If you have yet to hear of Dambisa Moyo, you will soon know her well. Her provocative new book, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, is making waves in the international development community. The exposure granted Moyo a place among TIME Magazineโs 100 Most Influential People of 2009 and secured her a spot on Oprah Winfreyโs 2009 list of visionaries.
On Nov. 13 at the University of Waterloo, an impressive turnout gathered to hear Moyo speak, proving both the resonance and timeliness of her message. The public lecture, sponsored by the St. Paulโs University College as a part of the Stanley Knowles Humanitarian Service Lecture series, was entitled โInnovating Away from Aid.โ
Moyo, a native of Zambia, was educated at Harvard and Oxford and went on to work as an economist for the World Bank and Goldman Sachs. Despite her academic and professional feats, today Moyo is best known for her controversial belief that the African aid model is broken.
Whether you agree or not, Moyoโs arguments are stirring. This is because she raises a question many shy away from altogether. As Larry Swatuk, director of UWโs International Development program, said, openly questioning the aid formula is akin to โsaying Iโm against peace.โ Regardless, the fact remains that 50 years and more than one trillion dollars in aid money later, the African continent has little to show for the efforts.
Those in the international development community, who pride themselves on this work, cringe at Moyoโs statistics. However, Moyo remains adamant that โAfrica is worse today than in the 1970sโ when aid began.
โAfricans are poorer today,โ she said. The reason for this, she argues, is aid itself.
Rather than ease systemic poverty, the presence of aid on the African continent has been โan unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster.โ
The kind of aid Moyo is referring to is not humanitarian or emergency aid, nor is it charitable or non-government organization (NGO) aid. Instead, Moyo points to the โbillions of dollars that go government-to-governmentโ as the problem.
Just as communism put a damper on the incentive of individuals, Moyo said that in Africa, guaranteed aid means โno incentive for good government.โ
At the same time, Moyo believes that โaid disenfranchises Africans.โ This is because today, โAfrican governments donโt care what Africans think โฆ they cater to those who supply aid.โ
Therefore, while the developing BRIC countries โ Brazil, Russia, India and China โ have become economic powerhouses and a force capable of rivaling the developed world, Africa is being left behind. Moyo said that you must ask, โWhat is in their tool kit?โ The simple answer is โnot aid.โ
According to Moyo, there are โfar more poor Chinese and Indians,โ yet we only hear about and see the poverty in Africa. Moyo believes the reason for this is that โAfrica is suffering from a serious PR disaster.โ Undeniably, this hampers foreign investment.
In her book, Dead Aid, Moyo writes, โWe live in a culture of aid.โ For this, Moyo places blame on celebrity pop culture for entrenching the prevailing misconception that aid is necessary. She believes that โthe African agenda has been hijacked by celebrities,โ something, she said โCanadians would not tolerate.โ
By pushing a negative agenda on Africa โ only drawing attention to war, disease, corruption and poverty โ celebrities work to further the continentโs disastrous public image. While they may have the best of intentions at heart, such a scheme only succeeds in scaring off foreign investors.
โWhat will Africa do if aid were to stop tomorrow?โ Moyo asked. It is a fair question; as the U.S. continues to suffer through an economic crisis, it may soon be unable to heavily fund development projects abroad. The issue remains that โlow expectations of Africaโ can no longer be tolerated. Investment in the African continent must be encouraged to bring jobs to the people, which in the long run will be more beneficial than aid. Moyo put it this way, โAfrica needs to get off the couch.โ
Overall, Moyo sees financial crisis as an exciting opportunity for African nations to wean themselves off of the entrenched aid model.
Moyo understands the reforms she is proposing are controversial. Thus, she prefaced her talk with a deal maker. If nothing else, Moyo said, โWe can all agree on three things.โ One, โAfrica cannot be dependent on aid forever.โ Two, African governments need to get involved. Three, we have to accept that โaid has contributed to the dysfunctionality of African governments.โ
The naysayers protest that Moyoโs argument is just too simplistic. Corruption on the continent of Africa cannot simply be attributed to the presence of aid. To this, Moyo said, 50 years and one trillion dollars later, we should be asking what aid has done for Africa.