. So, here are some blogs about positive global change that I read.

Ben's Blog – Australian blog mostly about aid and policy.

Realclimate – This is the best resource on the Web for keeping up to date with the views of reputable climate scientists. They have a great summary where they debunk 25 myths about Climate Change.

Next Billion – This blog is about sustainable business models for the world’s poorest people – the next billion people.

Center for Global Development: Views from the Center – This is a group blog that features notes from Nancy Birdsall, her colleagues at the Center for Global Development and others in the development community about new ways to reduce global poverty.



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Letters to politicians

In Australia, it is easy to write to politicians. Their addresses are available in handy formats ready for printing on address labels from the Australian Parliament website.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am writing to all members of the House of Reps to ask them to support Australia’s commitments on foreign aid. Well, I am in the midst of sending my letters. I am up to ‘H’.

Letters, labels and envelopes. And coffee! Tanzanian of course.

Last night’s cricket was a bit too exciting for the process of sticking the label on the envelope, signing the letter, folding it and stuffing it in the envelope. Besides, I was feeling tired. So, as the weekend has slipped away from me, I decided to do a few before breakfast. And that’s what my photo shows.

Better get on with it!

P.S. A reminder: As part of the Millenium Development Goals, the Australian Government has committed to give 0.7% GDP as foreign aid. It currently gives 0.25% (rising to .35%). It is dragging its heels on its commitments. It needs to be nudged by voters otherwise this neglect will continue.

Coffee — Black Gold

Wheat, barley and rye orginated in the fertile crescent of Iraq and enabled humans to give up nomadic herding and establish agriculture-based villages – the basis of all civilised life. Tomatoes, corn, and potatoes are native to the Americas, and are now endemic to world cuisine – what would Italian cooking be without tomatoes?

But what has East Africa contributed to the world? Coffee, that ubiquitous drink that is now an $80billion global industry, originated here. A lot of people have become rich through coffee, Starbucks buys 11% of world production, but the small coffee producers of East Africa live in deep poverty.


Ninety-five percent of Tanzania’s coffee is grown by 400,000 small-scale farmers owning fewer than ten acres of land. Coffee is Tanzania’s largest export crop but small-scale farmers have not reaped the benefits because of policies that have restricted their direct access to the international coffee market. USAID supports programs that allow better trading conditions for small producers in Tanzania.

The School of St Jude is located at the foot of Mt Meru in the prime coffee growing area of Tanzania. The School gives many poor families who depend on coffee production the chance for their children to get a good education.

Private philanthropy, like your donations to the School of St Jude, can help fill the gaps left by unfair trading systems, but the system continues to be unfair. So, it is good to see organisations working to change the system. One initiative to look out for is a new documentary film, called Black Gold, that looks at coffee growing in Ethiopia. Made in 2006, it is doing the round of film festivals and should be released for general viewing later in 2007.



Black Gold is an activist film that aims to point at unfair practices and to change them. Their website has a forum that addresses issues of coffee production, Fair Trade, Starbucks and actions you can take.

If you live in the US, you can buy Peets ’Tanzania Kilimanjaro’ – the 840 growers that supply it get 50% above market rates for their quality beans.

In Australia, Oxfam sells a Fair Trade coffee that is sourced partly from Tanzania – my Christmas supply is nearly finished. Time for more!

On the basis that I need to help at two levels – filling gaps in the system (through support of St Judes) AND changing the system — I am on a letter writing campaign. I am writing to all 150 members of the House of Representatives to ask them to raise the level of Foreign Aid that Australia gives and to target it at extreme poverty. Currently, Australia gives only .26% of GDP as foreign aid, placing it fourth-last of OECD countries. It has committed to increasing this to 0.5% by 2010 and 0.7% by 2015 and these amounts will be needed if the Millenium Development Goals are to be met, because it looks like they won't be at this rate.

I have drafted the letter, printed copies and bought the envelopes and stamps. Folding and stuffing 20 envelopes a day is quite soothing! Especially when we lose the cricket, as we did last night — ending Australia’s perfect summer.

There is an interesting update about the film and related issues on the Poverty News blog. 15 Feb 2007.

Foreign Aid

Economies are complex open systems which have so many intersecting elements that they are hard to predict, never mind control. One result is that things that work on the small scale may fail dismally on the large scale. Aid that works on the small scale, with one family, one school, or one village may fail on a larger scale.

An example can illustrate this principle. Agricultural aid can help a village to grow a surplus for sale and allow subsistence farmers climb out of exteme poverty. But if local roads are not car-worthy, then the surplus food can reach only the most local markets where the combined surplus of all the local farmers pushes prices down and leaves farmers in the situation of getting no additional income for their extra output, despite the additional input costs of fertiliser and seed required to get the extra productivity.

If agricultural aid is scaled up beyond the village to a district, it only worsens the market conditions.

So, what is the solution when aid fails like this? Do we blame the recipient country? This is exactly what happens when poor countries are labeled 'basket cases'. The better response is to try to see more clearly the range of factors that are operating in the complex open system of world economies and to see what other interventions may be needed.

Mostly, I feel that the complexity of economic systems is beyond my understanding and there are so many conflicting points of view. So it is easy for me to help a good project at the individual level because the benefits are clear. The children who get an excellent education at the School of St Jude are likely to benefit no matter what else is going on in the economy. If I buy a chicken or a goat for a poor family, there will be a direct benefit for the family.

Australians are the second-highest private donors in the world, giving 0.8% of national income to help other countries (and that is before the boosting effect of the tsunami where Australians showed outstanding generosity). Helping others is one of Australia's core values. Internationally, Australians are recognised for their national volunteer organisations and private philanthropy.

But individual philanthropy can go only so far. Poor countries need systemic support to help them work towards good governance and better infrastructure. This kind of help needs to be given on the scale of country to country. This is where the commitments made by developed countries to contribute 0.7% GDP to foreign aid targeted at ending extreme poverty are critical.

The target of 0.7% is not onerous, it is very doable – in fact the Scandinavian countries already give more than this. The Australian government has signed treaties committing to 0.7% but falls way short. In fact, Australia is fourth-last in the ranking of 22 OECD countries and gives only 0.25% GDP as foreign aid. Recent announcements to increase foreign aid by 50% will lift it to 0.36% -- about half the agreed amount. What a pity that our Government does not reflect the Australian ethos of helping others in its actions!

What can I do to encourage my country to honour its promises in this important area? One thing I plan to do is start writing to politicians. I encourage you to do the same. Many voices can make a difference.

Here are some sites with more information about the Australian Government's record on foreign aid.

The Age, April 2006.
Aid Watch
Global Issues

To end extreme poverty, we need to work at both the personal level where individuals help individuals and the systemic level where nations help nations. Do your bit to encourage your government to help in ways that count!