The World Food Programme received USD 76 million for its Purchase for Progress program. P4P holds substantial promise to raise farmers income in the South by purchasing locally. The true promise, however, is not that it will raise incomes, but that it can create better food markets. Question is, will P4P go far enough?
The Telegraph reported yesterday that police in Delhi had closed a sweatshop factory at the “centre of a scandal involving US clothing giant Gap.” This followed a story and a sting operation by a media outlet showing the factory illegally employed children (Gap had subcontracted work from this factory). The international NGO “Global March Against [...]
The Wall Street Journal is carrying a detailed piece describing how the World Bank has “winked at bribery, and worse” in projects in India, but particularly Cambodia. I thought it worth reproducing here for three reasons. First, because the WSJ is not standard fare in the development community. Second, because the article is scathing in [...]
In a sure-to-be controversial piece, the BBC’s Africa “analyst” Martin Plaut asks: “Is the UN Re-colonizing Africa.” Unfortunately for the BBC, Mr. Plaut’s ignorance of the UN seems to be exceeded only by his lack of knowledge of Africa.
Gillian from St. Jude asked me to comment on an article by Jeff Sachs on the role of the World Bank. Sachs is well known for his theory that the only way out of poverty for Africa is to double, triple, or quadruple aid. Gillian supports the view that such aid is necessary, indeed critical, [...]
To argue against development aid, one need look no further than China, India, and Africa. The first two grew despite foreign aid, and the last has not grown much even with substantial aid.
Oodles of news on global public health. 1. The FT carries an article on IFC’s plans to create an Africa healthcare fund of about $500 million. According to the report, the agency has been funding work, in collaboration with the Gates Foundation, to develop an equity, debt and technical assistance fund to finance commercial healthcare [...]
In addition to providing raw materials, labor, and markets for finished products, Africa also cleanses the conscience of Africanist scholars, evangelists and missionaries, the rock and roll musicians who want to save Africa through orphan adoption, and philanthropists with Mother-Theresa complexes. Mukoma Wa Ngugi writes a scathing criticism of Western aid and attitudes towards Africa. [...]