1. Introduction: Foreign Aid and Poverty in Africa -- 2. The Postcolonial African State Revisited -- 3. Africa in the Global Community -- 4. The Structure of Foreign Aid to Africa since the 1960s -- 5. Foreign Aid: How far and how well? -- 6. Targeting the Fundamentals: Towards a new form of development assistance to Africa -- 7. Development Assistance Redesigned -- 8. The State and Economic Development -- 9. Explaining Africa's Underdevelopment -- 10. Conclusion
During the past five decades, sub-Saharan Africa has received more foreign aid than has any other region of the world, and yet poverty remains endemic throughout the region. As Kenneth Kalu argues, this does not mean that foreign aid has failed; rather, it means that foreign aid in its current form does not have the capacity to procure development or eradicate poverty. This is because since colonialism, the average African state has remained an instrument of exploitation, and economic and political institutions continue to block a majority of citizens from meaningful participation in the economy. Drawing upon case studies of Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria, this book makes the case for redesigning development assistance in order to strike at the root of poverty and transform the African state and its institutions into agents of development.
AbstractFrom 2003 to 2019, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (the "Global Fund") disbursed a total of US$2.3 billion in grants to Nigeria, mainly for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This paper examines the impacts of the Global Fund's interventions on Nigeria's health system. Case study evidence shows that while the Global Fund has been successful in achieving its specific performance targets, its impacts on Nigeria's health system has been minimal at best. Major reasons for its negligible impacts on the country's health system include the Global Fund's ambivalent operational structure, little input from the host country in program design, excessive focus on fiduciary matters as opposed to public health interventions, as well as emphasis on parochial performance targets. Policy implications arising from this study include the need for domestic actors in Nigeria's health sector to have significant input in designing the Global Fund's projects in the country. In addition, the Global Fund's board and major donors should work collaboratively to refocus the institution to enhance its public health impacts.
1. Introduction: Africa in a Globalized World -- I. Africa's Adaptation to Globalization -- 2. The Rediscovery of Africa -- 3. Globalization and the Creative Space in Africa: Implications for Governance and Development -- 4. Postcolonial Africa's Development Trajectories -- 5. Collective Social Action: Enlightenment Ethic and the Rise of Modern Individualism -- 6. Same Migrants, Two Business Models: Culture-centered and Non-traditional Businesses Established by Ethiopians and Eritreans in Washington D.C -- 7. Making Sense of South Africa's Soft Power: Projections, Prospects, and Possibilities -- II. Governance and Creativity -- 8. Developmental Strategies and Cultural Dynamics in Rural Nigeria -- 9. The Impossible Craft of Nation-Building in Postcolonial Cameroon -- 10. Creativity and New Technologies: Piracy, Politics, and the Business of Cultural Production in Nigeria -- 11. Igbo Community Policing and its Relevance for Contemporary Nigeria -- 12. "Come and Chop": Representations of the Parliamentarian in Ola Rotimi's If and Emeka Nwabueze's A Parliament of Vultures
This book considers the promises and challenges of globalization for Africa. Why have African states been perennially unable to diversify their economies and move beyond export of primary produce, even as Southeast Asia has made a tremendous leap into manufacturing? What institutional impediments are in play in African states? What reforms would mitigate the negative effects of globalization and distribute its benefits more equitably? Covering critical themes such as political leadership, security challenges, the creative sector, and community life, essays in this volume argue that the starting point for Africa's meaningful engagement with the rest of the world must be to look inward, examine Africa's institutions, and work towards reforms that promote inclusiveness and stability.
AbstractThis study examines the demand and supply dynamics of entrepreneurship support services for new immigrant women in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Ontario, Canada. Empirical evidence presented in this study reveals significant unmet needs for entrepreneurship support services. Major reasons for the inability of settlement agencies to meet the entrepreneurship needs of new immigrants include prioritization of other support services and lack of funding. The study identifies unfamiliarity with the Canadian environment, discrimination, business regulations that are difficult to satisfy, and unlikely tendencies of the immigrants to ask for support as some of the key challenges to entrepreneurship among immigrant women. However, these challenges may be ameliorated with enhanced entrepreneurship and language training, information awareness campaigns and more funding, among other factors. The findings have practical implications for accountable governments and non‐governmental organizations as they design and/or redesign immigration and settlement policies to facilitate integration of new immigrants.
This paper considers the prospects and promises of continent‐wide infrastructure projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and its implications for intra‐regional trade and economic development in Africa. Building on the supply side theory of trade and economic development, and taking cognizance of the impacts of asymmetric market sizes on trade integration, this paper argues that continent‐wide infrastructure projects are perhaps not the biggest constraints to intra‐Africa trade. Consequently, the paper recommends caution in pursuing regional infrastructure projects under the BRI. Given that the economies of most African countries depend largely on natural resources, the BRI could be adopted strategically to establish and manage infrastructure projects that would relax the binding constraints to structural transformation and allow for the development of manufacturing and/or service capabilities in the respective countries, especially in niche areas.
Africa is currently the only continent that is yet to experience sustained industrial growth and structural transformation. The continent's position as the last frontier for industrial growth became clear following the spectacular transformations of the Chinese economy since the late 1970s. While it is often emphasized that Africa must improve its industrial capacities and diversify its economies in order to achieve real growth and development, there is little clarity on the most effective model and strategies for the continent's industrialization. This article conceptually examines the Washington Consensus versus the Beijing development models, and empirically presents their evolution in Africa. Drawing on a modified Fukuyama's state theory which differentiates between the strength of state institutions and the scope of state activities, this article argues that strengthening African states is a prerequisite for the success of any development model. The article provides strategies for strengthening state capacity in African countries from weak to moderately strong states.
