Terran Poverty Relief Assocation (TPRA)

[Phil Piratin]

OOC:

http://classic.particracy.net/viewvaria ... ationid=48

Vanuku literally has the law 'The government gives high levels of aid to countries in need.' how can they be stingy?

OOC: Governments often enact legislation setting up programs etc., but then don't bother to fund them properly. Vanuku spends less than 0.46% of its government budget on overseas aid, representing only 0.17% of its GDP. Hence the "stingy" headline.

OOC: depends entirely on what department you believe handles international aid as well IMO, very flawed system but I suppose it's easily debunked in RP.

OOC: Well, the game mechanics don't offer a detailed breakdown of departmental spending, but for the purposes of the RP I'm trying to do here, taking the Foreign Affairs budget as representing overseas aid spending is not a bad way of doing things, because it's simple and everyone can understand it. It's far from perfect, but it's not bad either, and it avoids getting overly-complicated. Also, I think most people looking at Particracy's list of ministries would presume overseas aid comes under the Foreign Affairs department, not any of the other departments.

100% agree that nobody is obligated to acknowledge the figures in the OP as being objectively accurate. It could be fun for some governments to dispute the figures, and to have cases where either TPRA re-investigates and concedes it made a mistake, or there is a dispute between TPRA and the government over what the figure should be.

If someone disagrees with their nation's figure, one of the options would be for them to provide a breakdown of what they believe their government's overall foreign aid spending actually is, showing the total amounts drawn from each relevant government department. That could then provide the basis for doing a recalculation.

[Corvo Attano]

0.78% Of Malivia is a false flag 80% of that goes to the Secret service 15% to the Diplomatic branch and then barely a pittance of 5% goes to foreign aid.

[Autokrator15]

OOC: With respect 1% is idioticly high. IRL the UN standard is 0.7 or 0.8% of GDP.

[Phil Piratin]

OOC: With respect 1% is idioticly high. IRL the UN standard is 0.7 or 0.8% of GDP.

OOC: The UN overseas aid target for wealthy countries is 0.7% of GDP, which is not such a radically different figure from the 1% being proposed here. Also, bear in mind the Terran Poverty Relief Assocation (TPRA) which proposed the 1% figure is not the World Congress or any kind of United Nations equivalent. It is an overseas aid charity, which makes it the equivalent of Oxfam or something like that.

If TPRA's proposal was ever taken up by the General Assembly and the Security Council, I suspect that during the negotiating process, the 1% figure would probably end up being reduced somewhat - perhaps to 0.7% or 0.5% or something like that.

[Phil Piratin]

December 4302

Following on from the statement by New Endralon/Kizenia's Foreign Minister that the Confederation will not increase its overseas aid spending, Bettina Hoenigsberg, the Chief Executive of the Terran Poverty Relief Association (TPRA) has responded as follows:

Encouraging nations to increase their overseas aid spending was always going to be an uphill struggle, and we fully expected strong resistance from many of the political decision-makers. So the comments from Emanuel Sandulescu and the Libertarian party are disappointing, although not unexpected.

The Foreign Minister did make a fair point that the Confederation does not impose trade barriers on third world nations in the way some of the other wealthier countries unfortunately do.

We could add that the Confederation does not subsidise its agricultural sector, which we regard as an excellent policy in terms of international development. Too many rich countries are subsidising their farmers, and this puts the third world nations, which tend to have more agriculture-focussed economies, at a distinct disadvantage.

We acknowledge the generosity of Confederation citizens in privately contributing to overseas aid charities - including, of course, the Terran Poverty Relief Assocation. There is no question that the people of New Endralon and Kizenia are a generous people, and we pay tribute to that.

However, respectfully, we disagree with the Foreign Minister's suggestion that increasing government spending on overseas aid would somehow discourage private giving. Past experience from all around the world tends to indicate that the opposite is the case, meaning that when citizens see their government is concerned about and focusing on an overseas situation, it tends to encourage them to donate more.

It should also be added that private donations tend to flood in in response to serious humanitarian crises and international incidents which generate publicity, but are not sustained during "quieter" times. This is one of the reasons why long-term, large-scale, well-organised and well-targeted governmental overseas aid needs to be provided.

We are very pleased to note that the New Endralonian People's Party, which is also part of the Confederation's coalition government, has proposed a spending bill which would double overseas aid spending from 20,000,000,000 NED to 40,000,000,000 NED, representing an increase from 0.34% to 0.68% of GDP. This would be a substantial and extremely welcome increase, and would hopefully represent progress towards the target we are hoping for, which is for all of the wealthy nations to spend at least 1% of their GDP on overseas aid by the year 4320. We also hope the Confederation's generosity would encourage other governments to increase their commitment to tackling global poverty.

An argument we hope the Confederation's decision-makers will consider is that through increasing governmental overseas aid spending, the Confederation can not only contribute to achieving tremendous humanitarian objectives, but can also serve its own national interests. Poverty, disease, distress and civil war are amongst the most serious threats to international security that there are - and these do affect the Confederation, just like they affect everyone else. Consider, for example, that the recent humanitarian crises in Dalibor and Ostland brought the Confederation military into action, or how the Wolfsheim Virus - originating in poverty stricken Dovania - is now posing a potential threat to all Confederation citizens. Overseas aid is one of the ways - not the only way, but an important way - of helping to stabilise the most unstable parts of the world.

So quite simply, we argue that increased overseas aid spending would be not only in Terra's interests, but also in the Confederation's interest as well.

