Carlos Quesada: "WANTING TO WANT"

Carlos Quesada 20/01/2019

WANTING TO WANT

January the 17^th, I am running late through the streets of Madrid. I better hurry, I don’t want to arrive after Christian Freres does. Then, from the shadows I am ambushed by a nice girl wearing an NGO name tag around her neck. She wants me to contribute, “what for” I say, something just and wonderful for sure. She explains, I don’t understand. Indonesia, a volcano? Which island? Does it matter?

I need to go. I don’t have time. I do care. She is ready for any answer, but I leave her speechless. I am thinking about the blog entry we must write for class in the weekend. “Sorry, I don’t believe in cooperation.” I say.

Who among us has not find themselves in is the very same situation? Most, and yet the silent majority does not contribute. Why is that? My father says “I —unlike many— pay all my taxes, it is our government’s responsibility to help”. But how much does Spain really contribute? The answer is not much.

From the very beginning, 1981, when Spain was recognized as a donor country as opposed to a developing country, until 2004 the trend was upwards. Between 2004 and 2008 Spain’s ODA budget rose like never before. During that time, aid not only doubled in sheer numbers, but also was well regarded qualitatively and by the Spanish population and the international society[1]. Moreover, Spain was committed to the Millennium Development Goals MDG[2][3].

Then everything changed for the worse. Our country got hit critically hard during the 2008 Financial Crisis and the sovereign debt crisis that followed[4]. At that time the budget for ODA fell from 0,46% to 0,16% of the GDP OCDE. Spain is, to this day, still recovering.

People are still suffering, many without jobs and prospects for the future. The benefits of aid are hard to convey to the general public and they don’t translate very well into votes for the party that pushed an aid-centric agenda. The very vocal José Manual García-Margallo, Foreign Minister at the time, said bluntly in 2012 that cutting back on foreign aid was painful, but that it was much more painful having to close hospitals in Spain[5]. NGOs quickly jumped to criticize him[6], but to your local friendly unemployed neighbor Margallo has a point. And the same is true now with VOX. Should Spain help? Of course, but only once we are fine ourselves. Sadly, the national interest always weighs more[7] than the human interest does.

But even when Spain does help, which is under the umbrella of the organizations we partake in, like the World Bank or the IMF, it is not clear that aid aids. Not even for AIDS. In words of the World Bank: “Foreign aid in different times and different places has […] been highly effective, totally ineffective, and everything in between.”[8]. How can we go on to defend ODA against our people’s wishes?

Foreign aid is a controversial topic, for sure, and one where the population is wildly undereducated on. We should aim to first create a will to help and focus on discrete projects where Spaniards can see the returns of their investment. Just bragging about numbers, as was the case with 2016 Cuba’s debt relief[9][10] that helped embellish the numbers does not help. In fact, it does the opposite, as we now are set to believe the government is doing all they can to help developing countries. We need to foster an atmosphere that wants to help. It may not be the best way to actually help, but it is the best shot to ensure that Spain continues and expands its ODA in the years to come.

January the 20^th, the essay is due in a few hours and I am pondering on this and other topics. I am walking back home, when again, the kindest name tag in the city blocks my way. But this time I am prepared, I wave and with her same smile, wink an eye and nod: “I’m already in!”

Other references:

“25 años de debates sobre el Desarrollo y la cooperación Internacional”, Conferencia pronunciada con motive del 25 aniversario del Instituto Hegoa

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[1] Martínez, P., & Martínez, I. (2012). Cooperación española: De los límites estructurales a la

irrelevancia política. Papeles 2015 y más, nº 9.

[2] https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/agriculture-and-food/development-and-aid_9789264123571-en

[3] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTTSR/Resources/MainReportComplete-lowres%5B1%5D.pdf

[4] Belda, S., & Boni, A. (2014). Más allá del debate de la financiación: Aprendizajes de la

cooperación no gubernamental para una visión política de la cooperación al desarrollo.

Revista de Economía Mundial, nº 36, 25-47

[5] https://elpais.com/sociedad/2012/03/15/actualidad/1331772817_298833.html

[6] https://elpais.com/sociedad/2012/06/26/actualidad/1340724683_936642.html

[7] https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/11873.pdf

[8] https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/agriculture-and-food/development-and-aid_9789264123571-en

[9] Oxfam Intermón. (2018). Realidad de la Ayuda. Cambio de tendencia, pero sin apuesta sustancial

por parte del gobierno

[10] Sogge, D. (2015). Los donantes se ayudan a sí mismos. Cuadernos 2015 y más, nº 6