Few deny the existence of big problems in Africa. Endemic poverty and hunger, AIDS, illiteracy, lacking medical care, high maternal death rates, low life expectancies and huge death tolls from diseases all but extinct elsewhere are some of the burdens Africa shares unequally with the rest of the world. ‘Developed’ countries claim to be helping to remedy these problems through ‘aid’.
My job lets me see a large quantity and wide variety of forms and venues of distribution of international ‘aid’. I have some questions about the steps the ‘developed’ world is taking to help Africa. With this series of posts, I hope to take you through some of the reasons I wonder, “Does ‘aid’ help?”:
