An issue to ponder upon....
 

I have an issue in my mind, and would like other peoples opinions.

As some of you know, I am working for an aid bank. I am just wrapping up a year in the Pacific on countries that look idyllic but are actually third world. It had been fun, but I am having some doubts:

1. Most aid is actually biased and misdirected. AusIAD has just ramped up its aid program, but everyone seems to think it is connected with UN votes. We give you aid, you vote the way we direct. Its not just Australia, the Taiwanese and Japanese fight over each other to give aid - in exchange to the rights to over-fish tuna in the Pacific.

Look at AusAID: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/anrep/rep11/ataglance.cfm


2. Thousands of highly paid workers trample around the world as advisors etc. They are paid a fortune, the shag the local girls (AFP Advisors are notorious for this), push up accommodation costs and buy up everything in the shops.

As an idea of salaries, take a look at:
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publication...-framework.pdf

People are getting AUD 968-1161/day TAX FREE (AusAID workers and contractors are exempt from all tax) AND they get very good per diems, meaning that the remuneration goes straight into the bank.

This wealth just pisses off the locals, especially the ones who you have to work with. They get by on a local salary of +/- AUD1000 a month and pay tax on it....


3. Vast amounts of the money just flows into Australian (or UK, US, Japanese etc) organizations. Incredibly, a Packer family Trust Fund based in there Bahamas received over a BILLION of AusAID funding for its GRM International company. God knows where it went to, or upon who....

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/12/...international/

Most of the money is spent on "Advisors", "Consultants" and expensive Western made equipment - meaning the aid money never actually leave the donor countries shores. Much of it goes into management companies like Coffey and PMP.

4. Most of the projects are HIGHLY over bureaucratized - I know of one consultant who flew thousands of miles to do a cost benefit analysis of a water tank next to a church. She completed the CBA on her business class flight, and took two weeks holiday..... The cost of administering and managing the projects is massive, and most are just studies anyway.


5. The thing most on my mind, is that the aid workers try to push countries into 21C lifestyles that ,many of there population really don't want. They see aid programs destroying their way of life, and things that they have accepted for hundreds of years. Most simply want to be left alone.


Am I right to feel disillusioned? Should I say sod it and go back to the real world? Should I go to the press or write a book?

I could say a lot more, but I might get into confidentiality areas. Right now organizations are falling over themselves to get me onto the next gravy train. I on the other hand......

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I remember the US food aid for Africa a few years back. US government and NGOs will raise money, then use that money to buy surplus potatoes from US farmers, then give those potatoes away in Africa. So, the primary beneficiaries are US farmers, not Africans.

Still, this is better than invading other countries and starting wars which benefit US arms manufacturers and oil companies.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Probably in a unique position to get a invesitgative journo interested. How about sending exactly what you've typed, to the Washington Post or John Pilger if he is still around.

If it's occupying your mind in a months time then go for it.... If not thank your lucky stars that you dont have this topic and not much else filling your head for the next few years.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Agreed. In many ways Aid Workers are no more than modern day colonialists waving cheques instead of beads.

As Rory Stewart wrote in "The Paces In Between" administrators are less the neo-colonialists. At least the colonialists did work at understanding the the people they were governing. They recruited people who were prepared to spend their entire careers in dangerous provinces of a single alien nation. They invested in teaching administrators and military officers the local languages. They established effective departments of state, trained the local elite, and continues the countless academic studies of their subjects through institutes and museums. They balanced the budget and generated fiscal revenue.

Aid workers fly in, hold a brief meeting(in English) and fly out on the next business class seat....

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

the cynic in me always looks at these govt aid programs as a defence fortification means. In some countries it is a means of keeping home grown terrorism/asylum seekers/insert problem here at bay by buttering up the said country. Not sure what that ulterior motive might be in Tuvalu, but I am sure its geographical location would be important should a major war break out.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

In UK government terms, I've always considered aid projects to be offshoots of the FCO - with a similar set of personnel and a similar outlook. Apart from a few instances I think it tends to be badly considered - systemwise and too much concerned about patching up issues rather than dealing with root causes.

It's no surprise that the money goes to help other aims as well as the obvious purpose, and to some extent it's no bad thing to go for win/wins. However too often it's more focused on the win for the donor than it is removing the problem simply.

Hell, often the easiest win would be to just top the king/president/first minister of the country concerned.

In the end the cheapest and best solution would probably be a DVD (with solar power player) of "all those things you could do with knowing, to do it yourself". Mass produced the bang for the buck would best any external agency effort.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

The best charities are small local ones without all the swanning around, or those that enable the community to help themselves. I distrust big charities with their glossy brochures etc.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

The only international charity i support is Medicines sans frontiers... And for the first time in over 20 years I've had to suspend my donations to them due to my own economic crisis...

