Le probleme avec l'aide internationale a l'Afrique: 1ere partie

[French translation of the original post in english]
Avez-vous déja pensé à ce que la couverture d’un magazine peut provoquer ? La dernière couverture de Vanity Fair avec le chanteur Bono et 21 personnalités du show-biz ont déclencher une vague de protestation sur internet, allant de l’indignation sur l’instrumentalisation de la pauvreté aux accusations de renforcer l’afro-pessimisme, et ces conséquences sur la fuite des cerveaux, l’investissement et ….l’aide. Justement, l’Afrique a-t-elle besoin de plus d’aide ?
Ou est-ce que la question n’est pas : quelle type d’aide pour quelle Afrique ? Est-ce que le nobelisé Mohamed Yunus n’a pas raison lorsqu’il dit que la « charité est la face cachée du mépris » ? Comment est-que l’aide peut avoir desservir le développement durable et paradoxalement produire les effets contraires à ces buts ?

Pour nous, c’est l’opinion publique, composée des contribuables qui financent l’aide internationale, des parrains d’associations caritatives et des citoyens-donateurs, qui doivent se doter d’une vision claire de la responsabilité : celle des dirigeants africains, des décideurs du G8, des institutions de Bretton Woods, des ONGs, des citoyens africains et leur propre responsabilité. Est-que Bono et ses amis peuvent et doivent aider dans ce sens ?

Part ONE

1. L’aide internationale : l’Afrique a-t-elle besoin de plus ?
1.1 La pauvreté en 2006 : mettons-nous d’accord. Les Nations Unies utilisent dans leur rapport sur le développement humain, l’indice de développement humain (IDH) afin de définir les éléments qui composent des conditions de vie décente. Brièvement, en 2006 , le rapport défini la pauvreté extrême par le fait de vivre sans eau ni accès aux infrastructures sanitaires de base avec moins de 2 dollars par jour.
2. Le rapport souligne 3 problemes majeurs en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté:
2.1 Très peu de pays en développement ont mis la priorité sur l’accès aux infrastructures de base, encore moins l’accès de leur population à l’eau ;
2.2 Deuxièmement, ce sont souvent les plus pauvres qui doivent payer le prix le plus élevé à l’eau et aux infrastructures sanitaires de base. Ceci révèle le délabrement des taudis dans lesquels ils vivent.
2.3 Enfin, la communauté internationale n’a pas réussi à (faire) traiter ce problème comme un thème central dans les partenariats de développement établis avec les pays bénéficiaires de leur aide.
Le rapport ajoute que ce qui sous-tend ces trois problèmes, c’est l’absence de voix politique des pauvres lorsqu’il s’agit de faire valoir leurs droits d’accès aux infrastructures sanitaires et à l’eau.

3. Aide internationale à l’Afrique: échec…et mat? : Ce dernier défi, l’échec de la communauté internationale à combattre la pauvreté a été très vivement critiquée, bien avant que Bono n’alerte l’opinion sur la persistance des poches d’extrême pauvreté. Parmi les critiques les plus virulentes, on trouve celle de Graham Hancock, auteur des “Nababs de la pauvreté » en 1989. Il écrit (p190 ) : “l’insupportable vérité est que, la plupart du temps, la plupart des gens pauvres dans la plupart des pays pauvres ne reçoivent pas, de près ou de loin, l’aide de quelque façon que ce soit: que cette aide soit effective ou pas, augmentée ou diminuée, n’affecte donc pas la façon dont les pauvres mènent leur vie quotidienne. Il ne reste pas grand-chose des flux financiers de multi milliards de dollars après leur passage à travers le filtre des biens d’équipement surfacturés, souvent inutiles, achetés par obligation contractuelle dans les pays donateurs, puis à travers la trappe des poches profondes des centaines de milliers d’experts internationaux et du personnel des agences de développement, puis un troisième écrémage par des agents de commission malhonnêtes, et volés par des ministres et des présidents corrompus. Ce qui reste est souvent utilisé de façon retors, irresponsable ou irréfléchie par ceux qui sont au pouvoir, qui en général n’ont pas le mandat politique des pauvres, qui ne les consulte pas et qui sont de toute façon indifférents à leur sort »

