We have always known the power of independent businesses and it seems that it’s beginning to sink in that “charity” alone won’t bring the promise or solve the problems it has been being used to solve for years. Here’s a bit from a Financial Times piece on the subject.
This week the United Nations reported that the recession has created a $4.8bn (£3bn, €3.4bn) shortfall in its 2009 aid programs – more than half the $9.5bn it seeks. On the one hand, that is bad, because the UN does much valuable humanitarian work. On the other hand, financial constraints may force the UN to rethink the portion of its aid aimed at economic development. The UN continues to fund government and non-governmental organizations to run economic development projects. But that is not how to end poverty: only the local business sector does that.
