©Jeremy Horner/Panos Pictures.

Despite 50 years of aid, almost half the world's people still live on less than £1.30 a day. In an increasingly interdependent world greater contact between people makes the widening gap between rich and poor appear more stark, and the need to tackle poverty more urgent.

New goals for the new Millennium
In November 2000, world leaders set out goals to halve the number of people living in poverty by 2015. To meet these 'Millennium Development Goals' governments in many rich countries are taking a fresh look at their aid budgets. The events of September 11th 2001 added weight to the need for more aid - more people will stay poor following the economic slowdown after September 11th. Anger and frustration is growing amongst the poor as they feel unable to share the wealth enjoyed by others. This could create a fertile ground for terrorism, and a threat to future peace and security.

to find out the Millennium Development Goals.

New Promises
Since 1997, the UK government's aid budget has grown by 45%.

to find out which countries are the main recipients of UK aid.

Roughly half known as 'bilateral aid' goes directly to individual countries. The other half is 'multilateral', channelled through international bodies like the EU and the World Bank. More aid now flows through NGOs that act on behalf of donors and work with local people. Visit www.oxfam.org and www.actionaid.org to find out about the work of two of these NGOs.

In March 2002, the EU and the USA announced an extra £8 billion a year of aid by 2006. But according to the World Bank, aid will need to double in order to achieve the Millennium Goals. And there are still only five MEDCs that spend more than the UN's minimum target of 0.7% of GNP on aid.

to find out which countries give what.

Strings

©JC Tordai/Panos Pictures

Israel receives about £2 billion in US aid, 60% as military support.

to find out other countries that are the biggest recipients of US aid.

Quality as well as quantity of aid is important. Click on the boxes below to find out how aid can vary in quality.

New Partnerships
The UK government is also changing the way it distributes aid. Instead of spending it on one-off development projects, more aid goes directly to governments in poor countries. Local people should be involved too. By recognising people's right to decide for themselves how to improve their quality of life, aid is much more likely to have a sustainable impact. In return, governments have to draw up their own master plans called 'poverty reduction strategies' to co-ordinate different kinds of aid and to justify how the aid will help the poor.
Another partnership between the rich world and African countries called NePAD aims to reduce poverty in Africa.

to find out more.

Barriers to development
Despite more and better aid, rich countries are still giving with one hand and taking more with the other.

Rising poverty should concern everyone, and recent changes that channel more aid towards fighting poverty are a step in the right direction. At the same time, more people are demanding a fairer playing field in international trade to reduce poverty. Visit the Make Trade Fair page to find out more.