Topic: Development
with news taken from the headlines of the day. Until that happy day arrives, you get old news and more stuff about G8, because I just don't think that fast.
Prior to the start of G8, Salon.com published this list of things that Bush could do at G8 to demonstrate that he is serious about fighting poverty in Africa. The author makes some suggestions that sound good to me. Stopping with the lazy shorthand that lumps all the diverse countries and peoples contained in the continent under "Africa" could very well be a good thing, for instance. And recognizing that nations that aren't the most capable but also aren't the poorest get lost in the mix is important. But the author doesn't seem to have much doubt about the helpfulness or desirability of Western aid. And her suggestion for channelling more aid through NGOs suggests that she's either not aware or doesn't agree with critiques of NGOs, such as the question of who they're accountable to and whether there are appropriate systems in place for monitoring NGOs. I have a problem with the fact that there's no signficant acknowledgement in the article of the debates around the effectiveness of development aid and the practice of channelling aid through NGOs.
Economist James Shikwati, in an interview in Der Spiegel, absolutely rips into the concept and practice of aid, for both humanitarian and development purposes. I don't know enough about Africa to make any specific counterarguments, but I can't help but feel that there's some serious oversimplification going on in at least some of his arguments. For example, in his characterization of the Marshall Plan and the post-tsunami reconstruction in Thailand. But I found it an interesting read, nonetheless.
Clearly Shikwati must be disappointed in the outcome of the G8 summit: more aid, but no fair trade. Disappointed, but not surprised.
Update: Just found the following articles from BBC coverage of the TEDGlobal (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Oxford: Technologies 'to aid the poor', which highlights the Grameen Bank's mobile phone program in Bangladesh, and Call for rethink in aid policy, which presents a succinct overview of problems with traditional development programs: short time frame, inappropriate technical assistance, distortions in the local economy.
Also from TEDGlobal coverage: It's here, it's queer, get used to it.