Full Coverage: Aid

28.02.2005 The World Food Programme has air-dropped food supplies over regions in Afghanistan which are inaccessible because of poor road conditions and heavy snow.

28.02.2005 The South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) is actively working for the relief and rehabilitation activities in the tsunami-affected Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. It is seeking funds and help for tsunami relief.

24.02.2005 "The challenge we now face is to ensure that a 'tsunami effect' does not ripple across Africa, drawing funds away from humanitarian operations there and adding Sudanese, Angolan and Liberian victims to its toll," said World Food Programme director James Morris recently. Six million people are facing hunger in southern Africa, reports Kenya's East African.

24.02.2005 Do Africans want British management consultants to recommend that British water companies take over ownership of their water supplies? Do British taxpayers want to pay these consultancy fees? The World Development Movement continues to ask awkward questions.

21.02.2005 As President Bush meets European leaders this week, the European Union has announced a major aid package to support the creation of a Palestinian state.

21.02.2005 Almost two-thirds of the money promised by world governments for tsunami relief has not yet been received by the United Nations, confirming fears that many countries will try to renege on their commitments, thought to have been made under pressure from public opinion.

20.02.2005 The state will take 22 percent VAT (Value Added Tax) of every single Kuna that Croatian citizens and companies decide to donate to the needy. For instance, in last yearÂ’s action to purchase infant incubators, a whole new machine could be bought for the money taken for the VAT, and the state ignored all pleas to give it up and not charge it.

16.02.2005 In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where nearly 4 million have died as a result of fighting over the past six years, some 50,000 civilians had fled attacks on their villages during the first month of 2005. Escalating violence has caused another 30-35,000 to flee over the past two weeks, says UNICEF.

15.02.2005 As European overseas development ministers meet in Luxembourg, some people question whether there is too much aid from too many donors. Some African countries deal with as many as 26 donors, each with separate terms and conditions. What actions can be taken to avoid diminishing returns?

15.02.2005 Aid for Africa's starving plummeted in the wake of the Asian tsunami which attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in relief, the World Food Programme has said. "Donations to WFP's operations in Africa dropped by 21% in January 2005 to $24-million, compared to $29-million in the first month of 2004," the United Nations agency said.

14.02.2005 The proposed US State Budget for FY2006, which starts in October 2005, provides for increased foreign assistance. The increase, however, doesnÂ’t cover all the countries recipients of US aid. Some, like Croatia, will see a reduction in assistance.

11.02.2005 Campaigners concerned that aid for the Asian tsunami has drained funds earmarked for Africa need look no further than Liberia. Only a fraction of aid commitments has been met, leaving the country and the region at risk of renewed instability, not to speak of the World Food Programme's inability to provide normal rations.

10.02.2005 The measures taken by the Togo government to satisfy conditions for resuming European aid have not satisfied Brussels. But the European Union has agreed that some funds can be drawn for a range of selected projects.

10.02.2005 Directing an additional one percent of the U.S. budget toward providing the most basic needs--and fighting the corruption that wastes precious resources--can help transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries. The ONE Campaign is encouraging Americans to add their names to the list of those who think more should be done to fight AIDS and poverty.

09.02.2005 Despite a sharp increase in the amount of money President George W. Bush wants Congress to provide in foreign aid next year, development activists say it is not as much as Bush himself had previously promised.

08.02.2005 U.S. Senator Bill Frist has proposed a Global Health Corps to provide quick assistance around the world as well as ongoing care in the neediest parts of the developing world.

07.02.2005 Anti-debt activists Sunday welcomed the decision by the Group of Seven (G-7) wealthiest nations to provide as much as 100 percent multilateral debt relief to the world's poorest countries but warned that that much more work had to be done before that decision can be transformed into reality.

07.02.2005 The leaders of the world's richest nations are likely to sign a deal this year on debt relief, aid and trade to help the world's poorest nations, by providing complete debt write-offs, extra development assistance and better access for developing countries to western markets.

07.02.2005 When U.S. Senator Russ Feingold touched down in the poor West African country of Mali recently, he was surprised and pleased to find throngs of well-wishers lining the cordoned-off streets of the city. Then he realized the Malian cheers were not for him, but for the Iranian President, Mohamad Khatami, who had also just arrived.

04.02.2005 UN-HABITAT this week received 5.9 million euros from the Italian Government to start implementation of a new social and housing integration programme for tens of thousands of war refugees and other vulnerable people in Serbia.