4. Non pas que Hancock soit une autorité absolue dans le débat sur l’aide, mais ces commentaires reflètent la lassitude des contribuables occidentaux dans leur contribution au financement de l’aide internationale, une aide dont ils ne voient pas la fin, ni les résultats tangibles. La très récente plainte déposée par une NGO française contre les présidents Bongo du Gabon et Sassou N’Guesso du Congo illustrent cette exaspération . Si cette allégation est averée, alors l’aide internationale aura contribué à financer l’acquisition des hotels particuliers de quartiers résidentiels parisiens pour l’usage personnel des deux présidents. La liste de tels méfaits n’est malheureusement exhaustive.

5. La recherche d’alternatives aux abus évoqués a bénéficié aux ONGs, lorsque le citoyen donateur aie le sentiment que son argent arrive dans des mains plus sûrs, et surtout, qu’il atteigne son but. Mais, là encore, les ONGs dont la force de frappe est atomisée, souffrent de manque de ressources, d’absence de poids politique pour obtenir le soutien gouvernemental et international.

Faut-il arrêter l’aide internationale ? (fin partie 1)

Update: Jen Brea has a great and comprehensive post on this issue that illustrates all sides of the issue:

" When aid builds infrastructure—roads, railways, power plants, electric grids—it makes it cheaper for farmers to bring their crops to market, medicine to get where it is needed without spoiling, labor to flow where the jobs are [...] This is why China’s seduction of Africa has been so complete. China believes Africa is a huge economic opportunity and deals with Africa like a business partner. The Chinese see Africans the way many would like to see themselves. if we really want to help, why not ask Africans, not their governments, how they perceive the challenges before them, the dreams they have for the future, and the resources they think they need to realize them? [...] (a Nairobi-based IT entrepreneur Segeni said) "It doesn't matter how the West portrays us,"It's up to Africans to tell their own stories to each other and to the world. That's the only way anything will ever change."

" Quand l'aide construit des infrastructures tel que des routes, des centrales et des reseaux electriques, cela permet aux fermiers d'emmener leurs produits aux marches, aux medicaments d'arriver la ou il faut sans etre perime et a l'emploi de parvenir la ou on en a besoin [...] C'est pourquoi la Chine est aussi attirante pour l'Afrique. La chine percoit l'Afrique comme un lieu d'investissement et traite l'Afrique comme un partenaire economique. La chine voit l'Afrique de la maniere dont les africains aimeraient etre percus. Si nous voulons vraiment les aider, pourquoi ne pas demander aux Africains eux-memes et non leurs gouvernements comment ils percoivent les challenges a venir et comment les affronter ?" ( Un entrepreneur de Nairobi affirme )" La maniere dont l'occident nous percoit importe peu. C'est aux afriquains d'ecrire leurs histoires et de le dire au monde. C'est la seule maniere pour que les choses changent"

The problem with aid in Africa: Part One

This debate has been carried out in many places and most recently in Arusha, Tanzania for the TED conference: "Africa, the next Chapter". The conversation picked up steam when The Vanity Fair Africa Issue came out featuring many celebrities on the cover but not many Africans. So What is the problem with international aid today ?
My sister weighs in this post but first, a link to must-read articles related to the subject:
-Faking Africa and stories of vanity (blacklooks.0rg)

"the emphasis is on these two rock stars with diamond studs + a bunch of grey suits talking about us as if we are children - worse actually talking about us in our presence as if we are not there."

-showcasing africa or its glamorous patrons ? (Tony Karon):

"Only three of those featured are actual Africans: the actor (and editor’s consultant) Djimon Hounsou, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Iman. (Three and a half, if you count U.S. presidential longshot Barack Obama, another cover model, by virtue of being the son of a Kenyan economist.) Not exactly a new brand of Africa: Hounsou is largely a product of Hollywood; Tutu, with respect, has retired from his life as an activist cleric; and Iman’s only qualification is that she was a well-known model in 1980s."

