Shekaru da dama ana ganin taimakon kasashen waje a matsayin hanya mai sauri ta bunkasar tattalin arziki. Tun bayan Yakin Duniya na Biyu, sama da dala tiriliyan 2.3 sun fito daga kasashen Yamma zuwa ayyukan da aka tsara don taimakon kasashen duniya ta uku wajen fita daga talauci. Tambayar gaskiya ita ce, wane dalili ne kasashen da suka ci gaba ke da shi lokacin da suke bayar da taimako?

For decades foreign aid has been seen as a fast track to economic development. Since World War 2 over $2.3 trillion has flowed out of the Western world into projects that would aid the third world in its endeavour to move out of poverty. The question is really one of what motives the developed world has when it gives aid?

Ana ba da taimako sau da yawa daga zukata masu tsabta ba. Sau da yawa ana bayar da shi ne a matsayin hanyar tallafa wa aboki a siyasar duniya, da niyyar yin tasiri a kan tsarin siyasa na ƙasar da ake bayar da shi zuwa gare ta. Ko irin wannan abu yana da kyau ko mummuna ya dogara ne da ko mutum yana goyon bayan manufar da ƙasar mai bayarwa ke bi a wani lamari na musamman. A lokacin rikicin tsakanin Gurguzanci da Jari-hujja a ƙarni na ashirin, manyan masu goyon bayan waɗannan akidu, Tarayyar Soviet da Amurka, kowannensu ya yi amfani da taimako wajen yin tasiri a harkokin cikin gida na sauran ƙasashe, da kuma tallafa wa abokan hulɗarsu masu rauni. Amurka ta ƙirƙiri Shirin Marshall domin ta ja hankalin ƙasashen Turai zuwa ga Jari-hujja da nisantarsu daga Gurguzanci. Taimako ga ƙasashe masu tasowa koyaushe yana amfanar mai bayarwa fiye da mai karɓa. Dalilai na musamman sun haɗa da tallafin tsaro, faɗaɗa kasuwanni, zuba jari daga waje, aikin mishan da faɗaɗa al'adu. A cikin 'yan shekarun nan, an fallasa cewa taimakon da ƙungiyoyi irin su Asusun Lamuni na Duniya da Bankin Duniya ke bayarwa, galibi kayan aiki ne da ake amfani da shi wajen buɗe sababbin yankuna ga masu jari-hujjar duniya, kuma ba su damu sosai ba, idan ma sun damu kwata-kwata, da walwalar mutanen ƙasashen da ake karɓar taimakon.

Aid is seldom given from motives of pure altruism. It is often given as a means of supporting an ally in international politics and with the intention of influencing the political process in the receiving nation. The consideration of such, being bad or not, has depended on whether one agrees with the agenda being pursued by the donor nation in a particular case. During the conflict between Communism and Capitalism in the twentieth century, the champions of those ideologies, the Soviet Union and the United States, each used aid to influence the internal politics of other nations, and to support their weaker allies. The US developed the Marshall Plan in order to pull European nations toward Capitalism and away from Communism. Aid to underdeveloped countries has always been in the interest of the donor than the recipient. Specific motives have included defence support, market expansion, foreign investment, missionary enterprise and cultural extension. In recent decades, aid by organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has been exposed as being primarily a tool used to open new areas up to global capitalists, and being only secondarily, if at all, concerned with the wellbeing of the people in the recipient countries.

Ƙwararren Farfesa William Easterly, wani sanannen Farfesa a fannin tattalin arzikin al'umma na yau da kullum kan batutuwan ci gaba da taimako, ya soki taimakon ƙasashen waje saboda rashin cimma abubuwa da yawa, duk da alƙawuran manya da aka yi. Ya ce: ‘Baƙin ciki na talakawan duniya shi ne [cewa] Yammacin duniya ya kashe dala tiriliyan 2.3 a kan taimakon ƙasashen waje a cikin shekaru hamsin da suka wuce, amma har yanzu bai iya samar da magungunan cents goma sha biyu ga yara don hana rabin mutuwar zazzabin cizon sauro ba. Yammacin duniya ya kashe dala tiriliyan 2.3 amma har yanzu bai iya samar da gidajen sauro masu tsada na dala huɗu ga iyalai matalauta ba. Yammacin duniya ya kashe dala tiriliyan 2.3 amma har yanzu bai iya ba kowace sabuwar uwa dala uku don hana mutuwar yara miliyan biyar ba…Abin baƙin ciki ne cewa al'ummar duniya ta ƙirƙiri hanya mai inganci sosai ta samar wa masu arziki manya da yara nishaɗi, amma ba ta iya samar da maganin cents goma sha biyu ga yara matalauta da ke mutuwa ba.’

Professor William Easterly, a noted mainstream economics professor on development and aid issues has criticized foreign aid for not having achieved much, despite grand promises. He says: ‘A tragedy of the world’s poor has been [that] the West spent $2.3 trillion on foreign aid over the last five decades and still had not managed to get twelve-cent medicines to children to prevent half of all malaria deaths. The West spent $2.3 trillion and still had not managed to get four-dollar bed nets to poor families. The West spent $2.3 trillion and still had not managed to get three dollars to each new mother to prevent five million child deaths…It is heart-breaking that global society has evolved a highly efficient way to get entertainment to rich adults and children, while it can’t get twelve-cent medicine to dying poor children.

Tasirin taimakon kasashen waje ya dade yana tayar da tambayoyi, domin a kowane hali yana zuwa da sharuda. Kasashen masu bayarwa, da kuma Amurka, sun yi amfani da taimako wajen cimma manufofinsu na siyasa da dabaru a duniya. Misali:

The effectiveness of foreign aid has long been questioned since in all cases it has come with strings attached. Donor countries as well as the US have used aid to meet their geopolitical aims. For example:

a. Amurka ta yi ta karkatar da taimako zuwa yankunan da take da damuwa game da tsaron kasarta, misali Gabas ta Tsakiya, kuma a lokacin Yakin Cacar Baka musamman, Amurka ta Tsakiya da yankin Caribbean.

a. The US has directed aid to regions where it has concerns related to its national security, e.g. Middle East, and in Cold War times in particular, Central America and the Caribbean.

b. Sweden ta bayar da tallafi da aka yi niyya ga "al'ummomin masu ci gaba".