Benefits of foreign aid outweigh costs

There is often criticism about government funds being used to support foreign aid when there are hospitals, schools, roads and other infrastructure requirements within Australia needing funding. With tens of thousands of Australians homeless and reliant on charity to live from day to day, there seems to be some validity to this thought.

In addition to this dilemma, there is the environmental and social costs to the recipient countries who are often railroaded by the donor countries and can suffer with unwanted changes to their environment and their culture.

To clarify the debate, there should be a distinction between whether foreign aid is worthwhile and how it is delivered. The effectiveness of getting the right type and amount of aid to the right people at the right time will impact whether it has the desired impact. If it is not done properly, then it will make people think that the costs outweigh the benefits.

However, I would argue that the benefits overall exceed the costs because the humanitarian costs of saving lives in the short term and building up independence by creating opportunities for economic growth in the long term has been proven as indisputably worthwhile. The challenge is to reduce the costs to recipient countries so the benefits for all are enhanced.

The following video talks at little about food aid and how it could be done better. It also mentions 5 million children will die this year due to malnutrition.