foreign aid Afghans

http://www.uruknet.de:80/?s1=1&p=54692&s2=30

In a country where government corruption and payoffs are pervasive, only pennies from each aid dollar being sent to Afghanistan are actually reaching the people who need help, an international aid expert said Thursday.

Marco Vicenzino, the founder of the Global Strategy Project, a non-partisan, non-profit foreign policy think-tank based in Washington, D.C., said he is "appalled" by the inefficiency of humanitarian aid efforts in the war-torn country.

"You've got 15,000 foreigners, primarily westerners, based in Kabul - a lot of overlapping, poor co-ordination - and it seems a battle between the NGOs (non-government organizations) in terms of territoriality and a battle of egos," Vicenzino said at a gathering hosted by the United States Consulate in Calgary.

"I was very depressed and discouraged by the disorganization of the international aid efforts."

Vicenzino, who is a strategic adviser for the Afghanistan World Foundation and a former official with the World Bank, said about 80 cents of every dollar goes back to donor countries, largely through the contractors doing the work.

"You have 20 cents left for Afghanistan and those 20 cents have to go through their layers of corruption. By the time any money reaches the ordinary citizen, you're lucky if you even have five cents ...."