Noreena Hertz posted a very good video on debt in Sub-Saharan Africa. I was going to embed it here but you really should go to her post to give credit where it is due. It is not very long, less than two minutes and well worth any EVOKE agent's time:
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/noreena-hertzThis very much ties into the idea of treating the "symptoms" of an issue rather than finding a true solution. We look at what a nation needs and often not why it needs it. So many of these Sub-Saharan nations receive help from various organizations but it never seems to be enough. Have we ever wondered why that is? I would like to venture a guess that the Noreena's video is such a large part of the problem.
If a country cannot afford to start taking measures to help its people because of overwhelming debt then it will always need to rely on outside assistance to meet the needs of its people. Perhaps countries need to reevaluate how it is they give assistance to countries that owe them exorbitant amounts of money. Maybe a combination of goods and debt forgiveness mixed together would be a more effective long term plan. Let's face it, the sooner a country is capable of taking over the basic needs of its people then the sooner it can establish the kinds of programs to stimulate its own economy and increasing its ability to pay back these outstanding loans.
We need to think long term and dig deep to fix the "Big Picture" issues that we may actually be contributing to.
MT
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