The Obama Administration: What’s Ahead for Foreign Aid? President Barack Obama has made
ing countries build more secure and
investing in international development
prosperous societies, we must never
a cornerstone of his efforts to renew
forget that only the citizens of these na-
Andrew Mwende, winner of the International Press Freedom Award by the
American leadership around the world
tions can sustain them” (“Strengthening
U.S. nonprofit the Committee to Protect
and a moral imperative for the nation. “To
our common security by investing in our
Journalists, has been outspoken on how
the people of poor nations, we pledge to
common humanity,” www.barackobama.
he believes foreign aid can undermine
work alongside you to make your farms
com).
democracies by keeping dictatorial
flourish and let clean waters flow; to nour-
This important point—that only the
regimes in power (“They can kill me
ish starved bodies and feed hungry minds,”
citizens of developing countries can build
but they can’t kill my ideas,” Parade
he said in his inaugural address.
and sustain successful societies—can be
Magazine, Feb. 1, 2009).
What remains to be seen is how
at odds with donor aid policies. The Cen-
Zambian born Dambisa Moyo is the
innovative and sustainable these efforts
ter for Global Development shows that
most recent African critic of foreign aid.
can be and if they will draw on the explo-
nearly half of 52 low-income countries
With advanced degrees from Harvard
sion of market-based philanthropy and
have more than 50 percent of their gov-
and Oxford and eight years of working
remittances as well as the skilled labor
ernment expenditures funded by donors,
as an economist at Goldman Sachs, her
force and local initiatives in developing
and more than one-fifth are above the
new book, Dead Aid, was born out of her
countries that have led to a reinvention of
75 percent level. This over-reliance on
frustrations at how little Africans are
foreign assistance over the past decade.
external resources is why Africans are
consulted on the future of their continent.
Also to be seen is how the Obama
speaking out about “aid dependency.”
Attending a party to raise money for
administration’s efforts will incorporate
BBC Panorama reporter and West
Africa at the World Economic Forum in
transparency and accountability, goals
African native Sorious Samura says that
Davos in 2008, Moyo realized she was
the president has supported.
Africa has to take responsibility for its
the only African in the room. She believes
failures and that foreign aid has too often
that foreign aid fosters corruption and de-
nizes the changed landscape of foreign
propped up corrupt regimes. “When
pendency, snuffing out entrepreneurship.
aid and the importance of self reliance.
half the budget comes from aid, African
On the first score, Obama recog-
He spoke in his campaign platform of
leaders find themselves less inclined
American leadership “that leverages
to tax their citizens,” laments Samura.
“You also disenfranchise African citizens,” Moyo told the New York Times Magazine, “because the government is beholden to
engagement and resources from our
“Large inflows of foreign currency push up
foreign donors and not accountable to its
traditional allies in the G-8 as well as
the value of the Ugandan shilling, making
people” (“The Anti-Bono,” Feb. 22, 2009).
new actors, including emerging econo-
its agricultural and manufactured goods
These and other African critics of
mies (e.g. India, China, Brazil and South
less price competitive. This results in
foreign aid want more private investment
Africa), the private sector, and global
fewer exports and less home-grown,
and philanthropy, like Kiva.org, that helps
philanthropy. Yet, while America and
sustainable earnings for the country”
people get and keep jobs. They want de-
our friends and allies can help develop-
(“The Pittfalls of Africa’s Aid Addiction,”
veloped countries to lower government
GIVING AROUND THE WORLD
Global giving from all countries around the world is on the rise and is fully recognized as a significant force that has changed the decades-old government aid architecture. In Doha, Qatar, in late November and early December of 2008, donors met to assess the implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, which had convened donor nations to agree on foreign aid targets. The resulting doha Declaration on Financing for Development explicitly recognized 8
BBC News, Nov. 24, 2008).
The Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances
the new environment of foreign aid: “New aid providers and novel partnership approaches, which utilize new modalities of cooperation, have contributed to increasing the flow of resources. Further, the interplay of development assistance with private investment, trade, and new development actors provides new opportunities for aid to leverage private resource flows.”16 Former President Bill Clinton, speaking in New York at the U.N. ecosoc Special Event on Philanthropy and the Global Public Health Agenda in