Genevieve Simms
The final installment in Fast Forward’s Africa series
Despite billions of dollars funnelled into foreign aid Africa is worse off today than it was 25 years ago. This statement inevitably leads to the following question: does foreign aid actually help? The answer: it all depends on the strategies used by countries or organizations engaged in helping developing countries worldwide.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund established post Second World War to support countries facing economic depression have been increasingly criticized by researchers policy groups and reporters worldwide for their self-serving motives. In The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein writes: “Officials with the World Bank and the IMF had always made policy recommendations when they handed out loans but in the early ’80s emboldened by the desperation of developing countries those recommendations morphed into radical free-market demands.”
As market prices for export commodities dropped in the ’80s many African countries faced severe economic crisis. Many turned to the World Bank and the IMF for loans to avoid or soften the impact of an economic crash but these loans came with strings attached. According to Africa Action a policy and advocacy group in Washington D.C.: “These changes called structural adjustment programs adjusted the economies of borrower countries to suit the interests of the wealthiest players in the global economy.” African countries tied up in these loans lost control of their natural resources and their economies and became increasingly dependent on more funding to survive.
Canada currently spends $4 billion per year on foreign aid with one-quarter of that amount going to Africa. However the Conservative government has pledged to double funding to Africa bringing its total to $2.1 billion in 2008 but the specifics haven’t been announced yet. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) established in 1968 is still under review following the release of a Senate report in February 2007. The report concluded that CIDA has failed to make any significant advances in sub-Saharan Africa despite $12.4 billion in bilateral assistance to the region over the last 40 years.
The main concerns are that too much funding is spent on administration rather than on ground projects that not enough CIDA officials are in the field (Africa) to monitor progress and that Canada has spread itself too thinly across countries thus diminishing its ability to make significant impacts.
The Senate report has proposed a series of measures to make foreign aid to Africa more effective. It says that Canadians should not force countries receiving aid from Canada to spend that money on Canadian products or services and that Canada should only support countries that are abolishing corruption and reforming governance. It also says that Canada should focus its aid on economic development instead of social welfare which includes health and education.
However if Canada pulls away from social welfare programs this may jeopardize millions of Africans who don’t have access to the basic necessities of life such as safe drinking water and sanitation. According to the World Water Assessment Programme the health burden for African children is said to be 240 times higher than high-income nations mainly because of contaminated drinking water and the prevalence of raw sewage.
The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technologies (CAWST) a Calgary-based non-profit engineering consultancy is tackling these water and sanitation problems by empowering communities worldwide through knowledge sharing.
“The results of our training initiatives have had positive impacts on the lives of the poor. We’re seeing less sickness in the communities we’ve reached much happier families and the children are back in school” says Camille Dow Baker who co-founded CAWST in 2001 with Dr. David Manz a retired professor from the University of Calgary.
CAWST’s ability to effectively and positively impact communities comes from initiating a business model that strives to build capacity within communities and regions. CAWST members train NGO and government teams worldwide on the various technologies and methods that produce safe drinking water. These organizations then proceed to work with the communities that they already know using training programs developed by CAWST. “Our main strategy is to make knowledge about water common knowledge” says Dow Baker.
CAWST worked with over 10 African countries in 2007 and is planning to make Africa an even greater focal point in 2008. “Water issues in Africa are different from those in Asia for instance. Asians have access to lots of water but it’s bad cruddy water” says Dow Baker. “Africans get their water from dugouts and ponds. Our goal is to develop a system to mesh existing water with rainwater harvesting and then have them treat it in their homes.”
CAWST is currently implementing a Centre of Expertise in Zambia and four others are being developed in Nepal India Philippines and Haiti. “In Zambia we’re collaborating with the Seed of Hope International Partnership (SHIP). We’re helping them develop the same services we offer which they’ll provide to neighbouring countries once they’re set up” say Dow Baker.
Since its inception in 2001 CAWST has provided services in water and sanitation technologies to more than 370 organizations in 49 countries worldwide. More than one million people now have access to safe drinking water thanks to CAWST which obtained a Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council in 2006 and was a finalist for the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize in 2003 and 2006.
About 550 Canadian NGOs promote and work on African causes most of which are dependent on individual and corporate donations as well as government funding to affect change. There is increasing evidence that African communities that receive foreign aid addressing their specific needs through an equal partnership have a greater chance of becoming self-sufficient and emerging out of poverty. The Canadian government must support NGOs that work directly with Africa’s people and fund larger projects that provide access to health and education programs. With a lot of respect and a little hand from all of us – Africa will thrive.
