A fascinating debate! I collected many of the comments made on Twitter and reflected on my own experiences and insights. I then looked for any common messages and themes of the debate.
Addressing the dangers of aid
- Aid needs to change; but saying that Africa has outgrown aid suggests that Africa is a child that needs raising
- Aid can be a political tool of foreign donors forcing governments and people into agreements that are 'unfair' and 'unjust'
- Aid needs the support of better systems to monitor how it is being spent BUT aid can be limited in effectiveness when most time is spent time reporting and appeasing donors
- Aid is lumped in with transparency to appease donors, but not other valuable system actors, such as the citizens
- Aid must be flexible to the changing nature of dynamic systems and economies
- Aid must be better communicated to African citizens so that they are not "voiceless citizens"
- Aid must start to recognise the different roles for aid in the different economic and market systems in Africa
- such as, from Rwanda and Ethiopia, to Kenya and South Africa, to Ghana and Nigeria, to Sierra Leone and Senegal, to Tunisia and Eqypt to Chad and Niger
- Aid must not be delivered at the mercy/desire/will of donors with demanding reporting standards; not every last penny spent can be tracked and it is more important to see broader outputs and outcomes than a tick-box of donor-driven activities
Developing a future role for aid
- Aid must be re-conceptualised towards trade, economic development, market systems and business for poverty reduction and systemic resilience
- in the social sector, this might mean applying systems thinking to public goods for better access by all
- Aid has a role to play in security and anti-terrorism as well as in institutions building and strengthening
- Aid might eventually play a long term role in the economy as remittances and FDI - aid has been sent by African diaspora for decades and diaspora are looking for new ways to send money home and invest in local businesses
- Aid needs to be re-designed to prevent being a tool for corruption; aid needs better practice-driven local leadership, stewardship and management
