Keving DeYoung takes a look at Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo.
Kevin says the book is: “a short, pungent, provocative book.”
The thesis is simple and controversial: aid is the problem, not the solution. “In the past fifty years,” she writes, “over US$1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. In the past decade alone, on the back of Live 8, Make Poverty History, the Millennium Development Goals, the Millennium Challenge Account, the Africa Commission, and the 2005 G7 meeting (to name a few), millions of dollars each year have been raised in rich countries to support charities working for Africa.” Sounds good, right? But has the more than one trillion dollars in assistance made Africa made people better off? Moyo says “no.” In fact, she argues that aid has helped make the poor poorer and growth slower. “The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth…Aid has been, and continues to be, an unmitigated political, economic, and humanitarian disaster for most parts of the developing world” (xix).
Go read the rest of Kevin’s post for his complete review of the book including the problems caused by foreign aid and some possible solutions. Good intentions aren’t enough. As good stewards, Christians should insist on good results of the aid our churches give.
you might also take a look at Kevin’s series on When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself by Brian Fikkert.
All three parts are linked in my post here.