Yabby,

Well that's where you're wrong, Yabby.
Altruism isn't part of the paradigm. The IMF and the World Bank are only too happy to recruit corrupt ruling elites - in fact, these two institutions contribute to the delinquency of these regimes.
Often the ruling elite are made up of members who began their careers in the IMF or the World Bank (or other similar institutions) - and in cases such as Egypt, for example, these institutions award brownie points for being the top "reformer".
Of course, while all this is being paraded on the world stage, ordinary people are subject to higher unemployment and scarcer, more expensive resources.

http://www.whistleblower.org/blog/31-20120/1083-arab-uprisings-show-the-impact-of-the-world-and-the-imf

and even after the uprisings, they're still at it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/07/egypt-imf-loan

Gawd Poirot, so you found some corruption! Go and read why the
World bank and IMF were set up in the first place. Then tell me
in which global institution or Govt there is no corruption at all.
Fact is that in the ME and alot of the third world, corruption is
their way of life.

Lexi, droughts are a normal part of nature, climate systems vary.
When I was a kid, Africa had a population of 240 million. Now it
has over a billion, heading for 2 billion. Whilst you don't address
that elephant in the room, all feelgood policies are pretty hopeless.

The interesting thing about farming is that it gives one a great
insight into this very problem and how to deal with it. A farm
only has a problem in droughts, if it is overstocked. Cut the
stocking density, your problem vanishes. The same applies to
a country or continent.

Lexi,
While the famine in the Horn of Africa is bad and one cannot help but feel for those affected, it is but one of many throughout history.
See list below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines

The most recent and most devastating was in China 1958-61 where some estimate that 50 million died. Officially it is 15 million.

This list goes back to Roman times yet we have some sily persons in the articles section here saying climate change is to blame.

I notice from the list thatcountries in Africa have had more famines in recent history and I wonder if this is because of lack of early information or that later, because medicine ensured more babies and people survived, thus a great rise in population.

Yabby,

I have read why these institutions were set up in the first place. I've also read how their original brief became skewed over time. I posted a link earlier in this thread on that very subject - here it is again.
http://globalenvision.org/library/23/1524

*Developed countries which have excess of these food items reduce their prices and export them to Africa as a way of getting rid of them.*

Poirot, the above snipped from your article and I fully agree with
that. Dumping caused by US and EU subsidies has done untold
damage around the world, including to Australian farmers.

That is not the fault of the IMF or World Bank, but the fault
of the EU and US Govts!

We in the West are not the "givers" - most emphatically, we are the "takers".
Poirot,
No & yes & yes & no. Yes the west has taken in return for giving in every which way. The reason why the west is now seen as a taker only is because when the west started taking, the west also started to give knowledge & help in return. This wasn't taken up by many as it involves work & responsibility. The people from those countries in many ways have a very similar mentality to our public servants. Don't make me do anything or make me responsible, just share with me what you have due to your efforts & initiative.
Poirot are you prepared to share everything you have made with every indigenous on whose land you live ?