Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa
Introduction
The book Dead Aid is written by Dambisa Moyo, who is born in Zambia. And is a 54 years old author, speaker and economist who wrote a total of five books. She is known especially for her critical perspective on foreign aid and global economic issues. For here studies she started at the University of Zambia and later went to some of the top universities like: Harvard, Oxford and the University of London. She also has a lot of experience in working in the finance and consulting sectors. Some of Moyo her work is even published in some of the leading international publications such as: the Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Financial Times. So it’s safe to say that she is highly respect and know where she is talking about!
Summary:
In her book Moyo tells about the challenges the idea that foreign aid is the solution to Africas poverty and underdevelopment. She says that the aid that has been given to Africa has helped them in the wrong direction. It has done more harm than it have done good in the countries, it has created a lot of dependency and corruption on the continent and even increased the poverty. In her book she shows the negative consequences of aid like conflicts and bad markets on the basis of some examples. She also gives some examples like private investment (the key solution), transparency and better governance which should help in providing a sustainable growth in the economy. to make countries less corrupt she suggests to invest more and more money in things like health, infrastructure and of course education.
Critical reflection:
The book challenges the approaches that are being used as foreign aid in Africa, and even tells it has failed! One of the things I really do like about the book is the way she looks for other solutions for aid. The examples that she gives in the book should help develop Africa, give better governances, transparency and help their sustainable economic growth. Without giving the negative impact aid is having now on the continent. So should the private sector be the key factor in sustainable development and not aid. To achieve this some things should increase such as trade and investments, in countries such as a Ghana they already are achieving this developments without aid.
But, there are people who criticize their solutions, so would they be to simple and haven’t taken the complexity of politics fully into account. Also the social relations that are in Africa aren’t taken into consideration enough.
In the book the negative impacts of aid are given, but aid has also done good for people. In some areas it does have helped increasing the level of education, healthcare, housing and food. I don’t like that those positive effects are not really being mentioned. This results in an opinion that is being formed when you read the book without having all the relevant data that is available.
Conclusion:
The idea to find a solution to make African countries less depended, now and in the future, is a very interesting topic. I do think it is very good to keep being critical when it comes to aid and if it is helping. When people are critical mistakes can be shown and not be made again in the future. I do think the book is a bit extreme in how bad aid is for Africa. I’ve seen with my own eyes how can help people who are living in poverty. And if you look at deceases such as HIV/AIDS you can see that aid is working. I do agree with here that something should change in the way aid is being given. How aid the best can be given is something we should discuss with all the interested parties in order to find the best solution. The book is really interesting and insightful for the discussions about aid and development.
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