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Obstacles to progress

Distortions

Mismanaged Disaster Relief
“ Five ways Foreign Aid and NGOs can make things worse when disaster strikes
In 2015, the world faced earthquakes in Central Asia, flooding in South-East Asia, and
epidemic illnesses in parts of Africa. Together, natural and man-made disasters took

more than 31,000 lives. People across the globe donated more than US$19 billion in
humanitarian contributions of cash, material goods, and services to alleviate the harm

caused by these critical events – but were our efforts are well spent?

Nearly all of us are collective donors in some sense – when governments send relief to
disaster areas, the money they use comes from taxpayers. Many of us are also individual
donors, sending funds directly from our own wallets to charitable organisations and

coordinated appeals. But in the past ten to 15 years, allegations of counterproductive
relief efforts and unused donations have generated concern among donors –not only

because money might be misspent or cause harm but also because this this might also
discourage charitable giving.

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1. Poor coordination
For example, Juanita Rilling, director of the Centre for International Disaster Information,
calculated the cost of supplying water to 40,000 people a day. It jumped from US$500 (if

purchased locally by relief coordinators) to anywhere from US$200,000 to US$750,000
when purchased abroad and shipped in – an increase of 400%-1500%.
2. Exacerbating existing problems
Without careful management and distribution, there's a good chance that already-

marginalised groups will suffer discrimination when it comes to relief and recovery.
3. Internal brain drain
The charitable provision of these services can have mixed consequences. Most
philanthropic organisations want to staff their rebuilding efforts with local workers. This

practice is beneficial to a post-disaster economy as it provides an external source of
wages. But if salaries and work standards of these visiting organisations are higher than
those offered in the recovery area, these visitors end up siphoning off that community's

best workers, causing an internal brain drain. Top employees are no longer available or
willing to work in the public sector, and the local government must attempt to rebuild its

own capacities without the community's best thinkers and hardest workers.
4. Damage to accountability and trust
Perhaps more importantly, when external organisations step in to take over they can
undermine recovery in multiple ways. For one thing, bad experiences can make citizens