[Autokrator15]

OOC: With respect 1% is idioticly high. IRL the UN standard is 0.7 or 0.8% of GDP.

OOC: The UN overseas aid target for wealthy countries is 0.7% of GDP, which is not such a radically different figure from the 1% being proposed here. Also, bear in mind the Terran Poverty Relief Assocation (TPRA) which proposed the 1% figure is not the World Congress or any kind of United Nations equivalent. It is an overseas aid charity, which makes it the equivalent of Oxfam or something like that.

If TPRA's proposal was ever taken up by the General Assembly and the Security Council, I suspect that during the negotiating process, the 1% figure would probably end up being reduced somewhat - perhaps to 0.7% or 0.5% or something like that.

OOC: Thanks for the response, btw I applaud your RP and I like what your doing, keep it up!

[Phil Piratin]

OOC: With respect 1% is idioticly high. IRL the UN standard is 0.7 or 0.8% of GDP.

OOC: The UN overseas aid target for wealthy countries is 0.7% of GDP, which is not such a radically different figure from the 1% being proposed here. Also, bear in mind the Terran Poverty Relief Assocation (TPRA) which proposed the 1% figure is not the World Congress or any kind of United Nations equivalent. It is an overseas aid charity, which makes it the equivalent of Oxfam or something like that.

If TPRA's proposal was ever taken up by the General Assembly and the Security Council, I suspect that during the negotiating process, the 1% figure would probably end up being reduced somewhat - perhaps to 0.7% or 0.5% or something like that.

OOC: Thanks for the response, btw I applaud your RP and I like what your doing, keep it up!

OOC: Thanks, that was really nice to hear .

[Phil Piratin]

June 4305

TPRA slams Dorvik for "not even fully funding its own aid programs"

Bettina Hoenigsberg, the Chief Executive of the Terran Poverty Relief Association, has criticised Dorvik for "sliding back on the international development agenda" and "not even funding its own aid programs properly". She went on:

We were pleased to see the Dorvish Staatsrat moving to increase the range of aid programs they would fund, and we were hoping this would be followed up with higher spending commitments. But here's the nub of it, the Staatsrat has just voted to actually decrease Dorvik's aid spending from 11,000,000,000 DDO to 10,000,000,000 DDO. So essentially, they are over-stretching themselves, committing themselves to more projects, but backing their promises up with even less money than before.

This is really disappointing. If Terra is going to tackle world poverty, then Dorvik, as one of the richest countries and as a Security Council member, is going to need to play its part. We have written to every member of the Dorvish Staatsrat outlining our concerns, and inviting them to make a personal commitment towards achieving the target we have proposed namely that by the year 4320, Dorvik should be spending at least 1% of its GDP on overseas aid.

[Phil Piratin]

April 4306

Hoenigsberg responds to Dorvish Finance Ministry

Bettina Hoenigsberg, Chief Executive of the Terran Poverty Relief Association, has responded to a statement from Rupashree Patel, spokeswoman for the Dorvish Finance Ministry:

I listened to the spokeswoman's comments with great interest. She made some comments we would agree with.

We agree that, as she says, Dorvik is targeting its aid more effectively, and waste and corruption is being clamped down on. Of course this is good news, and the Dorvish government deserve credit for the work they have done there. Even so, though, the fact remains you can't change the world, you can't address the underlying causes of global poverty, without investing some serious money, and this is why we are pushing, pushing so hard for the richest nations - Dorvik included - to invest more in overseas aid.

She rightly points out that Dorvik's economy is performing strongly. We would argue that in the long-term, to continue with this strong growth, Dorvik is going to need to expand its markets - and the third world markets have the highest potential in Terra. So really, from a long-term point of view, it is in Dorvik's own interest to assist the development of those nations, since those are the markets of the future. If they do well, Dorvik will do well too.

We would also argue that as Dorvik prospers, so too does its influence in the world - and also, we would say, its moral responsibilities. After all, if a country is rich, shouldn't it take the lead in helping out the world's poorest? The great thing is that Dorvik is a trend-setter, so if Dorvik sets a positive example in aid giving, it is likely other nations will follow suit, and the overall increase in aid spending will be much, much larger.

I confess I laughed a little at the suggestion we are a mouthpiece for communists! This is not the first time this idea has come up, but it simply is not true. I can assure the spokeswoman that TPRA finds itself at odds with left-wing politicians - including communists - at least as much as with right-wing politicians. I am making a sweeping generalisation here, but the pattern tends to be that the left is resistant to reducing trade barriers with the third world - particularly when it comes to agriculture - whereas the right is more resistant to increasing aid budgets. Let me emphasise that both of these areas - properly funded overseas aid and fairer trade - are equally important to us. We want to work with all political partners -
from the left and right - in trying to achieve our goal of eliminating global poverty.

[Phil Piratin]

April 4310

Hulstria & Ostland crisis: Don't neglect reconstruction, urges TPRA

Bettina Hoenigsberg, Chief Executive of the Terran Poverty Relief Assocation (TPRA) has written a public letter to the World Congress, expressing strong support for the planned military action against Hulstria and offering her organisation's "full and total co-operation" in helping to deal with the humanitarian crisis, but warning "to be blunt about it, I am deeply concerned that the coalition is going to go in for a quick military victory, and then neglect the long and expensive but necessary process of helping to rebuild the country". She urged Terra's wealthiest nations to "get together and start making plans now for reconstruction", arguing "this is going to be a long-term process, and governments need to start planning now, and start preparing to set aside funds, because if the problems in that region are to be tackled, serious investment is going to be needed".