The developing world needs investment, not more handouts
Speculation that the Government may cut the statutory target of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid to 0.5 per cent caused outcry among those who see it as a symbol of the UK’S commitment to the world. They shouldn’t be so concerned. It’s past time that Britain had the same realisation I had after several years as an aid worker: it isn’t aid alone that most developing countries need, but capital and proper investment to build self-sufficient, stable and thriving economies.
As an HIV/AIDS worker in Zimbabwe, my overriding impression was of a lack of focus on the part of the development industry, with money and time spent on programmes and initiatives that never got to the root causes of the problems.
In the case of HIV, it is right that we should help to provide immediate support to those who are suffering. But little attention was paid to why certain groups were particularly exposed to infection: for instance, young women, with few economic opportunities, that left them vulnerable to gender-based violence.
Dealing with the symptoms, rather than the causes, of health crises, poverty, and much else besides, is endemic in the aid sector. Despite its fine intentions, it is afflicted by a box-ticking ethos that can encourage corruption. A culture of handouts, meanwhile, can entrench a cycle of poverty, especially when the industry becomes one of a country’s biggest foreign currency earners.
Moreover, when a certain aid target has to be met, it too often leads to poor accountability and oversight. Notoriously, hundreds of millions of pounds worth of British aid has been wasted over the years on a baffling array of projects, from yoga therapy in India and juggling lessons in Tanzania to developing the “branded media platform” of an Ethiopian girl band.
There is a different way. Most developing countries are far from the stereotype of popular imagination. In fact, in Africa, there is an oversupply of young, educated, ambitious entrepreneurs. If their businesses were fortunate enough to be based in London, they would be fighting off offers of investment. But for unconnected entrepreneurs based in the developing world, few such avenues currently exist.
Britain should be doing everything it can to invest in and empower such people, and demolish the barriers in their way. Sustainable growth, fuelled by a vibrant start-up culture, is the best guarantee of tackling the great evils of poverty, hunger and illness, while avoiding the patronising “White Saviour” complex that is rife (often at a subconscious level) in the aid industry. Shifting to a focus on investment would also enable the UK to compete with China (which has invested billions in African infrastructure).
The US Marshall Plan bankrolled development and growth in Europe after decades of conflict and war. Perhaps the UK could achieve something similar, with its own investment fund that provides capital to growth businesses, while even delivering a return to the taxpayer.
It is time to move beyond our sticking-plaster approach. Africa, and the rest of the developing world, needs investment, enterprise and ambition, not pity, charity and handouts. follow read more