Key Insights
# The aid industry prioritizes its own survival over actual development outcomes External interventions often undermine local capacity and initiative Aid creates dependency rather than sustainable development Local knowledge and context are undervalued in favor of external expertise Alternative approaches focusing on trade and markets may be more effective Related Content
# References
# Easterly, W. (2006). The white man's burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good . Penguin Press. Moyo, D. (2009). Dead aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa . Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Sachs, J. D. (2005). The end of poverty: Economic possibilities for our time . Penguin Press. Collier, P. (2007). The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it . Oxford University Press. Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty . PublicAffairs. Riddell, R. C. (2007). Does foreign aid really work? Oxford University Press. All Analysis
Series
Single Posts
28 August 2020 · 1523 words · 8 mins
The inescapable trap: why the aid industry cannot reform itself and what that means for the future
27 August 2020 · 1102 words · 6 mins
Why the aid industry can't see the economy where most people actually live and work
26 August 2020 · 1273 words · 6 mins
The development dance redux: how mutually reinforcing dependencies guarantee the status quo
25 August 2020 · 1902 words · 9 mins
The recipient's arsenal: negative manipulation, passive aggression, and exploiting donor vulnerabilities
24 August 2020 · 1402 words · 7 mins
Uncomfortable truths: exposing the colossal remuneration differentials and their corrosive effects
23 August 2020 · 1623 words · 8 mins
The development dance: how donor control and conditionalities render country ownership a hollow artifact
22 August 2020 · 1778 words · 9 mins
The procurement system, the myth of neutral expertise, and the monopolization of country knowledge
21 August 2020 · 1425 words · 7 mins
The product development compulsion and the chronic problem of donor overload
20 August 2020 · 1797 words · 9 mins
The money moving syndrome and the institutional drive for disbursement over development
19 August 2020 · 1792 words · 9 mins
A sketch of the development industry and its self-perpetuating structure
18 August 2020 · 1591 words · 8 mins
Introducing a 10-part series examining the foreign aid industry through the lens of David Sims' 50 years of experience and his book Development Delusions and Contradictions.