The Sunday Essay: Why foreign aid’s broken – And how to fix it

Many thanks to Jamie Gardiner for this week’s Sunday Essay.  Thanks also to every other CoffeeHouser who sent in a submission.  If the various authors don’t mind, we’ll consider some of those submissions for future Sundays.  If any other CoffeeHousers would like to submit an essay, please click here for further information – Pete Hoskin

There’s an old quip that foreign aid is a matter of taxing the poor in rich countries to help the rich in poor countries. Most of us aren’t quite that cynical. Empathy may be blunted by distance, but where we hear about unimaginable suffering that could be relieved for just pennies, our humanity compels us to dip into our pockets. Even supporters of aid, though, have to step back periodically to read out the scorecard and justify the bill. It’s not a small bill – government aid costs each UK taxpayer £258 a year. Yet most taxpayers would be horrified to learn how much of that is wasted and spent in the wrong places.