-Judging a magazine by its cover: (Ethan Zuckerman)

"If you want to understand why so many Africans are upset about how they’re portrayed in the northern media, this issue wouldn’t be a bad place to start."

le symdrome Bono (en Francais sur soblogue.com):

"La première étape est de changer l'objectif au coeur de la croisade en faveur de l'Afrique. Ce n'est pas pour de l'aide qu'il faut faire des concerts à travers le monde, c'est pour la liberté et le respect des droits et de la démocratie."

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Here is Randiana's take on aid in Africa:

Have you ever thought about what a glossy magazine can trigger? Last Vanity Cover wit Bono and 21 celebrities provoked a web-wide wave of protests, ranging from indignation with the shocking instrumentalisation of extreme poverty to the participation in reinforcing afro-pessimism with its predictable consequences on brain drain, investment, and …aid. Precisely, is more aid needed for Africa? Or is the real question: which aid for which Africa? Is, as Nobel Prize Yunus once said, “charity, the hidden face of contempt”? How aid can become detrimental to sustainable development, and paradoxically trigger the opposite of its goals?
To us public opinion, which includes tax payers who finance international aid, charity sponsors and citizen-donors alike, needs to have a clear view of accountability: that of African leaders, G8 decisions makers, Bretton Woods institutions, NGOs, African citizens and their own. Can and should Bono and his friends help?

Part ONE

1. Aid in Africa status: is more aid needed for Africa?
a. Poverty in 2006, defined. To avoid confusion, let’s agree on what is poverty. The Human Development Indicator (HDI), a composite of various indicators o is used by the UN and Bretton Woods institutions to . So bluntly and briefly described, extreme poverty is, as described in UN Human Development report in 2006. lacking access to clean water , living without sanitation on less than $2 a day.
b. Three Major issues: According to the same report, there are 3 major pressing challenges when it comes to tackling poverty.
i. Few developing countries have put infrastructure and particularly access to water and sanitation as a priority
ii. Second, the poorest are often paying the highest price to basic sanitation, reflecting the state of the slums they live in
iii. Third, the international community has failed to tackle the above issue and treat them as priority in the development partnership they have settled with the countries in need.
Underlying these three issues, the report adds, is the lack of political voices of poor people to asset their claims on basic infrastructure, if and when they exist.
c. Where Aid failed: The last challenge, the failure of international aid to reach its poverty ending goal, has triggered many criticisms, well before Bono called the world’s attention on a persistent state of poverty. Among them, and the most virulent one was Graham Hancock, author of “Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business” in 1989. He writes, p190:
“the ugly reality is that most poor people in most poor countries most of the time never receive or even make contact with aid in any tangible shape or form: whether it is present or absent, increased or decreased, are thus issues that are simply irrelevant to the ways is which they conduct their daily lives. After the multi-billion-dollar 'financial flows' involved have been shaken through the sieve of overpriced and irrelevant goods that must be bought in the donor countries, filtered again in the deep pockets of hundreds of thousands of foreign experts and aid agency staff, skimmed off by dishonest commission agents, and stolen by corrupt Ministers and Presidents, there is really very little left to go around. This little, furthermore, is then used thoughtlessly, or maliciously, or irresponsibly by those in power -- who have no mandate from the poor, who do not consult with them and who are utterly indifferent to their fate."
d. Not that Hancock is an absolute authority in the debate over aid, but his comments reflect most of western tax payers’ fatigue in paying for development, yet not seeing tangible results of their efforts. The very recent complain deposited by a French NGO againt President Bongo of Gabon and President Sassou N’Guesso of Congo is illustrating this exasperation. If the allegation proves right, then international aid would have financed the purchase of luxury “hotels particuliers” in fancy residential Paris for the personal use of these two presidents. The list is unfortunately not exhaustive.
e. The rush to alternate ways of “doing good” has benefited NGOs industry, where the citizen donor feels his money lies in safer hands, and above all, will land on the intended target. But, there, NGOs suffer from scarcity of resources, lack of political voices to get government and international support.
So should AID stop?

