Message-ID: <199807141528.QAA08917@linux.lisse.na> Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:28:19 +0100 From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse <mailto:el@LINUX.LISSE.NA> Subject: Re: EU-funded Jobs in Africa To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Mathew,In message <mailto:s5ab04c6.010@ntca.org>, Matthew Parry writes:
> Regarding JCW's recent sardonic posting about US citizenship
> requirements
Dr J's posting repeats what I have flamed as aggressively in the past.
The issue is not so much that US citizens should fill USAID posts, though this exclusive requirement is quite unnecessary in a development agency.
The question is why even junior positions at USAID need to hold high security clearences?
> We are all aware that a good chunk of the US Government's foreign
> aid is used to hire US citizens for foreign postings, to purchase
> American goods for overseas distribution, to ship goods on US flag
> ships, etc. Without these requirements, few legislators would
> approve the foreign aid budget each year, especially for black hole
> countries like the Sudan and Somalia. That's not going to change
> anytime soon -it's not a perfect system, but it does have merits.
This is nonsense.
Foreign Aid has a purpose which is different from country to country but should ideally be the advancement of the recipient country's infrastructure and/or human resources and not only subsidizing the donor country's export industry.
Most of them do it, though. I don't mind so much, if we were being told, to use the money on equipment originating in the donor country for example.
But, they peddle scrap metal which they can't put into their own land fills any more because of the stringent environmental laws and even expect us to be thankful for it.
What really gets me is when they then say donor country A gave X Million in Foreign AID to developing country B.
However, what sets USAID apart from the others is that it conducts foreign assistance and humanitarian aid to advance the political and economic interests of the United States.
el
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