When the United States and other nations open their wallets to help countries in need, some groups fear the donors’ reasons are less than altruistic, according to a new report from a nonprofit that seeks to improve aid. Humanitarian aid has too often been politicized, the report found.
“Too often the U.S. and many other donor governments try to use their aid as a way of improving their public image,” said Philip Tamminga, lead author of the annual report from the DARA, a nonprofit with offices in Switzerland, Spain and the United States. “Branding doesn’t necessarily improve the perception of the U.S. — and in fact it can run contrary to that.”
Political and economic agendas have gotten in the way of help for suffering people, the group said. Foreign humanitarian groups overwhelmingly said they believed U.S. aid was driven by other economic or political interests, one factor that dragged down its rating.
“USAID is 100% political,” said one humanitarian representative quoted anonymously in the report, referring to the government agency that provides U.S. economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.