Tweet

Get aid or get paid?

Written by: Ken Teyie

Article Overview: I have been ignoring this topic deliberately until I recently stumbled on "The Bottom Billion - a book by Paul Collier who rightly says that about 70% of the poorest people in the world live in Africa.

Get aid or get paid?

I have been ignoring this topic deliberately until I recently stumbled on "The Bottom Billion - a book by Paul Collier who rightly says that about 70% of the poorest people in the world live in Africa.

An emotional must read, the book defines the bottom billion as people who live on less than a dollar a day, people who coexist with the 21st century, but whose reality is distinctly 14th century. Their lives are surrounded by civil war, plagues and ignorance. They are concentrated in Africa and central Asia with a scattering elsewhere. They live in Chad, Haiti, Bolivia, Cambodia and North Korea.

Fine, I concede that along with other like minded individuals who show much compassion for Africa, Collier may be right but questions still abound as to what is the right formula to change the situation in Africa.

The writer goes on to say that ," The 21st century world of material comfort, global travel and economic interdependence will become increasingly vulnerable to these large islands of chaos, which may become havens for terrorism or destabilising civil war. Bean-counting poverty simply misses the point. Even if poverty declines in these societies the conditions for social explosion will mount unless the current situation is reversed. That is the coming challenge of development: rescuing - or containing - a group of countries that for 40 years have been shearing off from the rest of us and must start to catch up. Africa has been a hot topic at all major international discussions and conferences, interviews, books and recently concerts all geared towards creating awareness about the unfortunate plight of Africa."

Got that? Rescuing or containing - a group of countries that for 40 years have been shearing off from the rest of us and must start to catch up????

Everyone has their ideas about the way forward. For example James Shikwati director of a Kenya think tank (Inter Region Economic Network) IREN Kenya, detests the idea that African and other poor countries must receive foreign aid in order to develop. He supports instead the creation of business and trade models that would boost development in Africa, employing the populations and creating real and lasting wealth. With these in mind, Mr. Shikwati has been consistent in his call for an end of aid to Africa, his constant voice promulgated worldwide through interviews in major global publications. Needless to say, his views have not been kindly received in many quarters.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the author of "The End of Poverty." thinks that what Africa needs is assistance in the form of aid to be able to achieve the millenium development goals - the most basic requirements for reduction in Third World destitution. Sachs believes that anti-aid arguments like Shikwati's "have slowed life-saving interventions." Other critics of the Kenyan economist include Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for a United Nations food program who said that the policies Shikwati was promoting would "kill millions of people." Irungu Houghton, an Oxfam official in Nairobi, said they would consign poor Africans to "a major death sentence."

Bono (Paul David Hewson) lead singer and principal lyricist of the Irish rock band U2 is another vocal proponent of the idea that aid works, criss-crossing the globe on a crusade to persuade the global north to increase its aid remittances to Africa.

On the other hand, William Easterly in his "White Man's Burden" lampoons Sachs as a modern version of a 19th-century utopian, ridiculing the idea that the elimination of African poverty can be achieved through 75 billion US dollars a year in Western aid and state planning, i.e. tasking all governments with the improvement of agricultural technology, provision of antimalaria bed nets, treatment of diseases like hookworm and the distribution of antiretroviral treatments to the H.I.V.-infected.


What do Africans think of all this? What will work in Africa, Aid or Trade?

Related Articles
  Take Paid Online Surveys To Make Money At Home
  American Execs Think they Deserve to be Paid Less
  The Secret To Making Money from Online Surveys
  Does a Domain Name Help with Higher Rankings?
  Paid Surveys- Can You Really Make Money

Article Tags: 21st century, Africa, Africa Collier, Chad Haiti Bolivia Cambodia, James Shikwati, Paul Collier



Related Forum Posts
Re: How does one suggest improvements to inventions - [quote="OmnivoreInk":3it4kr4w]and get paid for them? I'm sure people write in and complain and suggest new features for various things they buy... and if those changes are implemented that's all well and good, but the person who made the suggestion for the improvment isn't going to get paid for it. How does one suggest these improvements - and get paid for them?[/quote:3it4kr4w] Hi Barbara, Don't market research firms normally get paid to find target audiences and collect feedback on behalf of small companies?
Re: Are you getting paid for what you love to do? - Hello Ladies, I LOVE hearing that you are getting paid for what you enjoy doing! Hopefully, other women will be inspired by what you've shared as well. How interesting that all of us enjoy writing. For me, the web sure does open a whole new door of opportunity! I plan to take full advantage of it. At this point, I'm getting paid indirectly because I use my article writing to attract interest in my business. I get paid when the clients hire me. Of course, some of these are email clients so I guess you could say I am getting paid to write. I am developing some ecourses and other products to sell, so the writing will soon pay off more. Sometimes, I think I love to write and other times I feel that it is more the excitement about the message I want to share through the writing. Have you ever been more passionate about your message than actually sitting down at your desk to write?
Re: The Death Of ClickBank. Is this true? - I made $100 and got paid but they stole over $100 (didn't get paid) and never answered my emails. I hate it when a company doesn't provide both an 800# and a forum for discussion. Hope they rot in hell! God Bless.
Re: Kevin's Forum Mastermind Group - [quote="TannyL":2k7qi9si]In my country, you get sick days, and get paid up to 45 day (or so), this gives you the time to rest without thinking about anything else. If there is some rehabilitation to do, it is also paid for.[/quote:2k7qi9si] Sure full-time employees have paid sick days or can even take leave of absences... but in today's poor job economy, you can bet whoever takes an extended "leave" will also likely be the next candidate to lose his/her job.
Re: Is a FREE service better than one that costs money? - I really found many free services that were not working but also i found ones that were very good. On the other hand, regarding the paid services they were always performing what they were offering even if i was not satisfied by the result. So, i think the paid one are better but only if there is a ROI and your company will have a benefit from it.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Clues to Increase Sales -- Listen to the Buyer

Ready for a Fresh Image?

Fighting the Saw-Tooth Affect

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.