It seems that ever since foreign aid existed, there have been voices calling for its increase. Nowadays, everyone, from the world leaders of the G81 to the economists, seem to agree on the quite unclear target of doubling aid to Africa. But there are, at the same time growing doubts about aid effectiveness. The article 'How to make aid work' published in 'The Economist' highlights the various problems of aid and shows that increasing aid is a simplistic solution that would not solve Africa's problems. First, it reminds us that while the world leaders multiply commitments on increasing aid amounts and improving aid effectiveness, there is little progress if any: Aid doesn't increase, donors do not coordinate and keep being 'intrusive, cumbersome, rivalrous'. Second, aid quality doesn't improve: it's still unmanageable for the recipient country because it's a 'capricious and volatile commodity'. Though aid is weak and unpredictable, it can't be effectively planned and spent.
[...] One test, it notes, is the money they promise this year to the World Bank, which must refill its aid pot for the three-year period from 2008 to 2011. This pot is the closest thing the aid world has to the collection tins that Maimonides favoured: 40 of the bank's richer shareholders pool their donations in support of 82 of the world's poorest countries. But the shareholders will have to choose between their fidelity to Gleneagles and their disillusionment with Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank's president. [...]
[...] In quite a violent attack against aid institutions and NGOs, Easterly shows that this monopolistic bureaucracy, in order to make their so-called success visible and thus to survive, leads citizens to consider that its observable outputs are the money disbursed, the number of meetings, etc8. By emphasizing this aspect, aid agencies don't monitor aid effectiveness, don't learn from previous experiences and also tie their aid to the use of their services (Easterly 2002). In order to remain in force, monopolistic bureaucracies give a biased vision of their work and often present as new targets they've had for the last 30 years (“donor coordination”, etc. [...]
[...] Foreign Aid, the non-aligned movement: how to make aid work It seems that ever since foreign aid exists, there have been voices calling for its increase. Nowadays, everyone, from the world leaders of the G81 to the economists (Sachs 2006), seems to agree on the quite unclear target of doubling aid to Africa2. But there are at the same time growing doubts about aid effectiveness. The article to make aid work” published in The Economist highlights the various problems of aid and shows that increasing aid is a simplistic solution that would not solve Africa's problems. [...]
[...] Article The non-aligned movement - Foreign aid 4 avril 2007 The Economist How to make aid work The quality of aid matters as much as the quantity MAIMONIDES, a 12th-century rabbi and philosopher, argued that it is better to give anonymously, like the sages who secretly placed coins under the doors of the poor, than to flaunt your generosity. Better still, he said, to pool your charity—by contributing to a tzedakah box, for example—so that neither the poor nor their benefactor know the other's identity. [...]
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