With the economic crisis in the developed world, foreign aid has become less of a priority for traditional providers of aid. Countries such as the US, Japan, and members of the EU are struggling with their internal budgets and their foreign aid spending may suffer as a result.
However, emerging countries providing foreign aid are prepared to pick up some of the slack. Specifically, after a generation of strong economic growth, both Turkey and South Korea have increased their aid programs to poor nations.
Turkey, for example, has been stepping up its overseas development efforts and has nearly doubled its aid spending since 2006. Aware of the links between poverty and radicalism, it has particularly helped Egypt after the Arab Spring, and has also been working in Somalia, in an effort to bring stability to countries in its vicinity.
South Korea, which received significant assistance after the civil war in the 1950s and has become a regional economic power, appreciates the role that aid played in its economic growth and wants to be able to provide the same opportunities to poor countries today. To this end, it has almost tripled its spending since 2006 and provides assistance to twenty countries, many of which are in Southeast Asia.
Although these countries do not provide nearly the same amount of aid as traditional donors and their aid programs are still being developed, they serve as an example for other emerging countries. In particular, those that have become relatively rich now have the responsibility to provide assistance to poorer countries.
– Caroline Poterio Martinez
Source:: The Guardian
Photo:: Flickr