Political Contracts and Agendas

It seems only fitting to end this blog on the theme that surrounded this entire book. People have rights and civil liberties that should free from famine, however political situations often times have seen otherwise. Most places have no political contract of which to speak, which makes the situation even worse. In addition, donors, governments and humanitarian organizations have their own agendas that dictate what they endorse, spend money on and plan programs around. de Waal ends the book in talking about the delusions that exist in governments and organizations, in thinking that they can still give effective aid and save lives when not being fully committed to changing the process. He admits that resources can be delivered and be some sort of aid delivered, but that without policy change and political empowerment nothing can truly be done. He again voices these sentiments in his 2006 book, AIDS and Power.

In AIDS and Power, de Waal stresses that there has been no change in the fight against AIDS because people are doing just enough, giving just enough money to do a little, but that until people and organizations and GOVERNMENTS fully commit to the fight against AIDS, we will see no change.

As for agendas, they are ubiquitous in the world of international aid. Donors often times have a clear idea as to where they want their money to go. Whether it be directed at a certain cause, country or resource. Fair enough, I might want to know exactly what my money was doing if I donated millions of dollars to an NGO. Organizations also have agendas. They want to appear that they are able to do exactly what the donor wants, even though they have certain programs they want to do or are already doing. Sometimes, as we have seen, organizations just tack on certain buzz words to projects in order to get them funding, which is certainly an agenda. Governments have agendas too- unfortunately I don't know much about them, except for the fact that they are very slow to uncover and get things done. PEPFAR has really strict requirements for where there allocated money can go. And lobbyists (with their own agendas) try to pass legislation for protection and policy that would benefit local people, but because of time and money in addition to conflicting agendas, can't always do that.

It seems a downhill fight after writing that paragraph. But hopefully agendas will overlap at some point. Or things will get so bad that change will be imperative? But how bad must things get? I want to be around to see progressive change. And feel that it will cost much less to start now than when everything is lower than rock bottom. One thing is for sure though, that the AIDS epidemic and famine have far more in common than I originally thought. They are both ruled by a certain type of industry that exists called humanitarian aid. Fueled by good intentions and little accountability, aid organizations are trying hard, but missing a key ingredient- political support.

"...while fighting famine remains entrusted to today;s humanitarian international, famine will continue." (Famine Crimes, page 217)