Supporting development (International organisations)

What three international organisations help support development in developing countries? Generally, how will they do this?

• UN organs/agencies

  • UNICEF (The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund)

  • UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)

  • WHO (World Health Organisation)

• By supporting populations, improving economic development and deal with human welfare (bienestar). Their support can help improve the standard of living in these countries.

What is UNICEF’s mission? How many countries + territories does it work in? Who supports them?

Looks after children all over the world. It’s mission is ‘… the protection of children’s rights, to help them meet their needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential’

Works in over 190 countries and territories and is supported by regional offices (specialised organisations within a larger entity, e.g other UN organs like WHO) and national organisations (governments, NGOs, trade unions, political parties, etc)

What are the main goals of UNICEF to support children?

• Promote the safety of children through protection and inclusion (disabilities)

• Reduce child mortality through effective healthcare and medical aid (vaccines)

• Provide high-quality education, despite conflict or disasters

• Provide emergency aid when disaster strikes (baby formula/diapers, orphans)

• Support equal rights for women and girls

Why do Syrians need help during the civil war?

More than 7 million children require humanitarian assistance.

• Almost 40% of hospitals/health facilities are partly or completely non-functional

• Destruction/damage of schools and massive displacement of families have left more than 2.4 million children out of school → grater risk of child labour, marriage, trafficking, etc

  • Children with disabilities more vulnerable to hunger, danger, abuse, etc

• Lack of access to safe drinking water, poor sanitation and increasing food insecurity, collapse of health system = increased spread of waterborne, communicable, vaccine-preventable diseases + malnutrition among children

• USE KEY WORDS.

How has UNICEF helped Syrian children?

• EU contributed €5.5 million to strengthen UNICEF’s aid for vulnerable children in Syria.

• Collaborated with NGOs and other regional agencies (UN organs) like WFP (World Food Program)

  • Partnered with NGO Medair in WASH program to provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene services

• Improving psychological support to children to help recover from trauma.

• Delivering humanitarian support like safe drinking water, vaccines, etc including in hard to reach areas.

• Improving school facilities, training teachers and repairing water + sanitation facilities

What is the ‘back to learning’ campaign? Where has it been present?

It is a UNICEF global initiative which focuses on ensuring children have access to education, particularly during or after crisis like emergencies or pandemics. Promote children’s return to education + encouraging parent to enrol their kids back

• After COVID in Syria

  • Volunteers talk about importance of education

• Sudan

Who does the UNHCR focus on? How does it help?

On refugees and displaced people because of war, civil unrest (disruption like riots), persecution on political or religious grounds.

• Helps people to seek asylum in another country or return home when it becomes safe again.

• Provide tents, vaccines, other services in refugee camps

• Also has programmes to help refugees achieve their ambitions

  • Like the DAFI programme which is a scholarship that supports young refugees to ciber the costs of their education

What have the UNHRC done to help the Rohingya Bangladesh crisis?

• Emergency aid: blankets, plastic sheets, sleeping mats, tent, kitchen sets, buckets

• With partners they are also helping government to develop new sites that can safely accommodate refugees: funding road to facilitate construction and refugee access, supporting site planning, improving water and sanitation facilities, etc

• Built latrines and water points to improve sanitation and access to safe drinking water → mitigate risks of health problems + diseases like acute watery diarrhoea.

• With its partners they are developing a referral system (connect patient and specialist) and safe spaces for survivors of gender-based violence

What does the World Health Organisation focus on? What is their aim? How many states does it work in?

Keeping people healthy and safe and serves those who can’t look after themselves.

Their aim is to combat communicable (or infectious) diseases like influenza or HIV and non-communicable diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Works in all 194 UN member-states and from more than 150 offices.

What disease has the WHO played a leading role in eradicating? What other diseases have the WHO helped control/reduce?

Smallpox eradicated (the only human disease that has been wiped)

Played a role in controlling polio (type 1, 3 eradicated but wild poliovirus type 1 still remains a concern, with Afghanistan and Pakistan having ongoing endemic transmission)

It has also approved the vaccine for the prevention of the Ebola virus.

Not only does it carry out ongoing work (like conducting researches) but also attends ___.

Example of this?

