Bishop Michael Bishop Nazir-Ali on Pakistan aid

Posted on by

From here:

A senior Christian leader has warned much of the aid flowing into Pakistan to help deal with massive flooding may never be used for relief.

Retired Anglican bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, a Pakistani national who has spent much of his life in Britain, is visiting Australia to discuss issues around Islam and its growth in the West.

“The misery that the (Pakistani) people are in has been caused, to some extent, by corruption and incompetence,” Bishop Nazir-Ali told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Much of Western aid to third world nations seems to be used to prop up corrupt and despotic regimes. Short of a civilising colonial incursion, there probably isn’t a solution and, as Malcolm Muggeridge used to say,  Western aid tends to earn its givers the undying contempt of the recipients.

3 thoughts on “Bishop Michael Bishop Nazir-Ali on Pakistan aid”

  1. The website link is the CBC article.

    World Vision’s 2008 annual report, for example, says 82.1 per cent of its revenue supports programs that combat poverty and help children and communities in need; 11.9 per cent is allocated for fund-raising and six per cent for administration costs.

    On average, 88 cents of every dollar donated to The Salvation Army is used directly in charitable activities — exceeding the Canada Revenue Agency’s guideline of 80 per cent “donation efficiency.”

    The Government aims for 80% efficiency. Also check http://www.imaginecanada.ca/files/www/en/researchbulletins/rb1002.pdf

    Personally people like the Salvation Army and Mennonite Committee are in house and therefore admin costs should be minimal.

    Reply ↓

  2. A gentleman in my church (also in my community group) who is a long-time director with Open Doors International is organizing aid specifically directed towards Pakistani Christians. These believers have been shut out of other aid programs. This gentleman was in Pakistan not long before the flooding began and has many contacts there.

    I haven’t met anyone who is anything other than cynical about how aid dollars handed to the Pakistani government will be spent.

    Reply ↓

  3. This on CBC news this morning

    The Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan, which paid $96,849 for a campaign that raised just $95,812.

    The Children’s Leukemia Research Association Canada, which raised $4.2 million over the last four years but paid $3.2 million of that to its external fundraiser.

    Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, which raised $2.8 million between 2003 and 2009 — of which $2.2 million, or 79 per cent, went to pay its fundraiser.

    Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/09/21/con-charities-fundraisers.html

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply