ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the omissions in the current Australian aid program by drawing on examples of ‘development cooperation’ involving farmers, consumers and other community groups in Europe and North America. It describes some of the linkages that exist between Australia’s rural sector and Third World agricultural communities, and then explores avenues for community cooperation in food and agricultural policies. The chapter provides opportunities for non-governmental organisations in their development education program and in answering the frequent public enquiry, ‘What can we do’? The Jackson Report’s attitude towards community groups is based on two fundamental assumptions: that aid is an effective antidote for poverty and that community support for Third World development should be channelled through the aid system. A rural development aid program which is developed in isolation from the normal commercial relations can only be deficient — a palliative rather than a long-term development solution.
