Why Full Disclosure Poses no Threat to the Survival of Foreign Aid

Abstract

Increasingly, it is becoming a given that the only secure basis for world peace and prosperity in the long run lay in providing all states with the chance to make progress towards a better life. Accordingly, rich countries have always been prayed to give some of their wealth to poor countries to fight poverty, hunger and diseases. For the past five decades, more than 2.3 trillion dollars have been spent on foreign aid. However, no significant economic growth and poverty reduction have occasioned in poor countries. Rather, in some places, poverty has increased. Aid agencies keep on repeating more-than-five decades-old cycle of idealism, high expectations and disappointing results because they fail to coordinate efforts, do peer reviews and full disclosure of past aid projects for fear that it might lead to disclosing negative results which may dent the image of development aid and lead to reduced public support and donations for foreign aid. It is argued in this piece that the foreign aid establishment has already won the battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of Western taxpayers and there is no way aid funds will dry up. Aid agencies are therefore urged to open up, seek more avenues for international collaboration and information sharing, encourage peer reviews and criticisms, full disclosure of information especially, those on failed projects to allow for better learning, learning from past experiences and peers. This way, the full potential of foreign aid to deal with hunger, diseases and poverty may become manifest.

Keywords: foreign aid, collaboration, full disclosure, information sharing, peer review