Hold the phones! Stop the presses! The Auditor-General has discovered that the Canadian International Development Agency -- the organization that administers 80% of our aid to underdeveloped countries -- is "a demoralized, bureaucractic mess".
What a news flash that is! Agent 3 lived in Zimbabwe in the latter half of the 90s and had connections in diplomatic circles. In his words, he "dwelt amongst the dips". As Director of a school which relied almost entirely on funding from foreign governments, Agent 3 learned firsthand of the waste and inefficiency of the foreign aid programs not just of Canada but of all the rich northern nations.
The Toronto Star reports that CIDA has had five ministers since 2000, six different strategic plans since 1995, ever-shifting country priorities and objectives (including Harper's tilt toward the Americas and away from Africa) and an endless churn of top managers. That turmoil has taken its toll.
That's not a great vote of confidence in International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, who has been in charge of CIDA for the past two years. After four years under the Conservatives, CIDA lacks "clear direction and action plans," the A-G found.
Projects take years to get approved. Performance targets are murky. Staff lack clear goals. Projects aren't properly monitored and assessed. And it's far from clear that Harper's promised narrower focus is being achieved.
Finally, CIDA does a poor job communicating not only with Canadians but also with our aid partners and recipients. It published its last statistical update in 2006-2007, so its spending is hard to assess.
As I said, all this is hardly news. It's only confirmation. Canadians in the know have suspected as much for decades. And the situation with CIDA's American counterpart, USAID, is scarcely better.
To learn something about how USAID and similar "agents of virtue" (Paul Theroux's phrase) work [don't work, surely. ed.] read The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity, by Michael Maren. (The Free Press, NYC, 1997). Follow that up with The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working, (Palgrave Macmillan, NYC, 2006), by Robert Calderisi.
The Harper government has announced its intentions to fix CIDA and our foreign aid program. It blames the Liberals for creating the mess. It is indeed arguable that well-intentioned but misguided Liberal (and liberal) policies in the 60s and 70s have contributed greatly to Africa's reduction today to a continent of beggars.
But tinkering with CIDA and aid targets is not the way to fix things. Some say that our foreign aid programs should be scrapped altogether, and the money invested in alleviating poverty at home. The Toronto Star closed its comments on its editorial after only 11 posts to this same effect.
Others, like Mr. Maren (an American) and Mr. Calderisi (a Canadian with 30 years' experience in Africa, working with the World Bank among others) argue that what is needed is a radical rethink of the whole concept of foreign aid.
Chapter 12 of The Trouble with Africa is headed "Ten Ways of Changing Africa". In it, Calderisi proposes not increasing the amount we give, but cutting aid to individual countries in half! This he would combine with a strong and biting focus on responsibility and accountability, to combat the incompetence and corruption which are endemic in Africa.
Both books are well worth reading. And have a look at the Star's editorial. See if you can find the comment by Agent 3!
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