The article in the url below marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Live Aid and contains some interesting statistics that, in retrospect (and, in spite of raising nearly $300mn), question the success of the event:
“Recently released CIA documents from 1985 (and a subsequent BBC investigation) suggest that so much of the money went to arms instead of food that it may have prolonged and deepened Ethiopia's humanitarian catastrophe.”
More generally, the article argues that aid is destined to fail unless fundamental institutions of state (e.g., transparent and accountable governance, rule of law, property rights, etc.) are in place:
“The quarter-century since Live Aid has borne out irrefutably that famine and poverty cannot be solved with charity alone. We can only stop them by putting an end to corruption and instability.”
The article quotes Bono in 2005:
“This is the number one problem facing Africa, corruption; not natural calamity, not the AIDS virus. This is the number one issue and there's no way around it.”
This is a sensitive issue and a controversial perspective, but one that should be taken seriously.
Have a good weekend.
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment (2e)
© Sage Publications, 2011
http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr2e/
Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/
The Failure of the Live Aid Model
By John-Clark Levin
689 words
14 July 2010
The Wall Street Journal
A17
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363400690371326.html
