An aid agency is an organisation dedicated to distributing aid. Many professional aid organisations exist, both within government (e.g. AusAID, USAID, DFID, EuropeAid, ECHO), between governments as multilateral donors (e.g. UNDP) and as private voluntary organizations (or non-governmental organisations, (e.g. ActionAid, Oxfam, World Vision). The International Committee of the Red Cross is unique in being mandated by international treaty to uphold the Geneva Conventions.
Aid can be subdivided into two categories: humanitarian aid (emergency relief efforts, e.g. in response to natural disasters), and development aid (or foreign aid), aimed at helping countries to achieve long-term sustainable economic growth, with the aim of achieving poverty reduction. Some aid agencies carry out both kinds of aid (e.g. EcoCARE Pacific Trust and ADRA), whilst others specialise (e.g. Red Cross, humanitarian aid; War on Want, development aid).
Famous quotes containing the words aid and/or agency:
“Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)