Aid for Africa
Will it reach farmers, will it power development?
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Lecture Theatre, National Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh
Monday, 4 July 2005, 2 - 5.30 pm
In the run up to the G8 summit, and as part of the Make Poverty History campaign, Practical Action held a conference in Edinburgh to explore how aid and development funding can be used more effectively to rapidly reduce poverty in Africa, covering two topics, agriculture and energy.
Two papers were produced ahead of the conference, addressing the effectiveness of EC aid to Africa:
EC aid: failing Africa's poor?With increased aid funding following the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, there could be a possibility of making poverty history in Africa and of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, but only if the aid resources are used more effectively than is currently the case.
Using the examples of Kenya and Zambia, this paper shows that the substantial EC aid programme and influence is only marginally impacting upon African smallholder farmers, whose households constitute the majority of the poor in the continent. It is intended that this paper will stimulate awareness and debate in the neglected area of EC aid effectiveness in Africa.
This report outlines the how African populations are chronically underserved in terms of energy and how this contributes to the poverty crisis facing the continent. It looks at two recent proposals for African development, and considers the current and potential role of the EC. |
This conference was part of a joint Practical Action/PELUM awareness-raising project funded by the EC, African Voices in Europe.
