Tizita Kebede
3 September 2008
Addis Ababa — A senior official of the World Bank on Monday said Africa should "take the driver's seat" to ensure it obtains full benefit of aid flows from the rich world.
Speaking ahead of an international conference, the Third High-Level Forum, in Ghana on aid effectiveness, the bank's Vice-President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili, said countries that receive aid must improve their capability to use it efficiently and transparently.
The Vice President pointed out that of the 41.2 billion dollars raised by the Bank for aiding developing countries, 50 percent will go to developments in Africa showing that the continent is at centre concern of the World Bank.
She, however, stated her concern saying "we need more avenues on dialogue regarding policy and results analyses that are often missing" which otherwise would help in engaging with international development partners and the media towards instrumentalizing policy think tanks on aid and development works.
"It is not the amount of money that matters, it is the impact ... output and outcome have become central," the vice president said in an Africa-wide video press conference broadcast from Accra.
The Sept. 2-4 conference in Accra, which brought together more than 100 donor and recipient states, aims to achieve more effective use of the development aid that is channeled to countries every year.
She said African governments should take responsibility for maintaining control over, and making the best use of, aid and investment flows pouring in from more developed partners.
"Countries should be in the driver's seat to set the agenda, deal with the kind of support they want," the World Bank official said.
It was noted during the conference that the Forum will be reviewing progress achieved in improving aid effectiveness and broadens the dialogue strategic themes to newer actors in addition to charting a course for continuing international action on aid effectiveness.
Three years ago in Paris, a previous international meeting of aid donors and recipients agreed on the principle that developing countries should have more control over the kind and use of the aid that they received.
This week's Accra meeting aims to strengthen this principle, but British aid charity Oxfam accused some major donors, such as the United States and Japan, of "dragging their feet", Reuters news agency reported.
"This isn't just a food fight between bureaucrats. Until you solve the political question of who should shape development, you cannot solve the problems of poverty and inequality," the report quoted Oxfam delegation head Robert Fox as having said.
At the same time, anti-corruption campaigners like Berlin-based Transparency International said there was still a lack of sufficient local oversight and accountability in recipient countries to prevent theft or waste of aid funds, the news agency added.
"We see this as a major corruption risk and a serious threat to the global fight against poverty," Transparency International managing director Cobus de Swardt was quoted in the report.
"We need to see greater local ownership of aid programmes, a clear voice for civil society in the process and an end to purely donor-driven aid policies," he added.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Daily Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
