OVERSEAS AID AND THE CHARITIES APPEALS

THE GOVERNMENT OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT FUND

In 2016 the British Government spent £13.4 Billions on Overseas Development Fund which is 0.7% of GDP.
The more the U.K. Economy grows, the more we pay.

I am not against Overseas Aid. I believe large sums are subject to corruption and lots of the aid is misdirected. I have long ago suggestion that Overseas monies should be controlled by the UK Official Charities and should not be channelled via Governments in Africa, India and so on.

What annoys me is this -

Every day on TV we are bombarded with Appeals from the Charities...

“ Send £5 to provide water for children who have to drink contaminated water because they do not have clean water. “
Powerful stuff.
“ Send £3 per month to provide schooling for children in Africa. “
“ Send £5 per month to provide protective drugs “
“ Send £5 per month to provide clothing for people in Africa. “

I could go on and on. Now I am not against the private individual to respond to these sad requests BUT...

Where is all this U.K. Overseas Aid going if the priority is to help these poor people ?

Why do the Charities have to make these appeals to ordinary people ?

The answer from the Charities is likely to be that we need more. But the citizens are already contributing £13.4 Billions each year.
Which brings me back to my view that I think that the Government auditing of where and how our Aid is distributed is very bad indeed.

There should not be a need for the Charities to become Oliver Twists....” Can I have more Sir ?”

In the Third World there will never be “enough.”
It took Britain from 1066 - 1906 for our Poor to have their lives enhanced. Millions of our citizens died from disease, poor housing, poor food, poor medicine, poor clothing, poor schooling during this period.

My message to all Governments is simply this....
Better monitoring of aid, improved Accounting, cut our middle men, reroute aid via Charities and not foreign Governments, cut out waist.

Do you have any better ideas?