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On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, we host a debate on a key question: what’s the point of foreign aid?

“What’s the point of mobilising taxpayers’ money and sending it to faraway countries to assist vulnerable people? And how do you sell that to your own taxpayers?” says Gilles Carbonnier, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

There are more conflicts and greater needs, yet donor countries want to spend less.

“What’s the point of mobilising taxpayers’ money and sending it to faraway countries to assist vulnerable people? And how do you sell that to your own taxpayers?” says Gilles Carbonnier, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

There are more conflicts and greater needs, yet donor countries want to spend less.

Do we think some people’s tragedies are less important than others?

If a child is in pain in Khartoum, that’s exactly the same as a child being in pain in New York or London. If a mother is grieving in Gaza, that’s exactly the same as a mother grieving in Geneva,” says Chris Lockyear, former Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

How can aid agencies better explain what they do?

“What defines us is humanity, and humanity means we cannot stay idle when we see others suffering. We have to act and do something to try to protect them, assist them and prevent suffering, regardless of where this happens,” says Carbonnier. 

Listen to the full episode on Inside Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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