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The last chance: double development aid
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4/2004 |
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[ Jeffrey Sachs on the MDGs ]
The last chance: double development aid
One-third of the time to the 2015 deadline when poverty is to be halved worldwide will have passed next year. For US economist Jeffrey Sachs, 2005 therefore is the last chance for a breakthrough because poverty in many countries has increased rather than declined since the Millennium Goals were proclaimed. In his capacity as special adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Sachs recently visited several African countries and examined their potential for implementing the development goals. His finding: despite proper working administration and detailed planning on poverty reduction, many countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal and Ghana are unable to escape the poverty trap. In many places health care is disastrous and farmland is exhausted. Shortages prevail everywhere.
At a panel discussion organised by the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) in Berlin at the beginning of March, Sachs appealed to the G8 it should agree at its 2005 summit in London to double development aid. He said the donors must keep their old promise to commit 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to the developing countries. “There are no other possibilities.” Sachs attacked the USA in particular. Under the Bush administration not only defence spending but also tax breaks had grown out of all proportion, he said. The 400 richest Americans had a total annual income of US$ 69 billion – more than the economic performance of five African countries combined.
The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), K.Y. Amoako, conceded that the African countries also had to move and create reliable general conditions for efficient use of assistance. He said that under the present circumstances – apart from some exceptions – the MDGs in Africa were being missed. AIDS and malaria were spreading. “That is killing our society.”
The Zambian Ambassador added that as a result the cradle of humankind was being destroyed. Together with his counterparts from Algeria, Mozambique, South Africa and Ethiopia, he accused the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the G8 countries of being mean with “real assistance” and promoting only that which cost nothing – such as good governance. This approach was hypocritical and cynical, following the motto “We can help, but we have no money”. Sachs supported this by calling for a “goal-driven” development strategy that was oriented on real need and not on the – ostensibly tight – budget situation of the donor countries.
Johannes Wendt
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