Highlights of Rich-Poor Videoconference

Below are some of the highlights I took away from the March 30th videoconference with the Ivory Coast, Netherlands, Northwestern University, Emory University, and students in Washington D.C. :

• Become more educated and culturally aware on both sides of the divide
• Need for teachers, technology, and cancellation of foreign debt
• Africa is richest content with poorest people, need ways to profit from their products (chocolate, cocoa, oil, diamonds, etc)
  
• We should recognize success stories in foreign aid to Africa
  
• U.S. and Japanese representatives should visit the developing countries for a better understanding
• Increase awareness and concern of the empty promises by the U.S. and other developed countries to set aside 0.7% of GNP for development as agreed to in 1970. Only the Nordic countries have meet this, and have been doing so since 2002
• U.S. is the largest contributer to development in funds, but the smallest contributer of all developed contries in % of GNP (0.14%)
  
• Local needs in our own country need to be considered as well
• Should highlight the tangible benefits of aid success stories already ongoing among developing countries
  
• Development is not currently a priority - we need young people to be involved and build up a pressure in the population to make it one
  
• National interests in delivering aid are usually centered on specific economic return rather than the needs of those receiving the aid
  
• We need to monitor and ensure transparency of funds so that they reach the people in need, instead of only 30% of it funneling through middlemen
  
• Developing countries need to take responsibility to fight corruption and work hard to achieve their own sustainable development
• Punish corruption in both developing and developed countries
  
• We try to avoid stereotyping Africa or Asia as a whole, but rather come to understand the needs and uniquness of each country
• Support for Tony Blair's "Marshall Plan" for Africa

Of course there was a lot more presented in this discussion, these are only a few of the notes I pulled out of it. The U.S. State Department's report on the U.S. response to the Tsunami Tragedy as well as the statistics from the Center for Global Development's Rich Country & Poor Country (pdf) document provide some diverse viewpoints.