Amid warnings from donor countries of cuts in development assistance because of the global financial crisis, recipients on the ground are coming under greater pressure to produce results, officials say.
For British aid worker Jane Walker, who runs a foundation helping children and their families living off Manila's sprawling dump sites, a drop in funds could set back her projects, including a school building planned to open this year.
Walker says she has not been denied funding requested from the British government, although "there has been a significant drop in contributions lately".
Known as the "angel of the dumps", Walker, 45, was a former publishing executive in London before establishing the Philippine Christian Foundation. Her decade-long work around the Smokey Mountain rubbish site in Manila's bay side Tondo District has received official funding, as well as donations from corporations.
She has helped put scores of children through primary school, while seeking livelihood projects for their parents.
"We have lost about 25 percent of our income and sources. Our challenge is maintaining the services we provide despite the global recession," Walker told IRIN. "However, I believe there is a positive side to disasters if you are willing to find creative solutions.”
Walker expects more companies to cut social responsibility projects as the crisis deepens across Asia, where two-thirds of the world's poor live.
To help augment the foundation's finances, Walker has begun a waste-management project, whereby large companies in Manila pay her to gather their scrap and rubbish, which her group resells or recycles for a small profit.
"The crisis has forced us to think about raising funds in a lot of ways because the money has not been flowing freely as it had been," Walker says. "In that sense, maybe it is a positive thing."
Closer monitoring
Koos Richelle, who heads the EuropeAid Cooperation Office - the principal aid agency of the European Commission - said that while rich nations were not about to pull the plug on donations, they were more actively monitoring whether the funds were producing desired results.
The 27-nation European Union remains committed to aid, he said, although he warned that recipients would be treated as "partners", obliged to provide key improvements in terms of achieving targets set under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
"We are not a money machine throwing envelopes over the fence. We want to contribute to the quality of life in a country, and if we have the impression that it is not possible, then there is no possibility for us to cooperate," he told IRIN at a recent Asia-Europe meeting in Manila to tackle funding gaps.
Governments need to "carefully monitor what is going on in order to make sure there is enough money available", he said.
Before the crisis, rich nations simply gave away funds without making clear what results they wanted, he said. But as western countries experience financial problems, the attitude has shifted and they now want "tangible results" from development partners. They are demanding "clarity on what governments will do with budget support".
"I see modern development cooperation not as a continuum of post-colonial hang-ups, or charity, but more as a contract," he said.
"If you don't deliver, like in a normal contract, we are not supposed to pay. That is a more businesslike approach to development cooperation."
Poverty progress
Arun Thapan, director-general for Southeast Asia at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, said the region had made strides in easing poverty, although rapid growth over the past two decades had also led to income disparity and environmental degradation - which could be exacerbated by the current crisis.
Even before the crisis, the region had more than 900 million people living on less than US$1.25 a day, he said.
He said investing in MDG projects remained "central" to long-term development goals and countries should not be distracted from this work.
He noted that South Asia alone had three times as many underweight children as sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America combined, while more than a billion had no access to adequate sanitation, leading to high mortality due to diarrhoea.
"The imperative of protecting expenditures on social development is clearly there. Governments need to grasp this firmly," he warned.
jg/ds/mw
For British aid worker Jane Walker, who runs a foundation helping children and their families living off Manila's sprawling dump sites, a drop in funds could set back her projects, including a school building planned to open this year.
Walker says she has not been denied funding requested from the British government, although "there has been a significant drop in contributions lately".
Known as the "angel of the dumps", Walker, 45, was a former publishing executive in London before establishing the Philippine Christian Foundation. Her decade-long work around the Smokey Mountain rubbish site in Manila's bay side Tondo District has received official funding, as well as donations from corporations.
She has helped put scores of children through primary school, while seeking livelihood projects for their parents.
"We have lost about 25 percent of our income and sources. Our challenge is maintaining the services we provide despite the global recession," Walker told IRIN. "However, I believe there is a positive side to disasters if you are willing to find creative solutions.”
Walker expects more companies to cut social responsibility projects as the crisis deepens across Asia, where two-thirds of the world's poor live.
To help augment the foundation's finances, Walker has begun a waste-management project, whereby large companies in Manila pay her to gather their scrap and rubbish, which her group resells or recycles for a small profit.
"The crisis has forced us to think about raising funds in a lot of ways because the money has not been flowing freely as it had been," Walker says. "In that sense, maybe it is a positive thing."
 The [financial] crisis has forced us to think about raising funds in a lot of ways because the money has not been flowing freely as it had been. In that sense, maybe it is a positive thing. |
Koos Richelle, who heads the EuropeAid Cooperation Office - the principal aid agency of the European Commission - said that while rich nations were not about to pull the plug on donations, they were more actively monitoring whether the funds were producing desired results.
The 27-nation European Union remains committed to aid, he said, although he warned that recipients would be treated as "partners", obliged to provide key improvements in terms of achieving targets set under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
"We are not a money machine throwing envelopes over the fence. We want to contribute to the quality of life in a country, and if we have the impression that it is not possible, then there is no possibility for us to cooperate," he told IRIN at a recent Asia-Europe meeting in Manila to tackle funding gaps.
Governments need to "carefully monitor what is going on in order to make sure there is enough money available", he said.
Before the crisis, rich nations simply gave away funds without making clear what results they wanted, he said. But as western countries experience financial problems, the attitude has shifted and they now want "tangible results" from development partners. They are demanding "clarity on what governments will do with budget support".
"I see modern development cooperation not as a continuum of post-colonial hang-ups, or charity, but more as a contract," he said.
"If you don't deliver, like in a normal contract, we are not supposed to pay. That is a more businesslike approach to development cooperation."
Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN  |
| South Asia has three times as many underweight children as sub-Saharan Africa |
Arun Thapan, director-general for Southeast Asia at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, said the region had made strides in easing poverty, although rapid growth over the past two decades had also led to income disparity and environmental degradation - which could be exacerbated by the current crisis.
Even before the crisis, the region had more than 900 million people living on less than US$1.25 a day, he said.
He said investing in MDG projects remained "central" to long-term development goals and countries should not be distracted from this work.
He noted that South Asia alone had three times as many underweight children as sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America combined, while more than a billion had no access to adequate sanitation, leading to high mortality due to diarrhoea.
"The imperative of protecting expenditures on social development is clearly there. Governments need to grasp this firmly," he warned.
jg/ds/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article