Here are some of the things we were saying about the aid environment in 1994:

• the rise in aid from DAC donors of just 0.5% in real terms to a 1992 figure of US$60.4 billion may mark the end of an era of slowly growing aid
• some donors have written guidelines on the application of poverty-focused criteria to aid decsions – a few have taken specific steps to focus aid more effectively on the needs of the poor
• there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people affected by conflict and disaster – relief operations involve not only humanitarian assistance but military activity
• governments have a responsibility to shape public opinion – they must recognise the damage that can be done by the misuse of aid for commercial or political ends
• business interests are having an increased influence on the shape of aid and the countries it goes to
• some donors are attempting to harness the private sector to serve the needs of the poor without setting any quality thresholds on poverty that companies seeking aid-funded business would have to cross.

"A substantial increase in the resources for fighting poverty in the poorest countries appears entirely affordable. It is a matter of political commitment and the reassessment of donor priorities."
World Development Report 1990, the World Bank

Overivew: trends

Read Aid and poverty in a time of rapid change

Themes

1.Tied aid 2.A southern perspective on ODA 3. Commercial issues in aid 4. Who benefits from aid?

Other Reality of Aid

Reality of Aid 2002
Reality Check 2001
Reality of Aid 2000
Reality of Aid 1998/1999
Reality of Aid 1997/1998
Reality of Aid 1996
Reality of Aid 1995
Reality of Aid 1994
Reality of Aid 1993
Reality of Aid home

External links

Visit the Reality of Aid project site – Reality of Aid reports since 2002 – Reality Checks since 2002

Visit the Global Humanitarian Assistance site – our independent project to monitors aid flows