International Development Agency

An international development agency is an organization dedicated to designing, implementing, and monitoring humanitarian and economic development-related projects, and in many cases it is dedicated to distributing and managing foreign aid and international assistance programs. An international development agency could be an intergovernmental organization (such as the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, UNICEF, World Health Organization, La Francophonie, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), a governmental agency (such as the United States Agency for International Development, Agencia Española de Cooperación para el Desarrollo, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) generally in a developed country, attached to a foreign affairs department responsible for the support of development assistance projects in underdeveloped and developing countries. An international development agency could have the support of a combination of governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Oxfam and organized civil society actors. Still, at the international level, most of the aid is channelled government to government. The source of the funding could be exclusively from governments, or entirely from private funds, but it also could be a mix of the two.

Overall the objectives of the international development agencies are linked to the United Nations' Millennium [Page 908]Development Goals (MDGs). International development agencies tend to operate under bilateral agreements (country to country); however, there are international development agencies that work under multilateral agreements.

Foreign Aid

The distribution of aid among countries can legitimately reflect multiple aims. Aid may be used to meet humanitarian emergencies, to rebuild post-conflict societies, or to support the commercial, humanitarian, or strategic interests of the donor. Still, the most frequently cited objective of aid programs is economic development.

Although economic development is not the only form of development, it has been identified both as a goal and as a condition for other interrelated development goals such as poverty alleviation, income distribution, debt relief, emergency assistance, food aid, social development, adequate health programs, provision of employment, access to education, gender equality, the spread of democracy, and the provision of a hospitable environment for foreign direct investment. This is the reason why international development agencies depend on foreign aid and why they are focused on economic development. The World Bank (2008) classifies 209 economies. It classifies 49 of them as low income, 54 as lower-middle income, 41 as upper-middle income, and 65 as high-income economies. Of the 49 low income, the vast majority are African countries, a few are Asian, and one of them Latin American (Haiti).

For several developing countries foreign aid represents a considerable component, frequently in excess of 10 percent or more of their national income. However, it is a comparatively small item in the national accounts of the aid-giving countries. Even though the amount and the scope of international transfers toward economic development have increased considerably over the last four decades, the amount of foreign aid differs significantly country to country. For instance, it represents one percent of the gross domestic product of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark. In 2005 the total official development assistance (ODA) rose to a record of US$106.8 billion. Also, the provision of foreign official aid in comparison to private aid varies significantly country to country.

...