Inside Geneva: what’s the point of foreign aid?

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On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, we host a debate on a key question: what’s the point of foreign aid?

Inside Geneva

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“What’s the point of mobilising taxpayers’ money and sending it to faraway countries to assist vulnerable people? And how do you sell that to your own taxpayers?” says Gilles Carbonnier, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

There are more conflicts and greater needs, yet donor countries want to spend less.

“There is a lot of duplication and there is also a lot of financial waste in the system. That needs to be cut down. But really, the primary question must be: what do people need?” says Deike Potzel, EU Ambassador to the UN in Geneva.

Do people in donor countries think the money is better spent at home?

“A lot of people don’t understand what foreign aid is needed for, where it goes or how it works. They tend to look at their own situation and say, well, maybe economically I’m not doing well,” says Jaclyn Lee, MA student in International Development at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

+ How Switzerland is managing foreign aid at a time of global upheaval

Do we think some people’s tragedies are less important than others?

“If a child is in pain in Khartoum, that’s exactly the same as a child being in pain in New York or London. If a mother is grieving in Gaza, that’s exactly the same as a mother grieving in Geneva,” says Chris Lockyear, former Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

How can aid agencies better explain what they do?

“What defines us is humanity, and humanity means we cannot stay idle when we see others suffering. We have to act and do something to try to protect them, assist them and prevent suffering, regardless of where this happens,” says Carbonnier.

Listen to the full episode on Inside Geneva.

Find out more about the ‘Inside Geneva’ podcast and our other Swiss podcasts in English here.

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