Making aid work by building strong institutions.

• Author: Wentling, Mark

It is a much different world today than when most development assistance organizations were founded. Yet, for the most part, too many of these agencies continue to do business as usual. The contexts of most developing countries have undergone many important changes, but a number of assistance agencies continue funding the same kinds of activities with the same mechanisms as they did decades ago. Reforms of the instruments used to deliver assistance need to be adopted and coordinated closely among all key donors if assistance efforts are to achieve durable progress. Above all, the best way forward requires that all donors join together to focus on building strong host country institutions.

All donors struggle to ensure their assistance has a lasting positive impact. This is understandable, but achieving impact requires a consistent focus on top assistance priorities. Maintaining such a focus is difficult because low-income countries need help in every area. Everything is priority, but by trying to do everything donors often find the funding they provided achieved very little. There are too many people with too many needs, making it a challenge to determine where it is best to invest limited assistance funds. Many of us are haunted by questions related to whether or not a country that needs aid to survive can successfully develop. Sadly, the results anticipated when this post-World War II development assistance effort in low-income countries began many years ago have not been realized.

The pressing assistance needs of many of these countries continue to be numerous and overwhelming. The following is an attempt to convey to the reader in a short speech format many of the key assistance needs that are begging for greater attention and funding.

Development Assistance Dream Speech

"I dream of a world where:

Every girl is educated, and all mothers are helped during the first thousand days of their babies' lives, starting at conception, to ensure all children have a healthy start in life. All babies born are not in the low birth-weight range, and all mothers are old enough to marry and bear children. Every woman has access to modern birth control methods in order to lower high fertility rates and achieve a national demographic transition. The fast population growth rate in a number of countries is slowed so that it does not outstrip all assistance efforts and result in high population densities that exceed the carrying capacity of available land.

Every child has a good head start in life, including a birth certificate and the opportunity to go to pre-school. Public schooling is of high quality and free. There are no longer any stunted, permanently-limited children because of poor nutrition. Health care for mothers and children is free. The battle against all negative traditional practices is won.

Farmers, especially women, have access to improved seeds and other inputs needed to raise crop yields up to international averages. Agro-processing enterprises thrive and strong land tenure regimes are in place everywhere. The use of irrigation is optimized. Everyone has access to profitable markets for their goods and services so they can reduce their poverty by participating successfully in competitive markets.

I dream of a world where:

Free trade regimes and regional trade blocks function. Abusive roadblocks and unnecessary delays at borders no longer exist. People and goods circulate freely within regions. Customs duties collected at borders are no longer a major source of national income. Police and soldiers are no longer visible everywhere. Money spent on national armies is drastically reduced or eliminated. Key all-weather roads permitting easy circulation of people and goods are built and well maintained. Reliable and affordable electrical power, potable water and sanitation for all become the rule instead of the exception.

Good and competent governments that put the best interests of the people first become the norm. Strong institutions that can manage competently the development process over the long term are established. A robust justice system pursues effectively all those involved in corrupt activities. Equitable tax systems collect more from elites, thereby providing more funds to help create safety nets for the poor. The exploitation of natural resources is environmentally sound and their management is transparent, and a portion of the income generated by the sale of these resources is equitably distributed to poor people.

The outflow of foreign currency to offshore banks is tightly controlled. Legal impunity for any person is stopped. External security assistance is provided where needed to help countries fight trans-national crime, terrorism and internal civil conflict so they can maintain the peace and stability needed to advance. Government leaders who endeavor to stay in power for too long of a period, thereby preventing a true democratic transition, are not tolerated. Democracy is made to work to improve the lives of the poor, and justice and human rights are relentlessly pursued.

I dream of a world where:

Special attention is paid to what can be done and not be done in poorly-governed, fragile, failing or failed states. Emergency humanitarian aid is provided where and when needed to save lives and reduce excessive human suffering. Food aid is only resorted to when absolutely necessary, utilizing the nearest sources of surplus foodstuffs. Development assistance models are adapted to fit the context of any given country or region, and each country has a viable development model that clearly shows a path to achieving an acceptable level of equitable economic growth. These models show how to create jobs and wealth, and increase the resiliency of vulnerable households. Job creation remains one of the true litmus tests of development.

Development assistance models take into account the youthful structure of many national populations and the challenges posed by rapid urbanization. There is more purchasing power and less hunger for all. The scourge of malaria is eradicated, and the burden posed by HIV/AIDs, Ebola and other diseases is greatly reduced. Environmental threats and climate change are mitigated to the extent possible. Every effort is engaged to prevent or reduce the effects of natural and man-made disasters. An ounce of disaster prevention is always worth much more than a pound of emergency assistance. With a critical mass of collective political will and understanding among donors, this dream of a better world is possible when strong institutions exist."

Too Many Poor People with Too Many Priority Needs

Whew! It is obvious from the brief 'dream speech' above that the needs of low-income countries are weighty and all-encompassing. Everything is high priority and not everyone can be helped. Where should a donor begin and where can each donor derive the biggest bang for its investment? These are among the questions that keep development professionals awake at night. Hard and sometimes cruel choices need to be taken to decide who can be helped and who cannot.

As much as we would like to do all good things for all people at once, it is clear that doing everything for everyone is not...