11.10.2004

Rethinking the Power of Aid

The Crisis of Humanitarian Action

Aid can never be an ally of war and violence. Helping each other requires empathy and enables us to overcome poverty and dependency. This idea of aid is subject to enormous pressure these days. Eradicating the root causes of poverty and promoting social development used to be major aims of aid, but today nothing more seems to be left but mere pragmatic action obeying technical and economic criteria rather than social maxims. Donor interests are pushing their way to the focus of attention or, what is worse, the act of providing aid increasingly depends on the extent to which it can be exploited by the media.

Aid is bound to become a commodity which is no longer directly linked to those in need, serving as an instrument to mitigate the effects of unsuccessful policies instead. Aid – hostage to global security policy and prevailing informal power structures? It is high time, particularly for aid organizations, to scrutinize their own practices and the ongoing structural change of aid.

The conference »Rethinking the power of aid« hosted by medico international and the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation intended to raise awareness for these issues. A critical analysis was being followed by the question for potential maxims for aid in times of globalisation. Because a different kind of help is possible – and necessary.

The present collection of speeches and texts is a supplement to the conference documentation »Rethinking the Power of Aid«, held by medico international, Institute of Pedagogics Frankfurt University and the Heinrich Boell Foundation on March, 28th and 29th 2003 in Frankfurt/Main.

The documentation was published in German, the present enclosure covers the most important contributions, either in their original version (in English) or translated into English.