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Aid (from the french word aide, also known as international aid, overseas aid, or foreign aid, especially in the United States) is a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, given at least partly with the objective of benefiting the recipient country. It may have other functions as well: it may be given as a signal of diplomatic approval, or to strengthen a military ally, to reward a government for behaviour desired by the donor, to extend the donor's cultural influence, to provide infrastructure needed by the donor for resource extraction from the recipient country, or to gain other kinds of commercial access. Humanitarianism and altruism are, nevertheless, significant motivations for the giving of aid. Aid may be given by individuals, private organisations, or governments. Standards delimiting exactly the kinds of transfers that count as aid vary. For example, aid figures may or may not include transfers for military use: to cite one instance, the United States included military assistance in its aid figure until 1957 but no longer does. Another issue is whether to count remittances by expatriate workers to family members in their home countries as aid. This constitutes a large but difficult to measure international flow of funds. Loans may or may not be counted as aid. Even if the principles of a definition are set, it remains difficult to determine the effective flow of aid because aid is fungible: receiving aid may free up funds in the recipient country for use in non-aid projects that could not have been undertaken had the aid not been received. For example, receiving food aid may enable a government to divert funds from its own food-support budget to its military budget. In that case the net effect of the aid is military although the aid money might actually be spent on food. Official organisations and those scholars who are primarily concerned with government policy issues frequently include only government-sourced aid in their aid figures, omitting aid from private sources. The most widely used measure of aid, "Official Development Assistance" (ODA) is such a figure. It is compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United Nations, the World Bank, and many scholars use the DAC's ODA figure as their main aid figure because it is easily available and reasonably consistently calculated over time and between countries. The DAC consists of 22 of the wealthiest Wester industrialised countries plus the E.U.; it is a forum in which they coordinate their aid policies. Aid existed in ancient times. More recently, in the nineteenth century, some private aid flowed from the Western countries to the rest of the world; missionary schools are an example. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, aid from governments was tiny compared to present levels, consisting mostly of occasional humanitarian crisis relief. Some transfers that would now be counted as aid, however, came under the purview of colonial office budgets. It was at the end of World War Two, in the contexts of European reconstruction, decolonisation, and cold war rivalry for influence in the third world, that aid became the major activity that it is today. From Wikipedia under the
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 news.google.com New York Times North Korea asked for food aid during recent Red Cross talks with South Korea in return for allowing temporary reunions of Koreans separated by the 1950-53 ... SKorea offers first food aid to NKorea in 2 years The Associated Press SKorea offers to ship food aid to NKorea AFP South Korea Offers Humanitarian Aid to North Voice of America Press Trust of India - Hindustan Times all 1,294 news articles » news.google.com The Virginian-Pilot Phillips was skipper of the Maersk Alabama when pirates boarded the container ship, loaded with food aid , off the coast of Somalia on April 8. ... Maersk Alabama Battles Pirates for Second Time ABC News Maersk Alabama: Should ships use armed guards to stop Somali pirates? Christian Science Monitor all 1,659 news articles » news.google.com Korea Herald Seoul yesterday denied a news report that Pyongyang had requested 1000 tons of food aid , reiterating its official position that the North did not suggest ... KOREA: Uppity Women Threaten The North Strategy Page Food Spurred Conciliatory North Korean Moves Daily NK Kim Jong Il's Dam Apology Student Operated Press all 505 news articles » From Google News Search: "Food aid"  unmultimedia.org unknown ue, 08 Sep 2009 17:25:19 GM Yemeni with . food aid. . The warning comes from international humanitarian agencies after four weeks of an army offensive against rebels. UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Sigrid Kaag says Children are bearing ...  bearmarketinvestments.com unknown Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:45:55 GM How China ended its dependence on . food aid. , almost overnight, and become the world's third largest . food aid. donor. Solving SA'S . Food. Crunch. High . food. prices are being investigated. Land reform as a means to decrease rural poverty and ...  blog.taragana.com Bureau News ue, 18 Aug 2009 17:10:47 GM UN says Kenya in desperate need of . food. aidKARIUNGA, Kenya More than 1 million Kenyans affected by a prolonged drought are not getting the . food aid. they desperately need, the UN's World . Food. Program said Tuesday. From Google Blog Search: "Food aid" |
