A Cautionary Note: Do No Harm
Providing assistance can
sometimes do more harm than good. Monetary
assistance can be used to buy weapons; even humanitarian assistance can be used
by one side to fuel the conflict, rather than mitigate its negative effects.
Mary Anderson's book Do No Harm and the associated website highlights the pitfalls aid providers can fall into, and gives suggestions
about ways these traps can be avoided to make sure aid is really helpful, not
harmful to the recipients.
The group of essays on Development
and Conflict also explain how development aid often contributes to
conflict, rather than helping to prevent it.
They don't argue against aid, but explain how aid providers should look
carefully at what they are providing to whom, in what way, and what the short
and long-term effects of this aid are on the recipients themselves and the
larger society.
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