Are we using the wrong language to describe foreign aid?

Jamie Drummond hates foreign aid. That may be news to many in the development community, where Drummond is something of an icon, having co-founded ONE with rock star Bono and elevated the global visibility of issues ranging from the HIV/AIDS pandemic to debt relief in Africa.

To be fair, it’s not that Drummond hates helping people around the world. It’s that he hates the term for it: “foreign aid,” which he derisively referred to as “f…ing aid.”

He argued it’s centered around “foreigners,” it’s pejorative, and offers “no sense of what's in it for the giver, whether that be a reflection of their values or whether that be reflection of some other sense of a return on the investment.”

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