Has Britain exported its welfare benefits system to Africa?
I recently stumbled across a discussion following this letter to the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/7958485/What-is-the-best-way-to-help-the-worlds-deserving-poor.html sadly that discussion on a forum called Aid Watch has been pulled at the time of writing this.
But I can tell you that you could feel the heat off the screen. Conversations regarding the rights and wrongs of Aid can generate heated debates as emotions tend to run high. You almost always have two corners those for and those against. Some key aspects of the discussion upon which folk generally agree are as follows
- no country has ever built a successful economy on Aid alone- in fact you would be hard pushed to name one if you tried
- a certain amount of Aid is necessary to kick start growth/structural development
- emergency Aid is necessary to help countries out of disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes
- trade is better than aid
- British people are taxed to fund the overseas development programme but have no say in where the Aid goes
- Aid doesn’t always get through to the people that need it
Back to the heading of this post, Having worked in the Social Housing sector for several years I have recently started to wonder whether the whole Aid industry isn’t in fact us exporting our welfare system to Africa and other developing countries.
Now before you write me off completely as a lunatic let me clarify my position. I believe in a fair society, a society in which those that cannot afford to look after themselves are assisted in some way by those that can. In Africa this role is taken up by extended families and if you are well off it goes without saying that you help those in your family that need your help. This help often involves financial and accommodation assistance or even taking over the welfare of the children of a relative who cannot afford to look after those children. Here in Britain that role falls onto the State which is funded be all of us via the tax system
AID
I see Aid as having been built around a similar model but with no end in mind and the like the welfare benefit system it creates dependency. Africa as a continent is not poor in terms of resources, it has oil, gas, gold, diamonds, some of the most sought after minerals in the world but for some African countries 70% or even 90% of their operational budgets are funded by Aid. Why is this?
Take a look at our welfare benefits system in the UK and the similarities begin to emerge. Have you heard of folk who cannot take up employment because they will be financially worse off? In my line of work in Social housing I came across countless folk like that and had to agree with them.
The current government has proposed to scrap LIFE COUNCIL TENANCIES. This would mean that if you have a council tenancy and your income improves/increases to a degree that you can rent privately then you would have to give back your council flat. Some folk agree and some don’t. I agree because this is the only way to ensure that those folk that are in grotty B&B accommodation can get into decent accommodation.
On the other hand the same government has ring fenced the Overseas development budget even if some of this money is funding regimes that misuse it and countries like India who clearly do not need it since they have their own Aid programme http://ethnicsupplies.org/sustainable-developmnet/international-policy/india-has-mor-poor-people-than-sub-saharan-africa
Checks and Balances
What if Britain assessed and awarded Aid on a needs basis and introduced more equitable trade terms in which African countries did not face so many trade barriers or silly restrictions like bent bananas or crooked mange tout being excluded from exports because we the public like all our fruit and veg to be straight! How about funding the transfer of skills and knowledge to build manufacturing industries the same way that unemployed folk are sometimes enrolled into programmes that help them gain skills employers want?
Do you think we have made folk in Africa dependent on Aid the same way that some folk over here have become dependent on the welfare benefits system and can’t possibly see a way out?
About Sarah ArrowSarah Arrow is the managing editor of Birds on the Blog, in real life she is the communications director of a same day courier service. She is an enthusiastic UK based pro-blogger and co- author of the soon to be published Zero to Blogger
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5 Responses to Has Britain exported its welfare benefits system to Africa?
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What strikes me as tragic is, as you say Ida, many African countries are sitting on a vast wealth of natural resources and yet the people who are sitting on it, are desperately poor. Although Aid is probably too stretched to fund responsible exploitation of natural resources as well as feeding the poor in the meantime, that’s probably what is needed.These African countries might do well to study the models we use in Canada – and not only do we have natural resources to protect, but also that famous old “north-west passage” which various other countries are trying to get their mitts on. And don’t be fooled by southern Canada’s resemblance to the USA; much of our natural resources exist in extremely unfriendly territory way north of the US border. Digging it up isn’t easy. But funding there seems to work, even to the extent of fostering our many First Nation communities so they benefit without having to a) leave their homelands or b) change their traditional ways of life unless they want to.It’s funny how everyone laughed at Canada … until the recent recession, during which time Canada suffered a mere flicker of pain compared to that of the USA. The reason? Sensible government and management. However that’s another story. Could African governments and businesses benefit by checking out the way natural resources are managed in this cold, frozen north?
(ADDED LATER – For more on how Canada manages its natural resources, go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Resources_Canada )
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
It is tragic as you say Suze. The leaders of some of these governments endowed with resources see the resources as personal property and this fuels civil wars as those on outside but with guns would like to get and get their mitts on the riches.
How about means testing as they do with welfare benefits? If you have over a certain amount of money in savings you are not entitled to claim benefits!
Thanks for that insight into the Canadian model. I can’t help wonder how it would apply in Africa, since its mostly western and now Chinese companies fetching these resources and in the Chinese case, they couldn’t care less if human rights were being disregarded or not
It is tragic as you say Suze. The leaders of some of these governments endowed with resources see the resources as personal property and this fuels civil wars as those on outside but with guns would like to get and get their mitts on the riches.
How about means testing as they do with welfare benefits? If you have over a certain amount of money in savings you are not entitled to claim benefits!
Thanks for that insight into the Canadian model. I can’t help wonder how it would apply in Africa, since its mostly western and now Chinese companies fetching these resources and in the Chinese case, they couldn’t care less if human rights were being disregarded or not
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