All the others are local... And I doubt nurses at the hospital I make kids quilts for are taking them home with them on the sly...

Foreign Aid = vote dollars

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

2 companies that I have worked for, Merlin Gerin (now Schneider) from France and Mitsubishi Electric from Japan. French and Japanese governments (not the only ones) give aid, low-cost loans, 'preferential trade' conditions to 3rd world countries, with the proviso that any equipment, plant, infrastructure etc is purchased from French and Japanese companies. And with these kind of contracts, price is not an issue and everything supplied costs at least twice as much as it should, and is often far too technologically advanced for what is needed. Therefore you get state of the art Japanese 275kV GIS substations being built in the middle of nowhere, when a perfectly adequate open terminal substation, costing 1/5 of the price could be built.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

It's all one big gravy train. The wife was telling me about when the Americans came to Indonesia to help after the tsunami, US gov pledged x amount of millions of dollars in aid, but out of that aid was taken all the costs for the personnel. At the end of the day virtually all the aid was used up by the Americans themselves.

I saw you mentioned maybe a gig with The World Bank, when i was in London, a friend of the wife's fresh out of uni got a job at the WB in New York. First assignment, flew to London, first class and put up in a 5* Hotel.:ohmy:

Sounds like good work to me, just leave your conscience at the door.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

World Bank, Asia Development Bank - both just puppets of the US aren't they? That's what I've heard.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

I oppose all overseas aid. It takes money from poor people in rich countries and gives it to rich people in foreign countries.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

This thread is depressing me... :(

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

The world is an evil EVIL place!

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Sorry Elice.... :(

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

And often does more harm than good. Prime example is the Band Aid/Bob Geldof waste of space. That whole saga probably killed more people than it saved, prolonged a war and made some bad people very rich. At least a whole raft of western people got to feel good about their 'effort' and saw some great live music.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Make a donation,feel better fast:sneaky:

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

I donate already. Not feeling much better for it :frown:

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

hang on there are good projects out there,

when i was in india volunteering with a slum charity, one of the local large international firms donated a lot of money to rebuild the school and clinic and donated the engineers and workers time too.

The most effective aid workers seem to be those who give their time and obtain sponsorship to go live in the country and provide the services the locals actually want!

Yes I did see some fact finders who stayed at top hotels but I also saw some who stayed in fairly rough hotels and had the sense to ask those of us working daily in the slums about what was actually needed!

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Try meditation:thumbup:

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

And some of the tourists stayed behind to rebuild Phuket(Thailand) after the tsunami. That was pretty cool. :thumbsup:

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

If all the management consultants in the world evaporated tomorrow it would be a much better place.

There are just too many westerners claiming to know best but probably couldn't sew on a button or mend a bicycle puncture without going on a course.

The whole system of aid and big charity is just immoral. But then so are governments, all of them I suspect.

Other professions that are superfluous to requirements - branding executives, most advertising, junk food makers, cigarette makers, religious organisations (I mean all the money supporting the Vatican, organising conferences - not those doing the actual work with people who need help).

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Funny you should mention religions. The Mormons arrived from Hawaii - on a huge private jet. They left it on the runway for a week whilst they harangued and beseeched the followers to contribute more donations to the church.

In that time the aircraft could have earned more than the GDP of the island......

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

I understand, having worked in a similar industry too, and its really hard.

Living in a developed country, as a whole, we are blinkered to what is going on in the rest of the world. We are driven by our own consumer driven society.

Try not to give up, if there were not people like you in the world, there would be no chance for an improvement in third world poverty, or for the environment in which they (and we) live.

However, if you do decide you can't do the job any more, I don't blame you...

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Its not so much that I can't do the job, its simply that I believe things should be changed.

Take Peter Kelly, an engineer from Brisbane, who was receiving $433,000 tax-free a year to supervise the maintenance of the 73km of paved roads, 1303 km of gravel roads and 400km of earth roads on Vanuatu. Thats AUD 1732 a DAY, and he was getting it TAX FREE!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ausa...-1225831898856

Even worse, having been to Vanuatu, i know that most of the locals don't give a stuff about roads.

I guess I will just climb back on the gravy train, but something is seriously wrong here...

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

You're right, $433,000 tax-free a year for supervising unwanted paved roads; that's just wrong.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Let me give you another example of insanity:

a few years ago the AusAID Governance for Growth Program helped Vanuatu to introduce competition to the telecommunications sector, ending a monopoly held by Telecom Vanuatu Ltd for about 30 years. AusAID had committed $6 million to the reform of the telecommunications sector.

What happens in these small nations is you kick out one government monopoly, and a private one steps in. Usually Digicel in the Pacific - and thats exactly what happened. The market base is too small to support two phone companies.

