Debt and aid
One day, when Juma Nsamaka was busy looking after cattle, his brother arrived to announce he was taking him off to school.
“I had always wanted to go to school, so I was very happy,” says the 12-year-old orphan.
The year was 2002 – a poignant year in Tanzania, because the country’s debts were cut, and around 1.6 million children were able to go to primary school for the first time.
Juma’s doing well in class, and he wants to be a teacher himself some day.
But Tanzania’s schools are still struggling. And he faces an uphill battle to afford a secondary education, and to become what he wants to be.
Only aid money and less debt will really help children like Juma.
A matter of give and take?
Two big issues seriously affect poor countries’ chances of beating poverty.
One is the amount of aid they get.
The other is the amount of debt they repay.
Debt
Across the world, impoverished countries are being forced to repay debts far bigger than original loans, instead of spending precious cash on essentials like schools and hospitals.
Bangladesh, for example, has to make crippling debt repayments, when it desperately needs to use money to pay for better health care and education – especially for the 50 million Bangladeshis who survive on under a dollar a day.
Cancelling debt can make a real difference.
Since Zambia’s debt was cancelled in 2005, its government has been able to introduce free health care for people in the countryside – scrapping fees that once stopped millions getting care they needed.
And education got a boost too – extra funds made available by debt relief also paid for 4,500 badly-needed new teachers.
Aid
Making sure developing countries get the aid money they need is just as important as cancelling their unpayable debts.
Because aid really works.
Millions of children in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi are now going to school, thanks to a combination of debt relief and aid.
And roads built in Ethiopia with foreign aid are now making it easier for children to get to school, people to reach hospital, and farmers to transport and sell their crops.
But are we giving enough aid?
The short answer is ‘no’ – because rich countries pledged 0.7 per cent of their annual national incomes in foreign aid. And so far, just four nations – Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands – have reached the target.
Oxfam is working hard, encouraging governments and international organisations like the UN to meet their promises on aid, and spend it more effectively, by targeting people who most need help.
Campaign for real change - now
Our Health and Education campaign demands that world leaders cancel poor countries’ debts, and increase foreign aid, to help people get good quality health services, schools, colleges, and adult education.
Rich nations made some progress on these issues at the G8 Summit held in 2005, which was targeted by the Make Poverty History campaign.
They promised to cancel some of the debts of 42 countries, and give an extra £50 billion in aid by 2010 – half of it to Africa.
But two years on, G8 leaders have yet to agree clear plans on how it will make good its promises.
We’re pressing them to make sure they do. And soon.
