Washington, DC — "We need a little space to build a critical mass of entrepreneurs," says Lawrencia Adams, Coordinator of the Accra-based Organisation Pan Africaine Pour Le Developpement Durable. And African nations don't get it, she complained at a briefing of leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) hosted by InterAction, a U.S. based international development and humanitarian alliance of NGOs with 160 member organizations operating in over 100 countries.
"We need support to build our own institutions, but how can we achieve that when the World Bank is sitting in our Ministry of Finance. This is the kind of 'space' we are asking for."
"In fact, we want more than 'a little space' said Bishop Akolgo, Deputy Executive Director of the Integrated Social Development Centre in Accra. "We want all of the space to be able to concentrate on domestic, national innovation."
For "the last 400 years," said Oduor Ongwen, Chair of the National Council of NGOs in Kenya,"an international division of labor has been responsible for our underdevelopment. This international division of labor requires us to produce what we don't consume, and consume what we don't produce. And any African country that has tried to break out of this, has been isolated and has got a lot of flogging...from institutions that are controlled by the U.S. and the countries of the G8."
Adams, Ongwen and Akolgo are part of a group of 21 African NGO leaders who arrived in Washington Monday for a "Washington Week," which is a component of InterAction's Africa Liaison Program Initiative. The USAID-funded program began in 1999 and seeks "to set development priorities and improve development relationships in the field between InterAction member agencies, African NGOs and USAID at the country and sub-regional levels," according to the organization's spokesperson, Shanta Bryant Gyan.
The NGO leaders have been meeting with Congressional aides and Washington-based Africa advocacy groups. They will be visiting the Walt Whitman HIV/AIDS clinic and will be meeting with USAID Assistant Administrator Constance B. Newman, who oversees the agency's Africa programs.
Though generally agreeing that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) might provide some new trade opportunities, and that Africa's new coordinated development initiative, called Nepad, might be a serious step by African governments leading to greater purpose and cooperation, many unanswered questions remained, the NGO leaders said. "Speaking from the grassroots point of view," said Marie Shaba of the Tanzania Association of NGOs, "If the idea is 'free' trade, why are so many people locked out? Explain to us and our children why our wealth flows out and why do [our leaders] enrich others at the expense of ourselves?"
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She's not against globalization, said Shaba, but she is "against capital globalization." Another question that arises because of this reality, the Tanzanian NGO leader said is, "Why does the World Bank and IMF loan more than they can write off? Do we need the West as much as the West needs us?"
Echoing Shaba, who said she was concerned about "double standards," Akolgo argued that "No country develops by lowering barriers, opening up and letting everybody in." The United States has barriers up now, said Lawrencia Adams, citing the recently raised agricultural subsidies approved by the Bush Administration. "There is no way, where agriculture is concerned, we will be able to compete effectively when America is protecting or nurturing its agricultural sector."
But some important questions have to be answered internally on the continent, she acknowledges. "Capacity! What are our methods of production? What methods of production do we have to enter this [global] market? We are talking about the hoe when in America you are talking about harvesters. The playing field is not even."
"Our leaders are looking too much at G8," says Kenya's Ongwen. "And not looking down at the people who are really going to be the key players in actually implementing Nepad principals.Give people the information they need to make informed choices and to make decisions that are useful."
