tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28291672402995001102010-05-01T13:18:18.179-07:00Africa is poor. If we send it more money it will be less poor. It seems perfectly logical, doesn't it? But it isn't. Along with its many benefits, government aid to Africa has often meant more poverty, worse basic services and damage to already precarious democratic institutions. Calls for more aid are drowning out pressure for action that would really make a difference for Africa's poor. Rather than doubling aid to Africa, it is time to reduce aid dependency. This book will show you why.Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-85203892892233533272010-05-01T13:18:00.001-07:002010-05-01T13:18:18.210-07:00

This blog is now located at http://troublewithaid.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://troublewithaid.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Trevornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-77704708535914931462009-10-28T13:37:00.000-07:002009-10-28T13:49:54.257-07:00

I was at the European Development Days in Stockholm last week on a panel with IMF, World Bank, recipient country and European development agency representatives. Some of the usual issues came up (conditionalities, harmonisation etc) but the biggest applause came when I said what I thought might be provocative, given the overwhelmingly aid business audience. "When", I asked, "will development

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-13817415494759287362009-09-16T04:55:00.000-07:002009-09-16T04:58:02.880-07:00

This article was first published in the New Internationalist on 1 Sept 2009I knew this would happen. The intellectual initiative on African development seized by a free-market ideologue, now listed by Time Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.It is clear what side of the fence Dambisa Moyo is sitting on. The foreword to her book Dead Aid is written by leading conservative

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-82159473532839219392009-07-04T16:33:00.000-07:002009-07-05T20:56:31.432-07:00

I went to the US Embassy Independence Day party yesterday (celebrated a day early) – the huge military compound was transformed into a theme park for the night. The Colombian guests sang their national anthem with gusto, but the Americans gave a pretty poor rendition of theirs (just as the British usually do). Sometimes listening to the American anthem sung tiredly, you can forget what a majestic

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-73665997337456088122009-06-20T02:28:00.000-07:002009-06-20T02:33:25.381-07:00

I have re-found an article I wrote a couple of years ago for the BOND newsletter - here it is below. In it I exhort the western development community (the main readers of the newsletter) to 'catch up' with movements in the south, particularly South America. But I also note that African social movements should be checking out developments over the Atlantic. This is still very much the case. Given

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-37986586041118579852009-02-28T13:11:00.001-08:002009-02-28T13:12:47.247-08:00

This article was first published in the Guardian newspaper on 27 Feb 2009A group of foreigners turn up in a community. They are a different colour, dress differently and speak a funny language. They step off the bus and are ushered into a communal building, a school perhaps, where some local residents (elected, selected, or just pushy) explain the problems they are facing. The foreigners listen

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-14604266705910036682009-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:002009-02-28T13:06:38.881-08:00

This article was first posted on www.africanarguments.org on 14 Feb 2009In the economic turmoil currently affecting the industrialised world, the arguments I set out in my book, The Trouble With Aid: Why Less Could Mean More for Africa, become even more pertinent. As donor governments look for ways to cut expenditure on non-priority activities, some campaigners will shift away from a call to

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-67998983872523340882008-10-31T04:03:00.000-07:002009-02-28T13:41:50.481-08:00

First published on the Guardian's Katine website on 4 Nov 2008A year into the Katine project, is it on course to make a significant and lasting change for the people of the area? It is impossible to answer that question without a much better knowledge of the context than is possible from reading some technical documents and the odd blog, but the debate about what progress is being made in Katine

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-6246308759121065602008-09-15T05:27:00.001-07:002009-02-20T05:55:14.255-08:00

It was, I presume, one of those classic tussles of which my publishers will be veterans. My first reaction to the cover design they sent me was: looks great, a clever idea carried out well graphically – but no way.Although the book is balanced, original and propositive, I know there will be some who will assume that it is ‘anti-aid’ and negative, and try to write it off as ‘heard it all before’.

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-38250866893179744632008-09-14T15:55:00.000-07:002008-09-14T21:54:00.241-07:00

Some of the things I say in this book are controversial. I have already had to field angry phone calls from colleagues in the aid industry who disagree with my arguments. It is always good, therefore, to get strong endorsements for the book.Samuel Gayi, the leader of the team that writes UNCTAD’s annual (and highly respected) Economic Development in Africa report, thinks it is a “must-read”:“The

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-90281553132367175052008-09-14T15:02:00.000-07:002009-02-28T13:49:22.067-08:00

First posted on my Cuentos y Chismes blog on 17 April 2006, while working in Mexico City.The now-developed world has spent much of its energy in the last few hundred years ripping off today’s poorer countries. Most Mexicans I know are well aware of this, while at the same time despising their own political elite for doing the same. That the Spanish and Portuguese plundered Latin America is not a

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-73057135132723246482008-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:002009-02-28T13:46:41.840-08:00

First posted on the Betteraid.org blog on 15 August 2008The Colombian government appears to have found a new policy document of choice. Rather than arriving at donor-recipient meetings armed with the latest dossier of stats showing how dreamily everything is going, government officials now turn up brandishing the Paris Declaration. Colombian NGOs are confused and rather nervous. Instead of

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-73753079038108499262008-08-10T14:50:00.000-07:002008-09-15T05:51:41.593-07:00

First posted 24 July 2008 on The Guardian's Katine websiteSub-Saharan Africa is poor. If rich countries send it money it will be less poor and people living in poverty will be better off. It seems perfectly logical, doesn't it? Moved by persistent poverty in Africa, millions of people have joined campaigns to persuade their governments to give more aid to Africa. But it is not that simple.Our

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829167240299500110.post-37833650817765129972008-08-01T15:31:00.000-07:002009-02-28T13:52:58.134-08:00

First posted on 22 July 2008 as a comment in response to Duncan Green's blog assessing my book. Duncan Green is a respected development economist who is presently Head of Research at Oxfam. He describes the book as "crisp and well-argued" but is not convinced by my conclusions.Hi Duncan,I am pleased you liked (most of) the book. It was written for campaigners, students and all those interested in

Jonathan Glenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876309218125521580noreply@blogger.com0