With Comic Relief’s ‘Red Nose Day’ having been celebrated and widely supported on Friday, it seems that raising money and giving it to poor countries, more technically known as LICs (low income countries), is a topical issue. Many people are very much against the UK giving so much money to these countries, with Conservative MP Philip Davies claiming, ‘We are clearly the mugs of the world’.

 

Firstly, the UK is part of a group of countries called the G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries all aim to give 0.7% of their wealth as foreign aid every year, and that’s excluding all of the emergency appeals like the Eastern African Famine Appeal. This said, the UK is the only country who sticks to the figure, with Germany giving 0.4% and the US just 0.2%! In 2014, the UK donated £13.2 billion, bearing in mind that this sum could alternatively fund 26,000 nurses or 12,000 hospital doctors for a year.

 

Despite the huge sums of money making their way overseas, it is arguable that LICs are not developing and in fact might even be poorer than they were just 10 or 20 years ago. This may be down to the fact that when money is being given to corrupted governments, there is a chance that ill-spending will occur on items such as weaponry.

 

There is of course a positive side to giving aid, and it is that, in general, LICs can gain a foundation for them to succeed and thrive in the future. Creating projects to build medical centres for example, is sustainable and LICs will not come knocking on our door for more money anytime soon after. Furthermore, by giving short-term aid in the event of conflict or a natural disaster, we are no doubt saving thousands of lives, which would otherwise be lost, therefore preventing any more damage being done than necessary.

 

Overall, I believe that giving aid to LICs is no bad thing at all because it gives our country a good name for itself and also helps to build ties between us and other places. I would say that if we were to lower our 0.7% to about 0.3% and then additionally give aid in emergencies, we would have a similar impact. As of today, Monday 27th March, the British public have raised £71,308,475 for Comic Relief just this year, so to only give aid when specifically needed would be reliable in my opinion!

 

Roisin McEvoy