The Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” examines the effects of the withdrawal of international aid and debt relief from Madagascar following the country’s last coup in 2009. According to the article, “80% of the population is classed as living in poverty. A household survey last year by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) found that aid sanctions are biting the wrong people: school enrolment has plummeted and health indicators are in decline.”

The article suggests the establishment of an aid system like that in Zimbabwe, where “[d]onor channels have been kept open by bypassing the government system through a protracted relief programme, an education transition fund and a multi-donor trust fund (the Zim Fund) through which all aid passes” (Smith, 6/7).