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Closing the Gap » Aid and International Agreements

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: 9.3 (a)

What international aid is and the types: bilateral, multilateral, short-term, long-term and NGO
How intergovernmental agreements try to reduce uneven development
How to judge how well each strategy works

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Why do countries need help?

In The Global Pattern of Uneven Development you saw that some countries have much lower levels of development than others. Closing that gap is hard for a poorer country to do alone. So richer countries, organisations and governments work together on international strategies. This lesson looks at two kinds: international aid and intergovernmental agreements.

Key terms:

International aid: help, such as money, goods, food or skilled people, given to a country to improve development and human welfare.
Bilateral aid: aid given directly from one government to another government.
Multilateral aid: aid given by several governments to an international organisation, which then spends it where it is needed.
Short-term aid: aid that gives quick help in an emergency, also called emergency aid.
Long-term aid: aid that is spent over many years to improve things such as schools, health care and water supplies.
NGO: a non-governmental organisation, a charity that is independent of governments and often raises money from the public.
Intergovernmental agreement: a deal made between the governments of different countries, with shared targets.

Types of international aid

Aid can be described in different ways. One aid project can fit more than one description.

🤝 Bilateral aid

Government to government. For example, the invented country of Kordia gives money to Veltria to build roads. Kordia can choose who to help, but it may attach conditions, such as buying Kordia's goods with the money.

🌐 Multilateral aid

Many governments pay into an international organisation, such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The organisation decides where to spend it. It is less likely to favour one country, but decisions can be slow.

⚡ Short-term aid

Quick help after an emergency, such as food, tents and medicine after an earthquake or flood. It saves lives, but it does not fix the causes of poverty.

🌱 Long-term aid

Spent over many years on things like schools, clinics, clean water and farming training. It can raise development for good, but it takes time and needs steady funding.

NGO aid

NGOs such as Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières raise money from donations and work directly with communities. They can be quick and focused on local needs, as they are not run by governments. However, they have limited money compared with governments, so each NGO can only help a small number of places.

Intergovernmental agreements

An intergovernmental agreement is a promise between many governments to work towards the same goals. The best-known examples are the United Nations' global goals.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): eight goals agreed in 2000, to be met by 2015. They included reducing extreme poverty and hunger, improving health and getting more children into primary school.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 17 goals agreed in 2015, to be met by 2030. They went further than the MDGs and cover areas such as clean water, equality and climate action.

Governments that sign up agree to work towards these targets and to report their progress. Progress has been uneven. Some goals were met in many places, but others, such as getting every child into school, fell short or took longer than planned.

How well do these strategies work?

You can judge any strategy by asking who benefits, how long the benefit lasts, and what could go wrong.

Strengths of aid: it can pay for things a poor country cannot afford, such as vaccines or flood shelters, and it can start a cycle of improvement.
Weaknesses of aid: some aid is lost to corruption, aid with conditions can serve the donor's interests, and a country can come to depend on it.
Strengths of agreements: they give every country the same clear targets and put public pressure on governments.
Weaknesses of agreements: goals are not always legally binding, so a government that falls short may face no penalty.

Worked example

Question: Explain one reason why long-term aid may reduce the development gap more than short-term aid. Answer: Long-term aid pays for things like schools and clean water supplies that keep helping people for many years (point). A healthier, better educated population can earn more and raise the country's development (explanation). Short-term aid gives quick relief, but when it ends the causes of poverty are still there (contrast).

Common mistakes

Mixing up bilateral (two governments) and multilateral (many governments through an organisation).
Saying all aid is a gift with nothing to gain for the donor. Some aid has conditions attached.
Calling an NGO a government body. NGOs are independent charities.
Saying short-term aid is bad. It is vital in emergencies. The point is that it does not solve long-term problems.

Exam-style question

(a) State what is meant by multilateral aid. [1 mark]

(b) Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of international aid for reducing uneven development. [4 marks]

Model answer

(a) Aid given by several governments to an international organisation, which then spends it where it is needed (1).

(b) Advantage: aid can pay for things a poor country cannot afford, such as clean water supplies (1), which improves health and helps people work and earn, so development rises (1). Disadvantage: some aid is lost to corruption or comes with conditions that suit the donor (1), so it may not reach the people who need it and the gap may stay the same (1).

Exam tip

For a "one advantage and one disadvantage" question, label each one clearly and give a reason for both. A bare statement earns only half the marks.

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