To be continued.....
PS: As Harinjaka pointed out, the TED conference was a bit lacking in African french-speakers. I am working on a French translation of this post; It's really too bad if African french-speakers were left out of this conversation.

A Scotts' one-liner reply to Bono

Got this email about a Bono story during a concert in Glasgow from Paul, it was just too funny not to pass along.
(Keep in mind that I would still argue that Bono's heart is in the right place and that the world could use more people like him )
Here goes the story:

Scottish Sympathy

Bono, the lead singer of the band U2, is famous throughout the
>> entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-
>> righteous.
>>
>> At a recent U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland, he asked the audience
>> for
>> total quiet. Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his
>> hands,
>> once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he
>> said
>> into the microphone, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa
>> dies."
>>
>> A voice with a broad Scottish accent, from the front of the crowd,
>> pierces the quiet .............
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Well, foockin stop doin it then!"
>>

A Malagasy father's day: kicking it with the Camel trophy in 1987

It's father's day and we all have had problems getting dad the right gift: A new tie or a toolbox gets old after a while. So instead, you could tell your (Malagasy) dad one of your favorite story about him. I know my dad won't like this too much because he is not too found of the whole "blogging" thing. He believes that not everyone have good intentions on the web (he probably has a point). However, the web is not all that bad, it helps sharing moments even if we are far apart.
So, dad grab your favorite beer, your reading glasses and your favorite longchair, because we are taking a trip down memory lane. Twenty years ago to be exact.
Remember this ?



In 1987, the Camel trophy was set in Madagascar and it was a big deal for adventure seekers and Malagasy people. The idea was to rough it out in the Malagasy primitive forrest from North to South, with Range Rovers (this would be the last year that Range Rovers would be used for Camel trophy).
My dad, freshly celebrating his 40th birthday, was chosen to be part of the medical emergency team that would follow the participants in his grueling adventure. One of the reason was probably that he owned a Range Rover himself back then and it would be more acceptable for the sponsors. (That was the only time my dad own a somewhat expensive car, since then, he's been using (in chronological order) a Citroen 2 CV, a 4L and a Golf).
My dad was beaming like a kid in a candy shop. It was everything he could wish for: Camel trophy, big outdoors, men against nature,no showers, smelly feet and scruffy beards allowed, and fixing cars with a tin can and some scotch tape.... heaven on earth !
My mum was not thrilled but she knew that she possibly could not NOT let him do it.
The Camel trophy team seems to have had a blast in Madagascar.
Comments go as such "The majesty of Madagascar...the people are the assets... clear and bright Madagascar dawn".
The following video is the part where my dad was with the crew in Antsohy.
So enjoy the video,dad, but better yet, turn off the sound on the video and play the Lolo sy ny tariny Lemizo song over the video. You know where the song goes:

Izany no mba nofinofiny
Avy any anaty aloky ny Chef-fréra-
N'Ambodin'andohalo a

( my dad was a choirboy at the Andohalo church ) :)

(Lolo sy ny tariny: lemizo)
click here if the song does not play:



Happy father's day !

PS: Try playing the song over the video. It really gives you quite a chill :D.
If only I was computer savvy enough to pull off this trick ( warning: soprano finale spoiler)

The Madagascar Plan: 67 years ago, what if Ribbentrop had signed?

[French translation here]
This is the story of a human tragedy, a dramatic turn of events in the history of 2 nations and a hypothetical situation of particular interest to Historians of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict or Madagascar. It is the story of two nations that nothing seemed to connect and yet came very close to have their destiny forever intertwined.

[wiki] "The Madagascar Plan was a suggested policy of the Third Reich government of Nazi Germany to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar".

