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Foreign aid refers to any effort on the part of a nation-state to
influence the development of another nation-state. There are four basic
types of assistance: 1) humanitarian aid; 2) security aid; 3) capital aid;
and 4) technical assistance.
Foreign aid is one of the most important mechanisms for ensuring
national compliance with international standards. "Humanitarian
aid" represents intervention to provide timely assistance in the event
of natural catastrophes, wars, or other unpredictable events that bear a
human cost. "Security aid" refers to the provision of assistance
to maintain public order or to protect legitimate national or international
security interests. "Capital aid" refers to direct development
assistance designed to improve the physical infrastructure of country or
region. "Technical assistance" or "technical
cooperation" includes all foreign and multilateral aid efforts that
seek to create and strengthen institutions rather than physical structures.
Technical cooperation emphasizes training, education, and institution
building. Technical assistance, therefore, may be defined as any foreign
aid undertaking, from whatever source, which sets as a strategic objective
the building of institutional capacity.
Governance
National governments that establish and maintain high
standards of governance respond to particular situations based on
distinctive cultural values and national capabilities. National situations
differ. Good governance, therefore, need not imply a single set of policies
or the existence of a specific form of political and economic institutions.
However, certain general principles of governance may be regarded as
universal. Good governance implies consultation, participation, and
transparency with respect to public sector decision making. Good governance
requires ensuring the rule of law while improving the efficiency and
accountability of the public sector. Good governance means limiting the
scope for ad hoc decision making, rent seeking, and undesirable
preferential treatment of individuals or organizations. Good governance
means limiting opportunities and incentives for corruption, while
increasing the likelihood of exposure of cases of poor governance.
Principal Actors in the International Community
The list of actors includes: International Organizations; National
Governments; Sub-national Organizations; Transnational Organizations. The
category "international Organizations" includes the international
intergovernmental organizations (e.g., the United Nations) and
non-governmental international organizations (e.g., the International Committee
of the Red Cross. The category "transnational organizations"
includes organizations that function without primary reference to a
national basis of financial sponsorship or scope of activities. Sub-national organizations includes a wide variety of
non-governmental actors and organizations, primarily based in citizen
initiative.
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Foreign Aid--taxing poor people in rich countries for
the benefit of rich people in poor countries.
...Bernard Rosenberg
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Typology of Non-Governmental Organizations
CBO: Community Based Organization
DONGO: Donor Organized Non-governmental Organization
GONGO: Government Organized Non-Governmental Organization
NGI: Non-Governmental Individual
NGO: Non-Governmental Organizations
NGDO: Non-Governmental Development Organization
NPO: Non-profit Organization
PDO: Private Development Organization
PSO: Public Service Organization
PVO: Private Voluntary Organization
QANGO: Quasi Non-governmental Organization
VALG: Voluntary Agency/Organization
VO: Voluntary Organization
Definition of Note:
Poul Nielsen, the European Commissioner
for Development and Humanitarian Aid, likes to refer to NGOs as
"non-governable organizations.".
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