We were nudged a few days ago to check out a blog called the Zambian Economist, which has reviewed Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid.
Following up to the last two posts we have made on foreign aid, including Dambisa’s book, the Zambian Economist provides another critical focus on the status of foreign aid in Africa. Most interesting on the post is the discussion that has taken place over 75 proceeding comments.
The topic of foreign aid in Africa is of particular importance to anyone who seeks to work on a public policy level, as well as those who are involved with non-governmental organizations in Africa. Both, governments and NGOs, are principle recipients and/or facilitators of foreign aid, and the questions raised by Dambisa, Vijana FM, the Zambian Economist and many others are questions being asked by the public, ie: the government’s and NGO’s constituents. By connecting to discussions about such topics, Vijana FM is hoping to continue providing a platform specifically for youth in Africa to contemplate, debate, and make movements towards past, present, and potential future changes. Hence, blogs like Zambian Economist are exactly the kind of platforms we are trying to (1) be modelled after, and (2) further develop for the youth context in the mediasphere.
An excerpt from the review’s conclusion:
“…Dead Aid falls far short of what is expected of a book advocating such a radical proposal of “turning off the aid tap”. If there’s any consolation in this assessment, it is that Dead Aid will hopefully not find any intellectual traction. The analytical consensus remains that aid is important and the challenge is how to make it smarter, better and ultimately beneficial to the poor… Dambisa is certainly right about one thing, now is the time to examine these issues and we can certainly do better than the present.”
Also, we were sent a video to add further thought to this discussion:
(Thanks Daniela and Zambian Economist!)
About Zambian Economist (from website):
A non-partisan website that provides independent economic perspectives on Zambia’s progress towards meaningful development for its people.
To compliment the above article here’s another take from Malawian Chikondi Mpokosa who is Oxfam’s Global Education Adviser. Her article on the subject is called: My disappointment with ‘Dead Aid’ as an African.
-Daniela
I was reading this when a friend who was overlooking the screen exclaimed all of a sudden: “I’ve read about her book, but isn’t she in some parliamentary position, living outside her country?!” He was concerned that people who write books like these aren’t in the line of fire themselves.
I gotta agree with the guy (my friend). I think writing a book is a huge gamble. You either have to situate yourself as objectively outside the situation as possible, or you have to get passionately involved… the latter requires personal experience, don’t you think?