Brussels, 10/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of Danish Liberal Anders Samuelsen, the ALDE organised a conference on 3 May 2005 on “Investing in the Future: How to Maximise the Impact of Development aid”.
Poor public affairs management in Africa was stigmatised by several speakers as being one of the main reasons why the continent has experienced difficulty developing. Ousmane Sy, former minister in Mali and prize-winner in 2004-05 of the International Roi Baudoin development award for the work he did on governance in Africa, considers that the main challenge in development is to provide hope in a better future by reforming governance through a decentralised approach that respects and values specificities of local culture in Africa. As the creator of CEPIA, the Centre for Political and Institutional Expertise in Africa, he believes that “aid does not aid development, it installs, on the contrary, a kind of insouciance and a wait and see attitude”, whilst proximity allows for more efficient use of public aid. He calls for a change in attitude and negotiations for moving on from aid to partnership: developed and developing countries have to define priorities together on implementation in an environment of reciprocity. This vision was shared by Andrew Jackson, Deputy Director of the UN Commission for African, who said that, “governance is primarily the responsibility of Africa itself”,
said he was not very convinced by the method used in the Copenhagen consensus, which gives preference to a vertical approach, when development strategies should, in his view, be more balanced, horizontal and long-term.
The former director of the Danish national institute for the environment and organiser of the conference on the Copenhagen consensus in May 2004, Bjørn Lomborg, considers that, as development aid is necessarily limited and political resolve fluctuating, one should have a pragmatic approach and rank priorities according to their importance. Thus, the panel of economists who worked at this conference gave priority to the fight against disease (AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis), malnutrition and free trade, with climate change only ranking 17th “because the problem of Africa is growth and, for growth, one first of all needs Africans in good health, well-fed and benefiting from an environment that allows them to sell what they produce”, Mr Lombourg explained.
While review of the European development policy (expected in November 2005) and the introduction of new financial instruments for EU external action are under discussion, Lieve Fransen, Head of Unit for social and human development at the Commission, recalled that these three diseases are precisely at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), but that around US$14.9 million are needed to give a truly effective response. Although the Council and Parliament have still not come to an agreement on the next financial perspectives, European aid appears essential. “It is now that we should give a reorientation to our development cooperation policy as, otherwise, Africa will have to let its turn go by for another century”, Ms Fransen said.