Aid to Africa: So much to do, so little done

At independence and in the midst of a bipolarized world, Africa was confronted with aid as a tool of the Cold War and/or post colonial diplomacy. Most of the contending powers felt a moral obligation to promote the well-being of the once colonized people and to contribute to uplifting the plight of poor people beyond their borders. Hence they encouraged African countries to adopt growth strategies that had aid as a significant component. Concerned with attracting Africans to their respective camps, the contending powers ushered in aid with due regard to ensuring that appropriate policies and institutions to encourage growth and reduce poverty were in place to ensure effective deployment of aid. After many years of receiving aid Africa continues to experience very low rates of economic growth, coupled with high population growth and low levels of investment and savings. Lancaster presents a sharply sketched and richly detailed portrait of the management of aid in Africa, outlining its fine contours to show why Africa is not developing. Aid to Africa: So Much to Do, So Little Done should be an essential guide for all aid administrators and activists concerned with Africa’s development. It should be a starting point for anyone wanting to understand why aid investment in Africa is not bearing the expected fruits. Lancaster attempts to answer the question, “why with so much aid there has been so little development in Africa?” She aims at shedding light on the ‘disappointing impact of foreign aid on development in Africa.” Her concerns are the politics of foreign aid to Africa, including power, policy choices, influence of political institutions, and the functioning of public organizations, among others. Lancaster offers new insights, with exceptional clarity, that bring out repressed ideas and emotional feelings into the open for discussion. The contents are well organized and the book covers the recipients’ side as well as the donors’. This analytical and scholarly book draws many profitable lessons that highlight the operational problems of organizations managing aid to Africa. Chapter 1 deals admirably with the background of the study and discusses the scope of the book. Chapter 2 helps to provide the issues under consideration by reviewing development in Africa and asks why it has been so disappointing. It discusses successively key roles of economic policies, institutional weaknesses of African governments and the political and so-