"David Dickie set up Advance Aid when he questioned the sense in flying supplies for people affected by Africa's humanitarian crises from China, say, when they could be made on home soil,"
The most basic emergency relief supplies (tarpaulins, water bottles, etc.) are very often needed in Africa given its frequent humanitarian crises. However, most are manufactured on other continents, purchased by donor agencies, and shipped internationally. African industries have the capacity to make many of these supplies and producing them in Africa would seem to combine many benefits -- increase availability, decrease costs, and provide employment and income in Africa.
"This was precisely what motivated David Dickie to set up Advance Aid, in 2006, after a career in publishing and advertising. A big believer in trade not aid, Dickie thinks it absurd to fly large amounts of aid material around the world to areas where unemployment is the highest on the planet."
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 August 2012