My father-in-law likes to grumble about how "we were giving money to UNICEF back in the 50s and those people are still just as poor today as they were then." Is he right?

Jeff, Minneapolis

What do you think about converting military budgets to foreign aid budgets? Has this been tried anywhere? Is it possible? Is it a good idea? Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
JL, Washington, DC

Is the $100 billion include the high priced consulting fees and salaries paid out (e.g. Unicef pays their directors $275,000 per year).

My question: what is the $ amount that reaches the poverty reduction programs?

Regards,
Stephanie MacGregor
Canada

Instead of giving money, what about allowing real free trade (not the favored trade posing under that name)? What about supporting land reform? And tax and license reform? What about modeling such reforms in the developed world? We could quit corporate welfare, quit taxing wages, sales, and buildings, and instead charge for use of land. It has worked wherever tried. We could export sound policy!

If it isnt working why are we still sending aid of money These poor people need help to rebuild there lives all the money will not build you a house if there are not any builders or materials available. All governments misuse money for example my kids school got a grant of more than 10 000 for shelving when they could use only a fraction of that but the rest had to be used for shelves and not put to better use so we have excess of shelves now. This is not an isolated case and I live in a so called modern country. We all know where the money goes so get real and stop being so stupid. I worked for a charity door knocking for cash money and got good pay plus the guys running it got paid too. Out of say five dollars collected when all people involved had their share there was only 1.80 left for the poor. I stopped collecting in disguse.

Any good program has an evaluation stage with appropriate follow-up. So. a. What type, if any, evaluation is done after money is given? b. Who does the evaluation? c. Who sees the evaluation?

Foreign Aid - Does it really reach to whom should it reach. Many NGOs are functional only in pocketed places with absolutely no Transparency. Many receive funds but never disclose it or never ever publish the amount received and the amount spent. Many hide this information. This is true with several NGOs who are active in the field of Environment Movement. Do these funds help to solve the problem ever or keep the problem alive for years together so that Foreign Aids can be siphoned in one or other name.

I strongly feel Foreign Aid which has its action only on papers donot have any meaning one should do the realty check. But who is going to bell the FAT CAT or May be BIG RATS?!

Officials and some members of the media have praised former President George W. Bush for essentially doubling the amount of aide to Africa during his time in office and point to this effort as a bright spot in an otherwise lackluster foreign policy record.

Some, however, have criticized the manner in which the aide was distributed. For instance, some of it was distributed as loans for subsidized American farm products, while funds for fighting AIDS were to be used only for "ABC" education programs and were restricted by the Global Gag Rule.

I would like to hear your opinions on:
1) How effective you think the increased aide to Africa was during the Bush administration,
2) If you saw any geopolitical trends or strategic aims in the method of dispersal or distribution of funds, and
3) If you think the funds could have been more effectively distributed, and if so, how.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your thoughts.

Regards,
Ann
Washington, DC

The US still has not ratified CEDAW (the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination against Women). Could you speculate whether and how the ratification of CEDAW would advance women's human rights internationally, particularly with regard to US foreign assistance policies? For instance, how might USAID programs in areas like disaster relief or food aid be re-evaluated to bring them into compliance with CEDAW?

Best regards,
Diana Duarte
MADRE, New York

CitiGroup and AIG have each hoovered up US government aid comparable to the total global foreign assistance budget. How would you advise campaigners to leverage this statistic?

Bill Gunyon
Editor of OneWorld Guides in UK

How will the Paris Declaration or the Accra Action Agenda make Aid more effective? I seem to recall a lot of talk about the Millenium Goals but has that changed anything?

Jerome, Canada

I am trying to find statistics about the cost effectiveness of aid on the ground. Things like "we prevent X number of cases of malaria by providing Y dollars for Z number of malaria nets. This in comparison to the cost of the medication to treat that many patients." Does anyone know where I could find those kind of facts? Thanks!

ADRA stands at the top for providing aid around the world. They have the lowest administrative cost and most all donations go to the cause. Many countries and other charities give their donations to ADRA because they have the network on the ground already in place when disaster strikes.

Education is critical to stop the cycle of poverty.

TL ~ Washington, D.C.

Most foreign aid does not seem to be aimed at helping the poor in developing countries, but rather their governing elites and their militaries, and industries with clout back home, including "defense" and agriculture, by tying aid money so that it cannot be spent in country, but only in the donor nation.

Let's start over. One Laptop Per Child expects to have a $75 laptop in 2010, beating the original $100 design goal. If we give every one of the billion or so children on Earth one of these laptops every four years, in first, fifth, and ninth grades, it would cost about $25 billion annually for the laptops, plus electricity, Internet, teacher training, and some other costs. On the other hand, it could eliminate costs for printed textbooks, and it would pay for itself many times over when the children graduated and got jobs or started businesses.

Is there any political will for this kind of real aid?