Thought Patterns
by Emanuel
January 23, 2008 at 12:03
filed under economics
Here is a provocative look at African Aid, one suggesting to break the cycle of non-involvement of the actual citizens of the countries receiving the aid, and one suggesting the encouragement of African entrepreneurs. It was brought forward at TedGlobal2007, titled ‘Africa: the next chapter’ by Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, who recently launched the Independent, a newspaper with claims of regaining ‘the space for independent journalism in Uganda [which] has been greatly compromised by the state’. In his talk, he asks us
to reframe the African question — to look beyond the media’s stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent.
Andrew Mwenda is a print, radio and television journalist, and an active critic of many forms of Western aid to Africa. Too much of the aid from rich nations, he says, goes to the worst African countries to fuel war and government abuse. Such money not only never gets to its intended recipients, Africa’s truly needy — it actively plays a part in making their lives worse.
You can watch here or in high resolution.
In order to add some perspective, I would suggest the following closing talk of TedGlobal2007 from a very inspiring woman, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
As the first female Finance Minister in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attacked corruption to make the country more desirable for foreign investment and job creation. Now as a director of the World Bank and head of the Makeda Fund, she works for change in all of Africa.
She offers perspective on how African economic growth has reached a point where the macroeconomic framework is now in place for the Next Chapter, how Africa has given its share of aid over the past centuries and therefore should not feel bad about now receiving aid from the World, and how the empowerment of women is not to be overlooked.
Watch it here or in high resolution
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Emanuel
Another interesting read in the Los Angeles Times from NYU Economics professor William Easterly