NGOs though cannot do it alone. Infrastructure projects, like health and education systems for example, are a matter for governments and large donors. NGOs provide the link by working closely with communities ensuring projects are sustainable and appropriate. The focus on working at the grassroots is always on developing communities to reach their potential: to truly alleviate poverty.
AusAID is a junior agency within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This often means that strategic matters of foreign policy, and commercial interests from within the government and the commercial sector, can undermine the focus on poverty.
In the UK in 1997, their international development arm was removed from their Foreign Office and their aid program was able to tackle the issue of poverty more effectively. Many other aid donor countries throughout the world also recognise this problem and have realigned their aid programs to also have a clear poverty focus.
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Many of the criticisms levelled at AusAID recently are in fact due to the multiple interests of our aid program. If we are fair dinkum about alleviating poverty, establishing an independent government department to deliver our aid program would be the obvious next step.
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