The rampant antisemitism in the early century in Europe already floated the idea of expelling European Jews to Africa. The plan to deport jews to Madagascar gathered steam when France was vanquished in 1940. The plan was elaborated by Franz Rademacher, defended by Himmler and gained the support of Poland's Hans Frank, governor of occupied-Poland who did not want to manage what would become the Varsaw Ghetto yet and Hitler. Rademacher's plan was first formulated as such:
"

# Germany would be given the right to install military bases on Madagascar
# The 25,000 Europeans (mostly French) living on Madagascar would be removed
# Jewish emigration was to be forced, not voluntary
# The Jews on Madagascar would operate most local governmental functions but would be responsible to a German police governor
# The entire emigration and colonization of Madagascar would be paid by Jewish possessions confiscated by the Nazis"

In reality, 4 millions Jews were expected to be deported.
However, as the battle over Great-Britain and on the east front went on, the plan was put on hold temporarily.
On August 15 1940, Eichman drafted a document called "Reichssicherheitshauptamt: Madagaskar Projekt". However, the document laid on Heydich (his superior)'s desk, ignored and unapproved, therefore letting the Varsaw ghetto's construction be set in motion.
The events following the establishment of the Varsaw ghetto are tragically infamous. As the war proceeded, the systematic extermination of Jews know as the holocaust commenced.

It is probable that had the Madagascar plan been implemented, the holocaust might have proceeded in a different manner. The plan can definitely not be portrayed as an act of clemence by the Nazis, but one cannot help but wonder: "what if Heydich has approved the draft on August 1940 ?"
Assuming all things equal after this hypothetical signature, several scenarios are to be considered :

1) the Nazis would have send the initial 25,000 jews to Madagascar and put some in charge of the local government. The island was taken back from Germany by Great-Britain and the free forces only in 1942. By that time, 1.5 millions jews would have been moved to the island. (approx. 12% of the Malagasy population at the time)
2) Considering Britain and France's critical role in the creation of Israel in 1947, one would think that they would have let the local Jewish settlers in Madagascar the administration of the country.
3) The Malagasy population fought valiantly against the French occupation in 1947. It would be logical to assume that they would have done the same wherever the occupants were from. It would suggest that a similar conflict to the one in Palestine could have taken place in Madagascar. For how long, who knows ?

This is the point where I struggle to project this hypothetical situation. The Israelo-Palestinian conflict was always rendered more complex by the borders that Israel shares with other arab nations that support the Palestinians' claim. Madagascar,being an island, would not be in a similar situation.
Moreover, I believe the fact that the Jewish population would be forced to migrate to Madagascar would not carry the same adverse reaction from Malagasy people as a colonialist invasion. In my opinion, it is not too far-fetched to imagine a decade from 1940's to the 50's when Madagascar would have been a Jewish nation.
Another factor to consider is the size of the island. Madagascar is as big as France, Belgium and the Netherlands combined. An enclave of Israel surrounded by Malagasy land would seem like a viable option for both communities.
Granted all of the stuff I have just written is pure speculation and is solely for the purpose of intellectual musing from my rahter unique perspective on this story as a Malagasy; yet if you think of the "what-could-have-been", would that scenario be really that bad for all parties involved ? Let's review:

1) Part of the Jewish community would have escaped the holocaust.
2) They would not be perceived as ruthless colonialists because they would have been forced to migrate to Madagascar by the Nazis in the first place.
3) The bloodshed between France and Madagascar in 1947 might have been lessened by a Jewish mediation.
4) Considering the rapid development of Israel, maybe Madagascar would have benefited from a dynamic economic neigbhor.
5) The current Middle-East crisis would not be taking place, at least not in Palestine. There might be an Indian Ocean crisis; however looking back at the Malagasy history of conflicts (mostly a few and far in between), one cannot help but wonder what if Ribbentrop or Heydich had "greenlighted" the Madagaskar Projekt ....

Reference:
the madagascar plan on history1900s
on wikipedia
The plan by Rademacher at the Jewish virtual library

Nostalgie Mahaleo

The Mahaleo concert series @ l'Olympia are now history. I still cannot get over the fact that I did not go. I have been waiting anxiously for posts or emails from friends who attended and who then would tell me how flipping awesome it was.
Well, as the saying goes "à defaut de grives, on mange des merles". So here are two clips:
1) the first one, kids singing "ferapara", is posted on http://www.mahaleoalolympia.com/ entitled "l'esprit Mahaleo" ( I could not agree more)

2) the second one, "amin'ny anaran'ny ray..", was posted by Harinjaka who is currently rubbing elbows with global leaders in Arusha.

