Comments on: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with the last word on aid

By: moyo’s aid. at Where They Are

moyo’s aid. at Where They Are — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:35:53 +0000

[...] gently smacked down at TED by former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who told a harrowing story about saving her sister’s life during the Biafran war. “When someone is saving a life, you don’t care that it’s aid – you want the person to be [...]

By: …My heart’s in Accra » Incremental infrastructure, or how mobile phones might wire Africa

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:48:00 +0000

[...] This second question is getting a workout as a wide range of commentators respond to the Bono-edited Africa edition of Vanity Fair. Several writers have pointed out that the issue falls squarely in the “more aid first” camp, featuring a largely uncritical portrait of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs’s Millenium Villages project, a project designed to demonstrate what could be accomplished with massive infusions of aid into rural communities. The governance-first camp gets widely discussed in World Bank and USAID circles, in my experience. And TED Global gave some good introductions to the infrastructure-first argument, with former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pointing out that China’s path to development has relied heavily on infrastructure investment. [...]

By: …My heart’s in Accra » Judging a magazine by its cover

…My heart’s in Accra » Judging a magazine by its cover — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:32:30 +0000

[...] As one of those former well-paid contractors, and current researching academic, I can confirm French’s observation. The US businesspeople aren’t getting on the planes yet. Conferences like TED may change the minds of some of the people at Google and AMD, but we’re way behind China, which leads to some of the continent’s more visionary leaders – as well as some of the most repressive – looking eastwards to the future. [...]

By: Ethan

Ethan — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:32:38 +0000

It’s an excellent question, John. Some is spent on “governance”, which can either be effective anti-corruption measures, or an excuse to expand the size of ministries. Much is acute health care and food aid, which doesn’t go to infrastructure. The huge sums needed to build African infrastructure are hard to come by, which is why people are so excited about China… for better or for worse.

By: johne

johne — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 19:02:19 +0000

“The Chinese are so popular…, because they don’t shy away from infrastructure.”
Then what, pray tell, is most foreign aid being spent on? I was under the impression that roads, schools, etc., were the meat and potatoes of foreign aid, but perhaps I am living in the past.
Nicholas Kristof had an interesting essay on foreign aid in the New York Review of Books, mostly relating to Africa and reviewing Easterly’s latest book: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19374

By: …My heart’s in Accra » Digesting TED Global - I’m still chewing

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:39:31 +0000

[...] It’s a shame that Madame Okonjo-Iweala didn’t get to speak until the last day – she did a much better job of defending western aid than Bono and Jacqueline Novogratz did. The conclusion to her story about a doctor saving her sister’s life – “When someone is saving a life, you don’t care that it’s aid – you want the person to be alive.” – rings true to me, and, I think, to the vast majority of the audience. The interesting question is what the long-term effects of that aid are. Until folks like Bono and Jeffrey Sachs are willing to engage with questions from thinkers like Shikwati rather than dismissing these questions as oversimplifications, there’s going to be a camp that resents, resists and critiques aid. If George Ayittey’s contention “the begging bowl leaks” is true – and it is – projects like Jeff Sachs’s Millenium Villages are going to lose an enormous amount of money, line the pockets of numerous politicians and potentially, have dramatic unintended consequences. (It’s worth reading Victoria Schlesinger’s critique of the Sachs effort in the May issue of Harper’s – unfortunately, the article isn’t available to non-subscribers…) [...]

By: peter

peter — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:52:20 +0000

i see from the getting rowdy with andrew menda post, that bono’s point about aid was apparently referring to the potato famine in the mid 19th century and not EU funds. I’m afraid that if that was his point he is on even shakier ground! Much of the food aid was of unprocessed maize from the states, an alien food that people had difficulty digesting, if they had been in a position to prepare it. If it had got us through the famine, how come 1.5 million people emigrated between 1845 and 1855 (famine kicked off in 45, and peaked in 46/47). Ireland’s population continued to decline until recent years.

Bono should not try to back up his position for increased aid flows on the back of spurious and ill informed history.

Similarly, comparisons with the marshall plan are spurious. Restarting well developed economies and societies that have been devastated by a great shock is a completely different exercise from trying to transform Africa. The history, politics, institutional set up, general levels of education, health and welfare are just poles apart and make any comparison erroneous.

But thanks for the updates!

By: peter

peter — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:24:40 +0000

and mwenye macho is at http://mwenyemacho.blogspot.com/

By: peter

peter — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:07:21 +0000

I understand from the mwenye macho blog that St. Bono of Ballymun was also giving Ireland as an example of a country that developed on the back of aid. It is estimated that the contribution of aid (from the EU) to Ireland’s tigerish growth has been very limited and certainly not essential. The most important factor has been making Ireland a friendly place for foreign direct investment (google’s europe HQ is in Dublin). And trust me, our infrastructure is still a mess, much of it down to corrupt planning practices. Yes, there are other parallels that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala could have drawn…

Check out William Easterly for a persuasive argument against aid as it has been delivered since the end of WWII, and think of China, which has lifted millions out of poverty with no significant aid flows at all. Similar with India, Thailand….

Crikey, commenting on two separate blogs in one day. Maybe I should set up my own?

By: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with the last word on aid - AfricanLoft

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with the last word on aid - AfricanLoft — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:04:38 +0000

[...] Original by Ethan Zuckerman (Blog: My Heart’s in Accra) writes from TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. [...]