Dead Aid: why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa

To buy, click here

This book by Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo generated a lot of buzz when it came out in 2009. Given the buzz and the fact that it became a best seller, I expected something more solid, a data-heavy book like The Lords of Poverty perhaps. With only 150 pages to go over the history and the culture of aid and its impact on a whole continent, the book felt a bit on the lighter side.

It might be unavoidable. Of course, it’s extremely difficult to talk about a complex issue such as this without making generalizations. Then, there will be always at least one example that contradicts any statement or claim made, more so when it’s a heavily politicized and ideologically-charged topic.Which is not to say that the author has some very valid points.

Initially, the author seemed to have ben misinterpreted as saying that all aid in any circumstance was to be avoided—which she then clarified as not being the case. But even then it’s easy to see why some NGOs and donors jumped to attack the book and responded defensively. Let’s Moyo illuminate why that might be the case. She points out that, taken together, about half a million people, between the IMF, UN agencies, charities and NGOs, and government aid agencies, are employed in the aid industry:  

“Sometimes they make loans, sometimes they give grants, but they are all in the business of aid ... Their livelihoods depend on aid ... [In addition, f]or most developmental organizations, successful lendings is measured almost entirely by the size of the donor’s lending portfolio, and not by how much of the aid is actually used for its intended purpose. As a consequence, the incentives built into the development organizations perpetuate the cycle of lending to even the most corrupt countries. Donors are subject to ‘fiscal year’ concerns: ‘they feraed the consequences within their agencies of not releasing the funds in the fiscal eyar for which they were slated’ (Ravi Kanbur). Any non-disbursed amounts increase the likelihood that their subsequent aid programmes will be slashed. With the added corollary, of course, that their own organizational standing is placed in jeopardy.” (Moyo 2009, p. 54)

The little glitch in the aid industry is that NGOs and donor agencies, if they were to be successful, they should be working to make themselves redundant and to disappear. Once established, very few organizations and/or people are willing to do that (jeopardizing their existence or jobs/positions). And so the wheels keep on turning...

Most of the book, though, is forward-thinking, as Moyo proposes a number of alternatives to aid. Worth considering.

Organic gardening: dealing with pests III

Infested leaves

There are few things as frustrating as seeing your beautiful plants eaten by bugs. After all the effort you put into composting and preparing the soil and taking care of the seeds and the little plant! As soon as the plant is looking good: bugs!!!

Luckily, you don’t need to be an expert to try to get rid of them. Worms, I pick them out of the plants one by one (the moment of zen, an opportunity for meditation practice). The beetle-like bugs that were eating my bellpepper plants, though, were more difficult to grab, so, it was time for some brewing.

Concoction time!

I’ve tried some different things, but the general rules is that they don’t like anything strong-scented. So, garlic, coffee, rosemary it is. In this particular case, I added a little bit of hand soap for good measure.

 

The solution: garlic-rosemary + soapy water

Took a few days of spraying and scattering used coffee grounds, but it worked!

Razões para re-pensar o sistema de transporte em Maputo e Moçambique

Ainda tem lugar no chapa?

Perigoso e insuficiente

Ego vs. Eco

Enough said

The Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business

Not a new book but one that you need to read if you are thinking about (or already are) working in international development.

Published in 1989,  but it still applies.

Bike ride around Richmond

When I discovered Let's Go Biking! I was thrilled to find tons of information on where to bike in and around Vancouver, for pleasure, and away from cars.

Had to give it a try and the first ride was around Richmond, for one simple reason: it is flat!


Saw turtles and a fox, herons, eagles and fish, mountains and sea planes, historical sites and one of the new Olympic buildings, farms and hidden hippie communites.

It’s about 95% away from cars, and in some places you really feel you’re on holidays far away from the city. Just brilliant!

