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Southern Voices for Change in the International Aid System Project

The Forum on the Future of Aid is an online community dedicated to research and opinions about how the international aid system currently works and where it should go next

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FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB REGION; A CASE OF A REGION AT CROSSROADS - Financing for Democracy: An oxymoron?

Source: Arab NGO Network on development

Three main factors directly affect the impact achieved by aid flows for the purposes of financing for development in the Arab region. These are:

1. The double standards of the US and the EU with Israel, whereby the UN resolutions addressing the rights of the Palestinian people are being neglected, and Israeli nuclear weapons remain a taboo, while the insecurity in the region and the tendencies towards militarization and enhancing defense policies persist

2. Linking aid to terrorism is weakening the ability to sustain an efficient and effective flow of aid based on the national needs and not on foreign policy demands of rich countries. This is also finding new explanations for the prioritization of defense and security policies at the expense of development and social security, which has been for long the main dilemma in the Arab region.

3. Undemocratic regimes in the Arab region, which continue to repress freedoms, violate rights, and limit the space of civil society organizations are continuously being supported by various donor countries for reasons related to energy and oil sources or military bases located in several of the Arab countries.
The report argues that the role of civil society would be a crucial factor in the process of reforming aid mechanisms, guaranteeing their outreach, and making them more adequate to local and national needs, and, accordingly, more sustainable within the development policies of developing countries.

Click here to read the full report



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