Aid Agency Budgets Go Bye-Bye

by Michael Bear · 2009-02-27 12:00:00 UTC
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That giant sucking sound you hear - yup, it's the sound of aid agency budgets starting to circle the drain.  Or, as a Reuters article so optimistically phrased it yesterday, Downturn to cost billions in aid to world's poor.

According to the article:

- In the US, more than 50 aid organizations have estimated that they expect donations to fall by almost $1 billion this year.

- A survey of 322 British charities found that half expected their income to fall in the coming year, while 41% had already seen their income decline over the last three months.  The declining pound also doesn't help.

- Italy has halved (yes, halved) its foreign assistance budget, while Ireland cut its foreign aid budget by 17%.

- Overall, by 2010 aid contributions from EU countries could be as much a $15 to $25 billion less than previously estimated.

Sam Worthington, the President of InterAction, summed up the obvious effects: "If this (recession) goes into 2010, we will be seeing a significant reduction in delivery of programmes in the world's poorest areas."

Good, good times.

If anyone has stories about what it's like in aid agency headquarters at the moment, would love to hear.

[Many thanks to my genocide co-blogger Michelle for originally highlighting this on her blog.]

[Photo from blogs.suntimes.com]

Michael Bear
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