Emergencies

2020 global pandemic (COVID-19)

• Providing advice (to the public like about vaccines to fight misinformation, policymakers and health workers), strategies and data updates

• Co-led the COVAX program along with Gavi (Vaccine Alliance) and CEPI to ensure fair and equal access to COVID-19 vaccines regardless of country’s income: over 2 billion vaccines delivered to 146 countries. Many less developed nations received them for free or at reduced cost.

Why during the Valencia flooding, international organisations like UNICEF or WHO didn’t help but they did during the Mozambique cyclone in jan 2025?

Because Spain is a developed country so the Spanish government has the resources to help the affected people. However, Mozambique (Sub-Saharan Africa) less developed and lacks resources so that is why aid agencies step in and that is why these organisations operate more in these countries.

UNICEF still works in Spain for example because things like child trafficking/pornography/prostitution and other human/child rights violations still happen.

Emergency (or humanitarian) aid

The immediate help given in response to human meat prices and natural disasters it is intended to save lives, prevent, suffering and maintain decent standards of living

What is the aim? What forms can emergency aid take? Example of emergency aid from NGO/charity and UN organisation.

Aims to support people by providing what they need in times of crisis, such as food, clean drinking water, shelter and medicine (+ other like baby formula)

• NGO Red Cross: 2021 earthquake in Haiti where it set up emergency shelters, distributed hygene kits, provided clean water, and supported hospitals treating the injured

• WHO and UNHCR in Yemen civil war:

  • Since 2014 faced extreme famine, disease and attacks in civilians.

  • UNHCR provides humanitarian support (basic household items and shelter) for 275,000 refugees and slum seekers.

  • WHO emergency medical supplies, supported cholera treatment centres + vaccinations to children.

Development aid

Help that is designed to encourage economic development and human welfare by funding longer-term projects.

It aims to help people support themselves in a sustainable way after their basic needs are met

Who might give development aid? How does development aid look like?

Experts from organisations

• Farmers can be trained to work more efficiently and therefore have a surplus (more an they need) and sell the extra crops = more income = children can be sent to schools or invest in better tools. Improves development of the communities and increasing overall standard of living.

• Training doctors + more midwives (useful sobre todo in rural areas)

Governments (foreign aid)

• UK’s foreign aid to Ethiopia helped fund building of rural schools and teacher training programmes

UN organisations like UNDP

NGOs like OXFAM

• With help of EU funding, trained 1000 teachers for the Education for Life project for refugees in Uganda and South Sudan

• Construction of schools, hospitals, roads, dams. Building process provides more employment opportunities. Once complete projects contribute to growth of economy (trade for example) and well being of locals.

How is development aid different from emergency aid?

Immediate help to address basic needs vs long term support to improve a a country’s future so that they can support themselves sustainably.

What is an example of an emergency aid that turned into development aid?

Sierra Leone:

• 2014 worst Ebola virus outbreak. Thousands of children lost their parents (had to drop out of school to work)

  • Organisations like Doctors Without Borders or WFP, UNICEF and Red Cross provided food, healthcare and soaps

• 3 years later mudslides and floods destroyed many homes

• After addressing basic needs, the Mother’s Club project was set up and supported by UNICEF. Aims to help affected families to ensure vulnerable children can receive an education. Education of locals + improve overall standard of living.

What is the problem with emergency aid? What is the solution?

Can lead to countries becoming dependent on the support they are given. This is why more organisations are working on long-term projects that are sustainable and enable people to live independently

Debt

Grant

Difference loan and grant?

Something that is owed to someone else

An amount of money given for a special purpose

Loans place pressure on the country to repay the money, whereas a loan does not involve repayment

What does a loan also mean in terms of repayment of money? Why is this an issue?

Loans have to be paid back with interest. This is the money charged for borrowing it.

Some countries have very high repayments to make on their national loans (debt), so they cannot afford to provide services to the population. Instead of building schools, hospitals and other infrastructure project, the government has to repay the loans and the interest that is due to the lender. No development as too much pressure.

Country a might decide to lend money to country B to build a port. If country B be cannot pay the debt, the lender, country A, can take possession of the port. The porch should have been a source of income for country B, but now the money will go to country A.

China has provided huge loans to African countries, such as Zambia and Mozambique to make infrastructure development. Despite improvements being made many African nations have become tied to China through the debt payments. This is used as power.

Strengths and weaknesses of emergency aid, development aid and loans (table on page 83)