The East African country of Somalia has a plethora of difficulties,
with the two primary ones being that it seemingly always heads failed state
indices and that it experiences tragic humanitarian crises. However, last week,
the United Nations took a bold, encouraging step forward by launching a humanitarian
appeal for the nation. We have discussed foreign aid the past two weeks in
class, and I think this initiative is also very pertinent to the topic of
Africa’s future. It would be a momentous statement if this approach was
successful in poor, unstable Somalia.
The specifics of the appeal demonstrate the large scale that
is being taken. The appeal calls for $1.3 billion for 3.8 million people in
dire need of help. A total of 177 NGOs and UN agencies will implement the aid,
specifically for 369 projects. The main focus will be on agriculture, such as
improving crop inputs and livestock. As well, another important dimension is
that both humanitarian and development efforts will be incorporated at the
start, as opposed to the normal linear sequence of these two.
The issues we discussed in class are very apparent when
analyzing this aid. Both categories of aid opinion have something to support.
Aid optimists will be pleased with the large amount of money involved and the
goal of reaching much of the population. Aid pessimists will be pleased with
the large number of projects undertaken, which are smaller and more
controllable. As well, the bilateral approach could produce the domestic
capacity and self-sufficiency needed. With the sequence method, if humanitarian
efforts failed, the development aspect was not even reached.
Despite these points, many of the aid perils could also
occur. Local issues, like land tenure and pastoralist-farmer disputes, cannot
be ignored. As well, the large number of NGOs and UN agencies involved is worrisome.
There is a higher probability of coordination failure and accountability
failure. These actors should not seize and overpower either, as will be
tempting with the Somali political situation. As always, there is the issue of
corruption. There are some technologies to ensure the aid is correctly
distributed, but those methods are expensive. Lastly, with the large scale also
come collective action problems and the urge to free-ride.
I am very interested in seeing the future of this appeal. Somalia
continues to struggle in many aspects, and focusing the aid there is risky.
However, the possibility of failure is met with great potential, for this
appeal is different in many ways. The hope is that it does not become just
another example of ineffective aid. If the aid works, even only moderately, it
would be fantastic. It could be exemplary for the numerous other African
countries similarly struggling, and that could have profound impacts on
Africa’s future.
Tran, Mark. “Somali’s journey from disaster to
resilience a test case for development.” The
Guardian. 7 Dec 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/dec/07/somalia-journey-disaster-resilience-development.
The case of foreign aid in Somalia is a very interesting topic. Many of the regions where humanitarian aid is needed most are under the control of the terrorist organization al Shabab. I wonder how the UN plans to allocate resources to these people, if al Shabab won't allow foreign assistance into their territories. Over all good post! We haven't really discussed Somalia in class so it was interesting to read about it.
ReplyDeleteChloe- I agree with you, definitely going to be interesting to see how the future of this appeal develops, however aid in Somalia can be compared to medical treatment- often times the most serious (and unfortunately deadly) illness receive the most amount of care, yielding poor, if any, outcomes of success. Hopefully this UN involvement on a more integrative level will yield better results
ReplyDeleteYou made a lot of good points and your conclusion that any kind of positive movement by this aid project(big or small) in Somalia would be vital. Furthermore as you mentioned the territorial and clan disputes that penetrate Somalia to the core will be an interesting hurdle for the U.N and the effectiveness of their future plans in the country. As well as how they choose to work and cooperate with the extremest groups like Al Shabab and whether or not these groups will choose to cooperate at all.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. It is nice to hear about the potential for Somalia since sometimes it seems like the poster children for everything wrong with aid. I also am very curious how the UN with deal with extremest groups specifically Al Shabab since the US has tried to kill in drone strikes already. Does the appeal mention the clan and terrorist disputes? Is there a time frame for these projects? Agricultural seems like it would be a long term plan.
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