ABSTRACT
Reducing poverty is the overarching goal of the main development agencies,
as reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Yet progress
has so far been slow and there are indications that the MDGs are far from
being accomplished in the next decade (Vandemoortele 2003; UNDP 2003).
No matter how poverty is defined and measured, the statistics indicate an appalling situation: millions of people live in subhuman conditions and
many die of easily preventable causes. A focus on poverty represents a wel-
come return to the central objective of development. In parallel with this
there has been, in recent years, a return to fundamental ethical issues:
asking not only ‘how’ but also ‘why’ development must be provided. In the
past, the motives for giving aid have tended to be a mixture of charity and
self-interest; and the procedures for aid allocation have been based mainly
on technical and economic considerations. An ethics-based approach may challenge both the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of development assistance, and
indeed the appropriateness of many approaches underpinning aid to the
South.
