Ireland is praised for development policy

IRELAND understands the development process and takes a "long term" view, Dr John Martin, an associate director of the World Health Organisation, said yesterday.

The Government included social investment in the developing world and set goals which were not on a "rigid track" and allowed for circumstances such as natural disasters or a change in government.

Dr Martin was speaking on the second day of the WHO conference in Maynooth, Co Kildare, on "Poverty and Ill Health in Developing Countries: Learning from the Non Governmental Organisations".

Delegates from some 40 NGOs discussed how best to reach the "poorest of the poor".

Mr Joe Makoko of South Africa, who works in community development, said the perception among local communities "is that the donor and the NGO are collaborating and the community is left out. The donor looks at the NGO as the first line of contact and this leaves the community suspicious."

The conference also considered how NGOs compete for funding and the implications for organisations and recipient governments when they are unable to say no to funding.

"Part of the problem in aid today is that the general public in donor countries see aid as a bottomless pit and a pit with some nasty corruption," Dr Martin said after the session. Taxpayers wanted to see some results for money and the donation "gets turned into conditions".

Dr Martin cited Finland as an exceptional example of a donor country which had decided to become involved with Mozambique over a 12 year period, and said that Ireland also took the long term view.