Millstone or Milestone? What rich countries must do in Paris to make aid work for the poor (original) (raw)
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A new global consensus on helping the poorest of the poor
2000
There is an urgent need for a new consensus on economic development. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should take notice when many of their natural supporters have become their ardent opponents. The truth is that much of the criticism is misplaced. The Bretton Woods institutions are bearing the brunt of the fact that the rich countries, especially the United States, have largely turned their backs on the world's poorest people. But the Bretton Woods institutions have been willing accomplices in the dismantling of an effective agenda against global poverty alleviation. Since these institutions are owned and operated by their shareholders, with a clear majority held by the United States and Europe, both the IMF and the World Bank have defended the ever-shrinking and unrealistic development agenda, since to do otherwise would be to insult the leading shareholders, the ones that pay the bills and choose the management. The United States position is clear enough. "We've already paid at the office, during the Cold War, so now leave us alone and let us enjoy our wealth and New Economy." Is this an unfair characterization? Cut beneath the high-minded rhetoric of a high-minded Administration, and see the grim reality. In 1998, the United States foreign assistance totaled around 8.8billion,or0.12ofonepercentoftheGrossNationalProduct.Andofthisderisorysum,onlyaroundone−sixthwenttotheleastdevelopedcountries.Asixthoftwelve−hundredthsofone−percentofGDPamountedtothegrandtotalofaround8.8 billion, or 0.12 of one percent of the Gross National Product. And of this derisory sum, only around one-sixth went to the least developed countries. A sixth of twelve-hundredths of one-percent of GDP amounted to the grand total of around 8.8billion,or0.12ofonepercentoftheGrossNationalProduct.Andofthisderisorysum,onlyaroundone−sixthwenttotheleastdevelopedcountries.Asixthoftwelve−hundredthsofone−percentofGDPamountedtothegrandtotalofaround4.95 per American in 1998 for the world's least developed countries.
2009
Like many other elements of the new aid architecture, the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) have become part of the stock-in-trade of the donor discourse. A nod in the direction of the Paris Declaration or the AAA has become mandatory, even when some aid donors may be continuing business-as-usual. The Paris Declaration has become a shorthand term for a whole series of proposed reforms in the aid industry, including greater country ownership, aid alignment with national policies, and more harmonisation amongst the multitude of 'development partners'. 1 This is a particularly critical moment to see where the reform of aid has reached. Many traditional donors have a very large domestic financial crisis on their hands, whose scale dwarfs the sums they have allocated to foreign aid in the past. This global financial crisis is also a direct threat to the many promises of rich nations dramatically to increase their foreign aid. On the other hand, many so-called emerging economies, such as China, India and Brazil, are considering the ways they can use their very large foreign exchange reserves; and development assistance is one option for the strategic use of some of their resources. Currently, however, their approach to international cooperation with poorer countries seems to be proceeding on a very different trajectory to traditional donors. Finally, the aid business has come in for a serious critique from a whole range of analysts, including for example: Clark Gibson et al.
Aid as an encounter at the interface: the complexity of the global fight against poverty
Third World Quarterly, 2004
International development discourse has recently shifted its focus from top-down economic adjustment to participative anti-poverty policy. This shift hints at an acknowledgement of the local complexities within the poverty process and at a need to listen to and develop actions with the 'poor'. But, whereas the mainstream argument remains couched in a technical framework, we argue that the fight against poverty is inevitably political. Conceptualising the aid industry as a set of global-local interfaces, it follows that a closer look at 'participation' in anti-poverty interventions is needed to come to grips with the political issues involved. Four issues are discussed: the complexity of local 'participation', given the 'polycephalous' character of third world societies; the power biases in the aid chain; the potential problem of 'false consciousness'; and the ambiguities of the role of local development brokers. We conclude that anti-poverty policy is in need of 'interface experts ', who, through 'provocation' can beget 'participation'.
The new dynamics of aid: power, procedures and relationships
2001
Recent years have seen major shifts in the policies of most aid agencies, whether multilateral lenders, UN agencies, bilateral donors, foundations or international non-government organisations (INGOs). Poverty reduction is more than ever the overarching goal. The local knowledge and priorities of poor and marginalised people have new prominence. Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) have been introduced, in part with the hope that they would enable poor people to influence policy. Capacity building for policy influence is high on the agenda. Through sector-wide approaches, aid agencies now support Government budgets once bypassed or funded only with stringent conditions. Agencies have been shifting from supporting projects and service delivery to becoming co-players in broader political processes; they are seeking new relationships, with more ownership by partner countries, organisations and citizens.
Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness
2005
With this study, I would like to make a contribution to previous studies on the "Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness" and its impact on the international development agenda. The research for this study has been carried out in the period July 2008 through August 2009, including a 6 months internship at a public sector development consultancy, where I primarily worked within the field of public procurement reforms in developing countries. The study has been supported and guided throughout by Professor Peter Wad, whom I would like to thank in the first place. His enthusiasm and passion for methodology, development (and the automobile industry) inspired me while the stacks of paper in his office scared me into reading tons of material for the research. I would also like to thank all of my interviewing partners who took out time of their busy schedules to provide me with an in-depth insight into the topic. Last but not least, I would like to thank my fiancé and my parents, who were wonderful safety nets in times of doubt, providing me with unconditional support throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. Thank you!
The Permanent Crisis of Development Aid
Jessop, B. and Knio, K. (eds) The Pedagogy of Economic, Political and Social Crises: Dynamics, Construals, and Lessons, Abingdon: Routledge, ., 2019
This chapter investigates the paradox that the perceived crisis in development that has prompted development assistance, most recently in the form of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has itself shown signs of crisis during most of its existence. In this regard, crisis does not so much designate a turning point, a critical moment for decisive intervention, but rather is an enduring catastrophe or impasse. The chapter explores the permanent crisis of development aid and the failure of its promoters and practitioners to learn from crisis. Rather than tackling the doubts about legitimacy of aid in a reflexive way, the aid industry limits its understanding of the crisis by focusing on actual symptoms (and corresponding narratives) rather than digging beneath symptoms to underlying real causes -- and then formulates its responses on the basis of its changing construal of the symptoms. This explains why, despite spending several trillions of US dollars in aid, poverty has remained a serious concern and development goals formulated in the MDG and SDG projects are almost impossible to achieve.