Development aid or
development cooperation (also
development assistance,
technical assistance,
international aid,
overseas aid or
foreign aid) is
aid given by governmental and economic agencies to support the economic, social and political
development of
developing countries. Since the 1990s, the idea of
partnership and the corresponding term
development cooperation[1] have replaced the traditional situation in which the relationship was dominated by the wealth and specialised knowledge of one side. Development aid may come from
developed or developing country governments as well as from international organizations such as the
World Bank. It is distinguished from
humanitarian aid as being aimed at alleviating poverty in the long term, rather than alleviating suffering in the short term (Foreign aid, on the other hand, includes both development aid and humanitarian aid. Some governments include military assistance in the notion "foreign aid", although many
NGOs tend to disapprove of this).
The nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), made up of the developed nations of the world, have committed to providing a certain level of development assistance to underdeveloped countries. This is called Official Development Assistance (ODA), and is given by governments on certain concessional terms, usually as simple donations. It is given by governments through individual countries' international aid agencies (bilateral aid), through multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, or through development charities such as Oxfam.
The offer to give development aid has to be understood in the context of the Cold War. The speech in which Harry Truman announced the foundation of NATO is also a founding document of development policy. "In addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace and security. Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of these people.“
Development aid was aimed at offering technical solutions to social problems without altering basic social structures. The United States was often fiercely opposed to even moderate changes in social structures, for example the land reform in Guatemala in the early 1950s.
