2001-09-10|Strengthening Aid Effectiveness: New Approaches to Canada's International Assistance Program
To whom it may concern
I once watched a TV documentary about fiascos in foreign aids, especially the greed and corruption of the rulers.
For example, President Houphoet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast built a $200 million USD air-conditioned cathedral that dwarfs even St-Peters in Rome, Italy. Trimmed with 3.6 hectares of French stained glass and Italian marble, the church sits in an impoverished country where only 10 % of the population is Catholic!
Other dictators have stashed vast fortunes, much of the money coming from foreign aids, overseas while many of their people live in poverty.
Thus, I would like to propose a zero-cash and zero-loan foreign aid policy in order to enhance and maximise the effectiveness of Canada's international cooperation program. All foreign aids by CIDA would be in the form of goods and services only, with each country determining the goals, phasing, timing, and sequencing of its development efforts.
Besides food and medicine, CIDA could provide foreign countries in need with telecommunication equipment, solar cells, water pumps, new and used computers, etc., procured in Canada or elsewhere.
