Aid Case Studies - Haiti, Akosombo Dam and Farm Africa

Aid given to Haiti following the disastrous 7.0 earthquake in 2010 was an example of short term aid. Aid given following an event or natural disaster.

• Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and has the highest incidence of aid outside of Africa
• It was estimated 320,000 people died and 1 million left homeless
• Schools, businesses and homes were destroyed

Overall there was $9 billion dollars in aid given. However as you can see in the diagram very little of that money has reached communities and organizations, with only 0.6% of it going to Haitian organizations and 9.6% staying with the government. This is a good example of one of the main problems with aid, corruption.
On January 13th American Red Cross announced they had run out of supplies and started to appeal for public donations.
Initially the was piling up at the airport as the logistics were not in place, a common characteristic of an LEDC, water and food took days to arrive.
However some of the aid is now trickling through to the people as the Haitian government has helped over 50,000 people back into sub standard housing (50,000 out of 1 million is still not a lot!) Other improvements include river bank strengthening and tree planting along with rising school attendances. There is a new state of the art hospital that has contributed to the increased life expectancy in Haiti compared to 10 years ago. British red cross have given 26 local businesses loans of £9000 in order to kick start their businesses to try and boost the economy.
Overall the aid has not worked, this is shown in the house building project that spent far too much on houses and cut its goal of god standard houses from 15,000 to 2500 and only 900 have been built so far. it is very hard to track down where the aid has been spent as there is no transparency in the government.

An example of a top down scheme is the Akosombo Dam in Ghana.
A top down scheme is when money is given to a body who directs the money from the top. This strategy did not work as the dam was meant encourage new industries and stimulate agricultural growth however all it did was make 80,000 people homeless and not make enough energy in order to provide rural villages with energy.  It has also hindered transportations. However it has boosted fishing...

An example of a bottom up scheme is Farm Africa in Tanzania.
Tanzanian people mainly live in rural areas where food security is very low and improved and sustained agriculture is crucial for reducing poverty levels. This grassroots initiative worked closely with local communities. In partnership with the government they teach young children farming skills in order to share with their families and therefore improve productivity. They are also turning traditional activities such as honey making into a way to make money. This bottom up scheme has helped the people who need it and provided them with life long skills.