Who should have the most say in how aid is used: the countries giving the aid or the communities receiving it?

"It's not rocket science-ask the communities what's needed and listen to their answers." This statement was made by Sarah Champion, Chair of the IDC in 2020-24 on local communities having the most say in where the international aid should go in those communities or how it is used, which is what I agree with as well.

Firstly I would argue that the local communities know best what they need in aid and what their top priorities are. They should have the say because they experienced the disaster and now know better than anyone what is the most useful at the moment in those communities. For example, in the Guardian in 2023 aid was sent as food during droughts, but this wasn't the communities first priority, what they needed more was water access and support for livestock, which means that NGO or government didn't know what's the most important.

Also important to mention is that the communities receiving the aid are the ones who will live with the consequences of that given aid and might know better long-term solutions due to previous experiences. For example, aid was given in the form of building houses cheaply, which seemed like a good move, only to realize that by making the houses cheap they were far away from urban centers, which meant some families living there couldn't afford the daily commute and eventually had to move back. So in the end, that solution was purely short-term.

Not to forget is the fact that for those local communities the situations personal, so they think harder about it before making a decision, while donors do this often and don't put too much thought into it and a mistake isn't a big deal. A good example for this is the Ebola Epidemic in South Africa from 2014-16, where international responders enforced strict burial procedures to prevent the virus from spreading too much. With this decision they completely ignored the cultural traditions and families started hiding the sick, causing the virus to spread quickly.

Some might say that the government or NGOs can research more efficiently on what the country needs, however I believe that the communities know it better than anyone since it affects them and know better short and longterm solutions.

In the end, the local communities know best where to spend aid since they know their priorities and really think it through.