Let’s Focus our Aid

by Matt Stambaugh

Successful foreign aid programs are notoriously difficult to execute, and in the past appear to be as much of a PR tool for governments as an actual attempt to provide assistance to those in need around the globe.  This is not always due to nefarious reasons on the part of our leaders, but it appears that the global foreign aid system is rather complicated and difficult to manage to say the least.

As such, in order to ensure public dollars are most effectively deployed, perhaps we as a country should focus our efforts on being the best at one or two specific niches of aid, instead of responding in a haphazard way to global issues, attempting to spread our dollars a mile-wide but only an inch deep. Our government is starting down this path by further focusing the number of countries that receive aid, but there still doesn’t seem to be a specific focus for our primary aid agency, CIDA.

To start, why don’t we pick a specific global need and strive to become the best at responding to this issue. These goals shoud be measurable and results-based.  For example we could become the most effective country in the world at providing potable drinking water to developing nations or areas affected by a natural or man-made disaster. Recent developments in nano-technology such as the Lifesaver bottle or Lifestraw allow for measurable results in an area that requires fresh water (the Lifesaver bottle is currently marketed to militaries and adventure seekers so a special ‘humanitarian’ cost structure would have to be negotiated).  The next time there is a hurricane Katrina Canada would have a repeatable process to initiate immediately that would allow for potable water to arrive in the stricken area.

Or perhaps Canada could be the world leader in providing and developing micro-electrical stations to communities, a technology that would potentially provide experience and innovations at home that could then be marketed world-wide. Basic education, micro-credit, and food security are all other areas that we could focus on developing niche expertise in.

While there are a variety of options to choose from, it’s time for our national aid strategy to focus on excellence in a specific solution, not just on what countries will receive aid. We have limited resources to spend on aid, let’s make sure that we are very, very effective when it comes time to help those in need around the world.

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Matt Stambaugh is an Information Security Consultant who dabbles in media, primarily as a weekly national technology columnist with CBC Radio. This post is cross-posted to www.mattstambaugh.com.