LSE IQ Episode 16 | Do we need to rethink foreign aid?

Welcome to LSE IQ, the monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. 

The UK spends a generous 0.7% of its Gross National Income on overseas development aid each year managed by its Department for International Development, or DFID. DFID’s website boasts that its work is building a safer, healthier and more prosperous world, not just for people in developing countries but also those in the UK. Despite this noble sentiment, not everyone supports the concept of aid, complaining that it’s too costly, that it aids corruption or that it is just another way for governments in developed countries to meddle in other nations’ affairs. Add to these objections the recent Oxfam scandal in Haiti – which has seen the organisation permanently banned from operating in the country due to claims of sexual exploitation - and is it time to rethink aid? 

This episode features: Dr Grace Akello, Visiting Professor at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa at LSE; Rafat Ali Al-Akhali, a Fellow of Practice – Strategic Projects at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Dr Duncan Green, Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB and a Professor in Practice in International Development at LSE, and Dr Ryan Jablonski, Assistant Professor in Political Science at LSE’s Department of Government. 

Contributors:

• Dr Grace Akello
• Rafat Ali Al-Akhali
• Dr Duncan Green
• Dr Ryan Jablonski