So good old Aussie taxpayers ended up funding the establishment of a UK phone company monopoly in Vanuatu.....

And did a single phone user care who provided the service? No.....

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

[QUOTE=lesleys;9988644]If all the management consultants in the world evaporated tomorrow it would be a much better place.

QUOTE]

I worked as a mgt consultant for 5 years, and am amazed that more people don't see through the smoke and mirrors. In Brisbane execs would much rather engage some arrogant youngster with an MBA spouting shite at $2000 per day then train/develop their own highly competent staff and keep skills in house. Lost track of how many people have told me that 'anyone not working as a consultant or a contractor must be no good at their job' As a management consultant you often get treated as though you walk on water, whereas as an 'ordinary' staff member your skills are open to question.
There's a whole bunch of charlatans googling their way through their posts and earning big $$ and it's truly shocking - but from what i've seen charities, not for profits often have poor governance systems that allow and often encourage very questionable behaviour

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Any room in the gravy train for a work injured registered nurse? Who needs shedloads of money stat? Sounds perfect to me....

Gissajob

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Slappy....I'll be getting in contact shortly....

I'll PM you.

I just have to do some humanitarian work here - my sick wife and children...

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

I think you have to decide where to draw the line. I worked in oil exploration for a well known multinational and the system of management bonuses, perks and travel arrangements really appalled me. I enjoyed my technical work, which was paid well enough, so I used to refuse promotions to higher management because I didn't want to be part of it, and I told them exactly that. They really couldn't understand how someone could refuse more money. I stuck to my principles and thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

If you can afford principles then stand by them and almost certainly be happier, guilt-free and enjoy your life.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Slappy has principles? :huh::D

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Slappy thought process"

Principles.

=

Victoria Principle.

=

Victorias Secrets.

=

BOOBS.

How to get to boobs in three steps. Always works.

PS: I don't have any Principles, Secrets or Boobs. Can I play with yours instead :rofl:

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

I'm reporting this post cause yer making a TIT of the thread;)

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Slapp's analysis is precisely what has been apparent for donkey's years. Many third world countries have been held down by aid, and their populations have become dependent on it while the leaders and advisors stuff their Swiss accounts.

I don't feel at all ashamed of living in a consumer world: the third world would much prefer that to grinding poverty. But it's wishful thinking to say that transferring cash from one to the other, with much of it leaking away en route, is going to alter the situation in most places.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

Me too! - I don't mind living in a first world country and I don't mind a degree of consumerism - simple pleasures and comforts can indeed be just what the doctor ordered. So a steak perfectly cooked, a glass of wine. What I don't get is baseless people who have never known anything beyond the local shop/mall, town or suburb - or favourite TV series...and obsess over fashion - all made in China, or the latest model of car. Who would go to pieces outside their comfort zone. Hmmm...my trousers are once again around my ankles...and I am assuming the position a man adopts whilst waiting for a beating...

There is a degree of truth that a lot of people live in poverty in Africa and Asia and actually have enriched lives in their own way. Clearly, I'm not talking about the people who trek 40 miles a day for water or live in mud..or in flood waters....Queenslanders even?

Ah! Here comes my first customer....OucH!

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

True however there is a trade off:

Many people in the third world just don't get the "work ethic" - get up at 6:30, shower, put on a suit, catch a train for an hour, office by 8AM. One hour lunch and still there at 6PM, home by around 8PM.

For them a snooze in a hammock is a working day. Especially if an aid worker is cooking lunch for you....

Trust me, I pulled my hair out trying to get people to turn up at the office at all. Real excuses: "Oh my pig was feeling sick". "Oh it was raining".

Similarly they don't get hygiene - why wash your hands after a crap? We worry about water quality when the REAL problem is basic ass to mouth contamination not the water....

And they don't get western morality - gender inequality is a fact of life, underage sex is normal (who are these foreigners who arrive telling me I can't have sex until I reach an age THEY determine), etc etc.

The issue is they want what we can give them WITHOUT taking up the rest of it.

Take Kiribati, where there is no drink driving laws, and for 65% of the female population their first sexual experience is rape at around 14 years of age. Why? Because we ship in boatloads of VB and they guzzle it by the crate load. Tell them they can't drive western style cars when they drink western beer and they get angry. Tell them being drunk is an office and you have a riot.

Its not as simple as it looks.....

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

You're right, that's crazy.

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

So many questions posed.....


Does anyone have any answers?

Re: An issue to ponder upon....
 

It's a worldwide problem so it's going to take something that changes the world.
Asteroid impact, a new global disease/pandemic, war, knocking the earth out of its orbit, alien invasion, extinction of bees, gigantic burst of solar radiation that zaps all satellites, phones and the internet. :thumbsup: