Direct foreign aid

Please answer both:

Direct foreign aid is always controversial.  There are those who say it is helpful, benefiting both the donor country and the recipient country.  Others say it creates a cycle of dependency, even corruption.  What do you think? Is direct foreign aid a good thing for the United States to provide to less developed countries, or even countries we wish to support who may not be in the less developed world?

Should NGOs be directly involved in providing aid to developing countries? Are NGOs better at dispensing and targeting aid than governments? Please provide examples either way.