Rising above war and despair

Leave aside that it’s a short documented by a company. Incredible subculture in Brazzaville, Congo:

Planta de Clasificación de Envases en Montevideo

Iniciativa de la Intendencia de Montevideo para la formalización de la gestión de residuos sólidos:

Illustrators' take on the exploitation of African resources

How to build consumers out of citizens

The Century Of Self: Happiness Machines (Episode1)

The Century of the Self is documentary series focused on how the work of Sigmund Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people. It asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism and representative democracy. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality. (quoted from website)

Some points considered:

* Warning of the government against corporations misusing media and public relations’ people as a threat to democracy (~50:00)

* Ann Bernays (Edward’s daughter) saying: “To my father, the world’s fair (Futurama) was a way to keep the status quo, that is capitalism in a democracy, that marriage, that link. He did that by manipulating people and getting them to think that you couldn’t have real democracy in anything but a capitalist society [...] you would infer that democracy and capitalism went together.” (~51:00)

* Citizens as passive consumers controlled by manufactured desires (~53:00)

Aid comedy

It was a question of time until somebody started making fun of the whole international development business. Who better than the recipients of all that help?

Here a clip of one of the first episodes of a Kenyan TV comedy series poking fun at the realities of develompent and international aid:

The series, created by a Kenya-based production company, “chronicles the work of Aid for Aid – an NGO that, in the words of its creator, ‘does nothing’.”

Read an interview with the creator here.

You can find out more about the series or watch more episodes at aidforaid.org

Ciclovida: organización que promueve el uso de la bicicleta

Ciclovida surge con el firme propósito de ayudar a los demás. Promover y apoyar políticas de movilidad urbana.

Porque la bicicleta es el transporte que contribuye a lograr una ciudad limpia, a reducir la contaminación, a descomprimir el tránsito vehicular.

Promovemos algo mas que andar en bicicleta, investigamos, asesoramos, diseñamos e implementamos acciones para lograr cambios culturales que integren la bicicleta como un medio de transporte más.

Nuestra aspiración armar es mecanismos y proyectos desde el poder civil que permitan desarrollar políticas publicas enfocadas en la transformación de comportamientos en la cultura ciudadana.

Ciclovida es un espacio de reflexión e intercambio sobre como movernos mejor, ser punto de encuentro para aquellos que utilizan sus bicicletas para trasladarse todos los días a centros de estudio o trabajo en la ciudad, o usen las bicis para recreación o deporte.

En Ciclovida queremos que la gente recupere la sensación de libertad, que establezca una relación directa y vívida con el paisaje cotidiano…es decir, reconquistar la “escala humana” de la ciudad.

(Material de Gustavo Izús, por Ciclovida)

South to North aid / Ayuda del sur al norte

En 5 minutos entérate cómo está distribuida la riqueza mundial y en qué dirección circula el dinero:

Maputo African Films Week / Semana de Cinema Africano em Maputo

A 2ª Semana de Cinema Africano terá lugar em Maputo de 10 a 16 de Abril de 2014.

Os filmes?
Madagascar - “Lendas de Madagáscar” de Haminaina Ratovoarivony
Kénia - “Nairobi Half Time” de Tosh Gitonga
Gabão - “O Colar de Makoko” de Henri Koumba-Badidi
Camarões - “O Presidente” de Jean-Pierre Békolo, realizador convidado
Moçambique - “Impunidades Criminosas” de Sol de Carvalho, realizador convidado e Burkina Faso - “O Cargo” de Missa Hébié

Sessão de gala - 10 de Abril de 2014 -  18h30 - Cinema Scala - com a estrea do filme  “Republica di Mininus”, de Flora Gomes, um filme rodado em Moçambique com a participação de Danny Glover e  música de Yussuf N`Dour.

Onde?
-Cinema Scala
-Teatro Avenida
-Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano
-Instituto Nacional de Audiovisual e Cinema
-Auditorio da TIM
-Mafalala- ACAM
-Xipamanine- Espaço Sigaúque

And back to farming in the city: an example from the United States

They did it big time! Complete self-reliance in Los Angeles. See how they did it:

Made in Africa, for Africa

With statements such as “The easiest, most reliable way to connect to the internet” and “If it works in Africa, it’ll work anywhere” find out the new way to stay connected: BRCK.

