Ethiopia

[KateLMead]

Has any one seen the amount of aid we are giving to Ethiopia? what an outrage when the disabled and infirm are being denied financial help. This has happened to my daughter who has severe breathing problems and certainly cannot work, if she walks a short distance she is gasping for breath, along with the severely disabled whose claims are now rejected.
I was so distressed when I saw the starvation and the conditions of men women and children in this country, then I read of the cruel despots running it, the deaths, rapes the torture, with all the aid going in the pockets of the corrupt government and weapons for the military..
What the hell is this government thinking of allowing this country to sink to the level of the third world, with the food banks in every town and city, denying the needy financial help, we have the homeless, disabled, and the families in need that are growing every day. An extra £10,000 a year in these waster's pay packet "see the Mercer scandal today" Caring for our own? that is a laugh, the only individuals governments care about are there own, and dishing out money to likes of these despots including Mugabe.

[Workingman]

I watched a clip the other day about a project in Ethiopia, it was part spin, part good idea.

A coffee bean producer had noticed that the real money was made, not by the growers, but by the middle men - the bean roasters. He had therefore applied for roasting machinery in the hope of raising profits and increasing the workforce tenfold. His application was successful and the machinery, paid for out of UK aid, has just been delivered. Hopefully it will succeed - aid can work.

The problems with it are in its management, application and disbursement. UK aid has reached the 'plucked from the air' figure of 0.7% of GDP. Sounds like a pittance, but it is nearly £12bn in real money. The figure of 1% had been proposed in the post war period, but haggling brought it down to the 0.7% now accepted. The trouble with these figures is that they were made during the time of crumbling Empires - British, Portuguese, Belgian, French and Dutch as a bit of a sop to their former colonies. In today's world they are irrelevant.

What is now needed is quality not quantity, control from beginning to end, and an extremely critical look at the projects requesting the aid. It should never be provided in £, $, €, Yen or whatever.

[KateLMead]

Couldn't agree more Frank!

[Workingman]

Another great scheme is in Mogadishu, Somalia.

It is well known that lit streets are safer than dark streets, but as Mogadishu is a war zone and does not have an electrical distribution system worth its salt for street lighting it would be too risky to justify the cost.

However, a local came up with a bright idea: Somalia gets lots of sunshine, time to put it to use. What to do? Answer: drill a hole, fill it with concrete and pop in a pole with a pivot. At the top of the pole have a couple of solar panels, a battery, a light sensor and an array of LED lamps. Job done. There are no user serviceable parts. When something stops working the pole is lowered, the part changed, and it is erected again. Cost = peanuts. Benefits = more people on the streets, night markets, nowhere for the fighters to hide.

These are the things we should be getting involved in not large infrastructure vanity projects.

[pederito1]

A good idea in principle to roast coffee beans where produced but I am afraid it will mean higher prices in the shops. Plus of course the sad fact that roasted beans deteriorate in taste fairly rapidly whereas green ones do not and can be stock piled.

[Workingman]

I do not follow why prices should rise Ped, the beans have to be roasted somewhere, why not do it at source and cut out the middle man? Prices might actually drop.

[pederito1]

Human nature and greed being what it is I am sure the middle men will not give up their usuary too easily, then storage of roast beans is not as easy as greens which can be kept for market futures.

[cromwell]

Human nature and greed being what it is I am sure the middle men will not give up their usuary too easily

Absolutely. Those who have their fingers in the till will want to keep them there.
I think a lot of "foreign aid" is basically bribing the people in control in these countries, to try and keep them onside.

[Workingman]

Yes, but if we are to continue giving aid, and let's be honest we are not going to stop any time soon no matter which party is in power, then we should be looking after the pennies. I am very much against us handing out money for vanity schemes, such as a six lane highway going from nowhere to nowhere, only to find it is reduced to four lanes and a new palace has been built for the King/President/Dictator.

If we do give aid it should be under our control from start to finish. If the recipients do not like the deal then they can go look somewhere else.