Top-Down Aid in Africa

Writing this story for Time about a guy in Florida who wanted to donate a million t-shirts to Africa gave me a great intro into the subject of misguided good intentions and bad aid. It is just so interesting to see how anachronistic people's notions of Africa are _ especially the idea that it needs saving.

The big takeaway from the story, as foreign-aid critics repeat endlessly, is that people who want to do good must not come up with some whiz-bang idea based on what they need (or need to get rid of) at home, and what they think Africans might need. And now that I'm looking out for such terribly misguided projects, which are often more about promoting the person behind the idea than doing good for others, they seem to be cropping up everywhere.

Latest example: The founder of Kayak.com, Paul English, wants to provide free wireless internet access to all of Africa. This is such a colossally bad idea. For one thing, his free service could undercut the many local Internet service providers who make money selling internet access (though he claims he will work with local for-profit companies). For another, most Africans don't have computers (or electricity, for that matter), and have far more pressing needs.

If Paul English wants to help Africa, he should ask Africans what they want. Not "Do you want free wireless?" (people's response will probably be "Hey, neato, sure.") but "What do you need?" More importantly, why does Paul English think that Africans really want his help? It's such a terribly outdated idea.

Reversing the equation shows the silliness in all this. After 9/11, some Maasai decided to donate 14 cows to the United States. It's an instructive example of bad aid. The Maasai just wanted to "do good," and "show their solidarity." So they donated some cows that America didn't need, and which the American government had to deal with. Not a big distraction, to be sure, but the cows ended up being more of a headache than they were worth. The same can be said for many, many of the big projects that westerners impose on Africa and justify by saying they just want to do the right thing. To America, the cows were quaint. To Africans, similarly useless multi-million-dollar projects can do real harm.

We Americans might scoff, or shake our heads, or think, "Oh, those Maasai, how quaint they are." Lots of Africans are doing the same thing at us. 

    

Comments

[Richard Trillo]

I agree, and I think TV presenter Kate Humble's Stuff Your Rucksack website http://www.stuffyourrucksack.com/ is in the same area as inevitably local businesses get cut out of the deal (although it does aim to link needs with gifts).

But all these things point to people's widespread desire to help or give. But how to harness that impulse in a really constructive way. 1 Million Micro-credits?

[Stephen Anfield]

I agree 100%!

[mark]

The cattle were given in purely sympathetic nature and as an expression of mourning in accordance with Maasai culture.It was not Aid or intended for any commercial purpose.Your comparisson is totally unacceptable