“Made in Africa, for Africa.”

Overpopulated: hear the good news from a specialist

Always a positive outlook from Swedish statistician (and should-be-comedian) Hans Rosling: we’re a lot, but it’s not that bad.

A documentary from the BBC - worth watching.

Desenvolvimento na Província de Tete

Reporte de Portugal da situação respeito a exploração mineira no norte de Moçambique (2013):

E aqui, um plano prévio do governo para essa província.

Organic gardening: dealing with pests II

Last year it was veggies vs. rabbits. This year grapes vs. birds. After several years of the vine only giving a bunch or two of grapes (which we didn’t even bothered to pick and graciously offered to the birds from the neighborhood), this year the plant exploded. So much so, that we didn’t anticipate we would need to make space for the grape bunches. We ended up with too much fruit on the cane roof: buffet served on a plate to the birds.

Dangerous pursuits: ladders, scissors & nets

My feeble attempt at discouraging the birds from gorging on the plump grapes consisted in opening some canes so that the fruit would drop below the roof, and covering parts of the remaining fruit (most of it) with some left-over pieces of net from the fight-the-rabbit days.

A few weeks later, I’m happy to report, we’ve gathered a couple of bucket-fulls of juicy grapes. 100% organic!

Disclosure: no bird was damaged in the process of growing or harvesting the vines.

Beauty in all its colors

Oscar winner and Kenyan Lupita Nyong'o’s speech on the need of different images of beauty - 50 shades of beauty perhaps?

The danger of a single image of beauty are not unlike the dangers of a single story.

Parabéns a Bonga Mbilo! Congratulations to the little organization that could!

Got some great news from the little organization that could. If you remember, we had been trying to get some funding because they basically run on zero budget (if NGOs in developed countries saw how much is done by NGOs in developing countries without any budget...). Anyhow, I received this message from one of the directors of the organization.

“Minhas saudações e da equipe Bonga Mbilo, espero que onde estiveres, estejas bem de saude e sucesso no trabalho. Nós, deste lado, so saudade de uma amiga que sempre torceu por nos. Neste momento queremos partilhar um dos melhores momentos da nossa associção que acaba de vencer um concurso do banco mundial sobre lamas fecais e outro projeto de HIV sida.”

Congratulations to them! 

Access to water and sanitation is key and changes the lives of people in a dramatic way, more on that here.

What's up with the bees? / ¿Qué pasa con las abejas?

For those who think all is lost when it comes to our environment, there’s good news: I keep on running into people concerned with the environment, people who are doing their share to change things, informint others, raising awareness, moving things in a better direction.

Recently, I met Jocelyn Demers, producer of a couple of films that tackle issues related to sustaintability. One of the documentaries is about bees: Saving the Life Keepers. You can check the trailer here:

If you have no idea why I’m talking about bees, here’s a 4-minute summary about the issue:

Y en español (de España) otro video reciente, de media hora que explica el tema de la muerte de las abejas (síndrome de despoblamiento de las colmenas) y lo que eso representa para nosotros:

¡A informarse y tomar las decisiones correctas!

Africa needs no saving - just less negative stereotypes / África não precisa de poupança - apenas menos estereótipos negativos

Centros culturales en Maputo: adónde ir para ver películas, arte, charla, música y hasta partidos de fútbol

Para un sinnúmero de eventos culturales y sociales, sacar libros de la biblioteca o incluso para reunirse con amigos a comer o tomar algo rico, vale la pena tener en cuenta los centros culturales en Maputo (también el centro brasilero y el portugués).

Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano

La final de fútbol - partido entre Italia y Alemania - en el Instituto Cultural Moçambique-Alemanha (ICMA)

Happy New Year