Why a charity refused $45m of US aid money

Ethiopia is in the grip of a drought. Fifteen million people are receiving food aid. So why has one of the world's major aid agencies, Care International, turned away $45m worth of food they could be sending to Africa?

As world leaders gather in New York next week to review progress towards the millennium goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, Care is saying that aid is "too short term and focused too heavily on saving lives rather than protecting people's livelihoods".

Care's hunger advisor, Vanessa Rubin, says the money the charity refused is tied to buying the grain from American farmers and shipping it in American carriers. Which means that much of the aid 'money' goes back to the US. When it arrives in Ethiopia some food goes to needy Ethiopians, but the rest is sold

cheaply in markets, undercutting local farmers and giving little incentive for them to grow more. The combination of wastage and the damage done to the local market means the aid does more harm than good, says Care.

By 2015 it is estimated that the world will have spent $100bn on crisis relief. But given decades of failed aid policies some say - not just Care - that it is time for a radical rethink: we should welcome high food prices, ditch most food aid, encourage mass migration from the countryside to cities, and - above all - give money to charity when there is no crisis.

Rising food prices have been reported as a disaster for poor countries. Yet the UN World Food Programme in Ethiopia sees expensive food as an opportunity. Their country director, Sonali Wikrema, believes that it's a