Ethiopia – Time to End Aid Addiction? (Nazret.com, Nov. 25, 2008)
Summary: A blogger by the name of Wondemhunegn Ezezew writes an entry pertaining to Ethiopia’s current addiction to foreign aid; highlighting the statistics that lend evidence to how ineffective the current aid system is and providing steps Ethiopia can take in order to start down the path to true independence.
Topic: Should the state department of the Obama administration double foreign aid for Africa?
Category: Stakeholder Citizen Blog
What Is It? A blog entry in the “Merkato” section of the Ethiopian website, Nazret.com
Title: Ethiopia – Time to End Aid Addiction?
Publication Information: Nazret.com blog, November 25, 2008
Author: Wondemhunegn Ezezew, an Ethiopian stakeholder
Location: http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?blog=15&title=ethiopia_time_to_end_aid_addiction&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Accessed: February 22, 2009
Support:
• UNDP’s 2008 Annual Development Report
• “Economists,” no specifics
• The Bible
• G8 Summit
• The European Central Bank
• FM Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister
• TPLF/EPRDF, Tigrayan Peoples’ Liberation Front/ Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
Ezezew uses statistics from the UNDP’s 2008 report to support the assertion that aid is not helping at this point in time. “Economists” is used as a broad term to state a belief that many economists have concerning the amount of foreign aid being allotted as a percentage of the donor countries GDP. A quote from the bible is given stating that the fact that poverty will never be fully eradicated from the Earth. The G8 Summit is referenced as a way to give background on the current aid situation. The European Central Bank is referenced in relation to the current economic crisis, cited as having cut their base interest rate in order to stimulate the failing Western economy. The Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister is quoted as saying that it is likely that “no country” participating in the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals program is going to reach all the goals. The TPLF/EPRDF are cited together in reference to the promises they made to the Ethiopian people.
Audience and Agenda: Nazret.com is ranked as the number one most popular Ethiopian News Website by Alexa.com, an internet information company owned by Amazon.com. Nazret.com is based out of Washington DC and was banned by the Ethiopian government on May 29, 2006. A lot of this site is related to Ethiopian matters, so it is hard to decipher what’s what exactly. It has a fairly wide audience in Ethiopia and seems to encourage citizen reporting through blog posts.
Usefulness: This blog is from a native Ethiopian’s perspective and provides an actual African’s point of view. This isn’t some report written up by a bunch of rich white Americans, it’s the view of someone who lives with the results of what those rich white Americans decide. The western policies on foreign aid directly affect them (or would if the system was adequate) and they have the functional and insider know-how that’s crucial to effectively shaping foreign aid policies. It’s making the argument that simply foreign aid isn’t sufficient in and of itself to eradicate poverty and addressing this argument to a group of peers on a news blog website. In reference to whether or not the U.S. state department should double foreign aid or not, this article would be used to argue that Ethiopia should try to help themselves rather than rely on foreign aid, so the U.S. probably should double their foreign aid.
Works Cited:
Nazret.com about page
Alexa.com Internet Provider about page
