@glojo I think you're right to not want to hand out money. For one thing, most of these governments are responsible for their own messes and even when your aid is completely responsibly and honestly handled, the fact that it is there means that the government of the day feels free to spend money on the army/secret police/whatever which they should have spent on preventing the famine in the first place.
Buying produce from country X, offering scholarships, setting up British Council libraries, investing in non-exploitative projects (if you can do it without having to buy off politicians). All those seem better to me.
It's also worth considering if there are ways to offer citizens of corrupt country X access to uncorrupt services from outside. The BBC World Service is one example but I do wonder with the advent of mobile phones if it wouldn't be possible to offer banking and finance or even a currency like bitcoin.
The elite will always try to jump on anything that threatens their status but there might be things they can't stop.