Coordinated aid

46. Despite the criticisms levelled against it, emergency food aid could be improved by concerted action between all the partners in the chain: governments, local authorities, NGOs and Church associations. Aid could be limited in time and be much better targeted for the people who are really suffering from food shortages. Local products should be used whenever possible. Above all, emergency aid must help to free populations from their dependency. In order to do this, in addition to having adequate infrastructure and local distribution capacities, aid must always be accompanied by projects to enable the affected populations to take precautionary measures enabling them to guard against future food shortages. In this way, emergency or relief aid, under certain conditions, may be considered as an outstanding act of international solidarity. For "this kind of assistance does not bring a satisfactory solution as long as conditions of extreme poverty are allowed to continue and become even more acute, conditions which lead to increased deaths due to malnutrition and hunger(⁶⁸)."