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>> 50 years of development gains >> Promoting democratic governance >> Driving economic growth >> Improving people's health >> Mitigating and managing conflict >> Providing humanitarian assistance >> The full measure of U.S. development assistance-official and private >> Notes >> Background papers >> References
Heroes. The Mexicans living in the U.S. and sending money to relatives back in Mexico are heroes.
Adapted from Vicente Fox
President
United Sates of Mexico
At $9.9 billion, official development assistance accounts for just 17 percent of U.S. assistance to
developing countries (table 1). Private international assistance, by contrast, is $33.6 billion - 60
percent of the U.S. contribution, and projected to grow to 69 percent by 2010. Every year the publication of the OECD’s report on development assistance results in press reports and statements
by academics and opinion leaders disparaging America’s stinginess. They assert that U.S. foreign policy will be ineffective without more official development assistance.53 They claim that U.S. foreign aid programs collapsed after the Cold War.54 But official development assistance is a limited and outdated way of measuring a country’s giving, and donors should reevaluate it, given the enormous growth in the private sector around the world.
In 2000 the international affairs budget totaled $22.6 billion-so at $9.9 billion, official development assistance accounted for less than half. That official assistance consists primarily of allocations to USAID, the Peace Corps, multilateral institutions, and certain programs sponsored by the State Department and Department of Defense (table 2). The other $12.7 billion spent on international affairs represents all other contributions.
Despite reservations about government aid, Americans have a long tradition of domestic and
international generosity. Money finds its way from the United States to developing countries through
churches, private charities, foundations, and remittances by U.S. workers to their homelands. In 2000 U.S. universities and colleges gave more to developing countries in foreign scholarships than Australia, Belgium, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland each gave in official development assistance. Remittances from U.S. immigrants to their homelands exceeded official development assistance from Japan-the second largest provider (in dollars) of government aid to developing countries in 2001.
Over the past 25 years U.S. private giving has grown significantly. Churches and other religious
congregations initially played the largest role in international giving through relief and humanitarian assistance as well as overseas missions. Then colleges, universities, and foundations
began responding to international development needs with scholarships and support for foreign universities and research centers. The number and budgets of private voluntary organizations
have also grown as Americans have offered their money and time to international causes. With
globalization and changing immigration patterns, U.S. corporations have also increased their philanthropy to developing countries. And U.S. immigrants, many from developing countries,
have been sending more and more money back to their homelands.
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