Foreign Aid and Development: An Assessment from Third World Perspective

Abstract

Dependency on others is nothing new. It comes very naturally only when the
question o f interdependency or reciprocity becomes premier for the very
existence o f human society. But we have seen that many Third World countries
are dependent on developed countries fo r a number o f reasons, one o f which is
foreign aid to combat poverty in the recipient countries. Third World poverty is
one o f the pressing problems in the world today, condemning billions o f people
to lives o f hardship and miseiy. Such poverty has led many Third World
countries to receive foreign assistance from donor countries in various forms
and conditions for meeting up a number o f purposes especially with the accent
on poverty alleviation. Since the Second World War, the governments o f all rich
countries have got involved in aiding the development o f the countries having
low economic growth and poverty. Thus, foreign aid has played an important
role in world development. Moreover, countries with low domestic savings will
naturally seek external resources fo r their investment programmes. And also the
countries that are unable to generate expected amount o f foreign savings for its
growth seek.finance from other countries. But the prime argument in support o f
aid is that it can alleviate poverty encouraging economic and social development
in the recipient countries. The main objective o f this paper is to assess foreign
aid performance as to whether it brings any change or not in promoting
economic growth and improving human welfare in the aid receiving countries
especially focusing on Bangladesh. In this regard, this paper also attempts to
answer the question in relation to aid performance by summarizing the major
findings o f the scholarly and policy literature on the relationship between
foreign aid and development shedding some lights on donors' motive behind
giving foreign aid and recipients need to receive it for meeting their felt needs.