Amin'ny anaran'ny ray
Uploaded by ratoza

Both clips are making me...well, I cannot possibly describe how I feel but if you lived in Madagascar as a a child, you know exactly what I mean. ( Joy, distress and ecstasy all at once)
So if you went to the concert, for those unfortunate ones,please pretty please, share a bit of the magic, we are begging here.

PS: 1) That kid in the 1st video (with the hat, the T-shirt that says: "nul n'est parfait" and smoking cigarettes), I knew that kid and I am sure you knew him too (or someone like him). He was that kid that was always around your circle of friends and you did not know why, but you missed him dearly when he was not there.

Some lyrics if you feel like singing along:

ferapara:

Mbola zazakely ialahy tamin’izay
Tokony ho telo taona na efa-taona teo
Tsy mahatsiaro tena
tsy mahafantatra ny tany

Indray andro maty tampoka ny dadan’ialahy
Rafahafatesana mandondom-baravarana
noheverin’ialahy fa hitondra kilalao

amin'ny anaran'ny ray:

Aleonay vavaky tena malagasy
Toy izay irony vavaka noferina avy any an-dafy.
Aleonay vavaka tena malagasy
Toy izay ny vavaky ny vazaha be taim-parasy
Dia manao hoe:

Au nom du pera, et du masera, et du mopera, du sefo frera:
Amena! amena! amena!
Au nom du pera, et du masera, et du mamera, et du mopera:
Amena! amena! amena!

Let's get political

It's Friday and I feel like putting aside the political correctness by talking about.... politics.
Here are a few highlights of political views that were of interest:

Bernard Chazelle on tonykaron.com about Nicolas Sarkozy:
"Soccer star Lilian Thuram might well be right that “Sarkozy stirs up people’s latent racism,” but as to being a racist himself the evidence is thin. Sarko actually never used the word “scum.” An exasperated resident of the projects asked him when he would rid them of the racaille (wrongly translated as scum; it means rabble) and he repeated her plea in the affirmative. [...]
However, Sarko’s open admiration for the rancid views of my former Ecole Polytechnique colleague, Alain Finkielkraut, makes one wonder. One of the “new philosophers,” he is the French Niall Ferguson, who goes whining to Haaretz that “In France… we no longer teach that the colonial project sought… to bring civilization to the savages.” "

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Georgie Anne Geyer in the Dallas News on Bush behaving like an NBA star:
"But by all reports,President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness. Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

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In French, roundup of Malagasy bloggers' opinions on the new immigration laws in France:
"(Nivo):
Concernant l’immigration choisie, il est clair que je désapprouve ce qu’il propose, non pas en tant qu’étrangère vivant en France, mais en tant que personne respectueuse des dignités humaines et du libre arbitre et du choix concernant la direction que chacun veut donner à son existence
Et puis, comment réellement apprécier la “qualité”, l”amour”, l’”engagement” d’un individu envers un pays étranger ? Je ne pense pas qu’il y ait de critères assez objectifs pour nous permettre d’être juges…"

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The government in Madagascar might be turning a new leaf. Barijoana and other weigh in:
"Après Christian Chadefaux, 40 ans à Madagascar, voilà que Sylvain Urfer se voit refuser un titre de séjour après avoir passé 33 ans à Madagascar. Du grand n’importe quoi, en tout cas symptomatique du fait que l’on sort de la dictature molle pour passer à quelque chose de plus marqué. De Sarkozy et de Ravalomanana, théruféraires et opposants ont dit qu’ils partageaient le fait d’être de la même génération, leur américanophilie, leur culture du résultat, leur fascination pour l’argent…"

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Jodi Kantor (NYT) on Barack Obama. Basketball as a social equalizer:

"Though some of these men could afford to build courts at their own homes, they pride themselves on the democratic nature of basketball, on showing up at South Side parks and playing with whoever is around. At the University of Chicago court where he and Mr. Obama used to play, “You might have someone from the street and a potential Nobel Prize winner on the same team,” Mr. Duncan said. “It’s a great equalizer.”"

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