It Takes Brains To Make Aid Work

Giving money to the world’s poor may make us feel better about ourselves but I question how much it improves their lives.
Academic studies show Africa was poorer at the Millennium than it was 50 years earlier.
And, despite a trillion dollars in aid, half its people live on less than 85p a day.
Aid tempts African governments to tailor policies to please their donors instead of meeting the needs of their people.
Free-market economics encouraged by the West can widen the gap between rich and poor.
In Uganda only 15 per cent of education aid reached schools because of corruption.
We may have our heart in the right place, but it takes brains to make aid really work.