What is aid?
Aid usually refers to financial assistance given by richer countries to poorer countries. There are two main types of aid, Humanitarian aid and Development aid. Humanitarian aid aims to help in the short term (e.g. to help after natural disasters or emergencies), to provide essential services and resources to people who are in difficulty. It is only meant to alleviate suffering in the short term rather than contributing towards longer-term poverty alleviation.
Development aid aims to help a country achieve long-term sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. It may be given directly from one country to another (bilateral aid), or money may be given by many governments to international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations. These international organisations then spend the money on assistance for poorer countries (multilateral aid).
Most people would agree that humanitarian aid is essential, to help provide emergency care and shelter when people are affected by disasters. However not everyone agrees with development aid from rich to poor countries. Some people suggest it keeps poor countries in a state of dependence on the rich world, and is used to exert power over poorer nations. But other people believe it is necessary to provide poorer countries with aid while they are developing, until they are able to support themselves.