The Role of Development Aid in addressing issues of rurality, Livelihoods and Gender in Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper mainly emphasized on the contributions of Swedish development aid in improving rural livelihood and gender equality in developing countries. The issue of poverty and food security remains a key global concern. The majority of the poor people lives in rural areas of Africa, Latin America and Southern Asia where agriculture is their main source of livelihood. The fight against eradicating poverty has taken a successful step forward in East and South-East Asia. On the contrary, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of poverty remain stagnated compare to other developing regions is attributed to; a less attention given to rural development, prevalence of corruption in the public sector, terrorism, migration, under-developed infrastructure, weak market chain, lack of strong institutions and poor policy to incorporate the role of women in development. To solve this challenge, the parliament and the ministry of foreign affairs of Sweden have given the mission to Sida to execute development activities in 30 prioritized developing countries. Accordingly, Sida has been implementing sustainable livelihood approach in Africa, South Asia and Latin America to improve their living condition and eradicate poverty. This includes community-based forest management, soil and water conservation,  livestock management; market chain, capability, health, access to clean water as well as land certification and registration, safety nate programs, education, gender equality and security. Hence, in these countries, the level of poverty have reduced by half. However, the question left unanswered is whether foreign aid is the major economic engine in the national gross domestic product (GDP) of developing countries. This is mainly due to the fact that the amount of money spent is less (1% of Sweden’s national budget),  poor monitoring and performance evaluation of the projects.

Key words; Foreign Aid, Sida, livelihood