Resources

Before I turn to these matters, as a person from the multilateral banking sector and formerly from AusAID, the Australian development agency, I want to say something about money and resources.

Throughout my career in various parts of the aid industry I have been acutely aware of the need to watch how we use scarce aid resources. And to emphasize this, there is one key statistic -- a crucial statistic -- that I find very sobering. I say this because we all attend many conferences where we often talk about grand programs but, for myself, I find that there is one key statistic that serves to remind me of how limited international aid resources really are. Consider the following. Total global official foreign aid -- official development assistance (ODA) -- is currently running at a level of around $ 60 billion. On average, on a world-wide basis, this goes to around four billion people. Sixty divided into four is fifteen, so global aid flows amount to around $15 per person per year in recipient countries -- which is (and this is the truly significant figure) around $1 per person per month in developing countries.

That’s it! That's what global foreign aid, from all rich countries to all poor countries, amounts to each month -- $ 1 per person per month at the recipient end. That is what the rich world is contributing to tackle the huge programs of poverty, environment, women and all other gender issues, children, peace building, human rights, democracy, rule of law, humanitarian crisis, refugees, and the rest of it -- $ 1 per person per month in developing countries. So in all our meetings, when we discuss ambitious goals, we need to bear in mind that we are all really facing an acute shortage of resources. When we are discussing our ambitious goals, we need to remember that many of the institutions that we come from are really very badly overstretched in what we are trying to achieve. All too often, our resources are stretched almost to breaking point. We often don't really have the resources that we need to do the job. So we really should be careful what we promise to do because, too often, we just don't have the resources to deliver on our grand promises.