A Glass Half Full; A Glass Half Empty

Abstract

The Successes and Failures of Foreign Assistance: A widely accepted school of thought is that socioeconomic growth can best be accomplished through infusions of money supporting programs crafted by institutional thinkers. Most of this financial and programmatic support is “top-down”, implemented by outside donors for the benefit of the recipients. Yet years of this approach have still left millions of young people underserved. For years, governments, multilateral organizations, major international nongovernmental organizations and private donors have channeled billions of dollars to alleviate the conditions of poverty, disease, and neglect. But the impact of these investments has been far less than the sum of its parts. Despite the attention of major actors in international development, millions of children remain untouched by these good intentions.