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Originally Posted by Gunni
I read this interesting book written by an ex top ranking charity guy, he claimed that Africas worst problem was charity. Not just the charity where the dirty politicians pocket all the money, or the "charity" where western countries "give" countires stuff like bridges or other large constructions, but only on the condition that they use a contractor from the donating country, but also the charity of giving food.
He says that until the people are educated, they will simply not work for their food because they get it given to them, there are hundreds of villages in Africa where the people do absolutely nothing, just sit and wait for their free food.
This guy was in Zimbabwe recently and said that it was the best place to be in Africa, and the reason was that there were hardly any charities, the people were hard working and everyone at least had something to eat. The infrastructure look great, and crime was almost non existing. It was the only country in Africa that he felt safe walking down the streets at night, and noone ever botherd him to beg for something (because they're not used to getting things for free he though)
Many Africans that I have met in Europe (my gf included) share this view.
The only way to help Africa is to allow free trade and remove tolls on African products, the western countries could also say spend 1% less on weapons every year and set up some proper schools in Africa, educate the people.
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The real problem with charity is not that it makes people lazy, but that it actually kills local business by creating unfair competition. No business can compete with free stuff, after all. By killing off local businesses, charity thus forces reliance on charity.
Another big problem with charity is that it is often very untargeted. Rather than being focused on productive projects, it often throws around money indiscriminately. That creates a culture of waste, and once again often creates unfair competition for businesses that do actually work, forcing those businesses that could otherwise be self-reliant out of business.
Meanwhile, non-selective aid also encourages corruption by rewarding it. It helps corrupt regimes stay in power, and shows officials that corruption pays.
The wrong kind of aid is, bluntly put, completely destructive. The only good types of aid are emergency aid, strongly targetted structural aid, and - very important - aid that isn't aid: performance-based microcredits that help serious, viable businesses emerge and grow.
The main thing the west has to do at the moment, though, is to destroy all the current trade barriers. There is no point whatsoever in giving aid while at the same time destroying any possibility of long-term solutions.