The USA has almost a million homeless people, no practical healthcare system for its population, yet spends humongous amounts on its military industrial complex every year.
You can do many things at a time. Technology can actually solve the hunger problem by making their agriculture more efficient. Also these local engineers who worked on this will go on and do great things for their country down the line.
How does a country move out of poverty without engineering and education? If Botswana had a moon program or its own rocket program, I could see the argument, but launching a small sat. Doesn't seem that wrong.