Diploma Project Summary - Mina

To summarize my diploma work it is important that i firstly explain the questions posed in this work. While my initial questions (before visiting Tanzania) were quite critically aimed at the sustainability of the aid given, my findings proved that this was not consistent with the results and therefore I rephrased the posed questions. The questions I ended up discussing in my diploma work reads as follows:

1.  Why is foreign aid provided?
2. How do organizations, schools and students interact with and perceive foreign aid?

As for the first question much of the results were found through literary studies as well as statistics from amongst others the OECD. This material was complemented by the many different speculations that i gathered from discussions with students, staff and orga-leaders. While the literary studies suggested an array of different reasonings in respects to the question, a recurring theme seemed that researchers found ties between the allocation of foreign aid and geopolitical strategy as well as economic benefits for the countries that provide aid. This is a political trend that i found to stretch all over the world. With examples ranging from the historic Marshall plan after the second world war to present day, wherein the US provide aid based on the benefits it secures for themselves.

This finding is contrary to the message that international aid agencies express, namely that foreign aid is provided for the development and support of impoverished and struggling nations. However it should be noted that this speaks to the greater surges of foreign aid provided, not to any specific or individual country or organization. Furthermore the discussions with students especially brought to light that there may be ulterior motives behind giving aid to struggling nations, such as controlling them both economically and culturally. In addition to this i included some of Nyerere's thoughts on foreign aid to the result aspect of the question. More specifically I cited some of the thoughts he expressed in his work Ujamaa: essays on socialism and then later on in an interview with The New York times.

In regards to the second question I draw mainly from the interviews with the different subjects. I discuss the different views that leaders of organisations and Schools have on foreign aid and the relation they have to the consequent necessity of foreign aid. As well as how they interact with specific aid relations - the difficulties that are experienced as well as the positive achievements. I write on the connection between religious institutions and foreign aid/ organisations in respects to sustainability.

In my final discussion I drew conclusions based on what i gathered from the collective sources. It is my conclusion that foreign aid is a tool wielded by western countries with the primary purpose of utilizing postkolonial nations that are located in the periphery of the national economy for economical gain and resources. With regard to my second question I surmise that it is clear that the aid allocated to small organizations differs varingly from the aid provided to government. While the aid is no doubt necessary, and seemingly often effective (based on my emperi) it does imply a certain degree of dependency which is not altogether sustainable. In my final discussion I write about the complexity of an economic interaction which on part is relevant because of a history of colonial exploitation. I discuss the consequences of economic autonomy and an independent African trade union.