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Feature: Could sQuid technology help with foreign aid controversy?
24 Oct 2011

The government has brought the issue of foreign aid to the forefront of the political agenda again after it recently revealed it intends to increase the amount of money being given to poor, developing countries.

Prime minister David Cameron said he wants to raise the amount donated in aid from £8.4 billion this year to £12.6 billion in 2015, which amounts to the equivalent of £479 per household.

Speaking in a recent party political broadcast, he insisted giving aid at a time of austerity is a sign of "moral strength" and promised that Britain will "never turn our backs on the world's poorest".

However, the Department for International Development (DfID) has said that it intends to donate more money to poor people in countries decimated by conflict and natural disasters, including Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia.

This has led many people to question whether or not the money given out will ever reach the vulnerable people it is intended for, with suggestions that it is onlymiddle men and administrators who benefit from financial injections.

Indeed, a new report from the Public Accounts Committee appears to back this opinion up, claiming that more of the money donated by the UK could be lost to fraud if it is sent to countries known to be high-risk.

It points out that since money is being sent via the European Commission, the World Bank and other organisations, there is little accountability and it is difficult to see where it actually goes and is eventually spent.

The Public Accounts Committee also suggested that DfID's estimates of only 0.016 per cent of total aid being lost to fraud in 2010-11 were far too low, criticising the government for not doing enough to prevent fraud.

In response, international development secretary Andrew Mitchell claimed the report appeared to only take into account how aid was sent during the last government and insisted the coalition has made significant changes, resulting in a "zero-tolerance" approach to fraud.

He also claimed there are now "tangible results on the ground" as a result of money being sent to developing countries, so getting money to war-torn, 'high-risk' countries should not be any more problematic than sending it to 'low-risk' locations.

However, despite these claims, some sources claim that corruption is still a major problem when it comes to giving aid, with the British government not truly knowing exactly where its taxpayers' money is going.

For example, BBC News claimed this month that the UK paid more than £3.2 million to an aid agency that had already ceased operations in Afghanistan.

The news provider said it had seen documents suggesting that officials knew there was a problem with German agency AGEF as early as 2009, but continued to direct funds there until April 2011.

It was supposed to have been helping asylum seekers who had been sent back to Kabul to resettle, but the BBC claims that some of the names on the list it provided were false.

According to the Home Office, this was down to a mistake by an employee who has since been dismissed and there is "no evidence of financial wrongdoing".

Clearly though, the issue of accountability is to continue to be important to the public when governments wish to continue sending foreign aid that essentially comes from taxpayers.

So, rather than relying on old financial channels, could better technology in sending the money be the answer?

Contactless smart card and eMoney provider sQuid has demonstrated that this could be the case through its participation with SOS Children's Villages aid distribution program in Kenya.

The scheme sees smart cards handed out to children who are being supported by the charity's work within the villages.

They then sign their name on them and have them topped up centrally by sQuid using aid money. The cards can then be used by the local people themselves to buy what they need to survive, rather than having to wait for the government and officials to hand money down to them.

It is hoped that eMoney could be rolled out in other countries to help the poorest people get the support they need.

Brendan Cox from Save the Children recently told BBC News: "Many of the children most in need of help are in the most difficult to reach places. Risk should be managed, not avoided."

Perhaps making the most of the technology we already have available could be one of the best ways to do this.