Description
A significant contribution to the ongoing debate on aid effectiveness, this work examines the extent to which trust is present in today's aid relationships. Pomerantz offers valuable recommendations, learned in years of fieldwork and research, that have the potential to transform the way that aid agencies operate.
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Despite $1 trillion in foreign aid going to Africa in the last 50 years, the average per capita income there is lower now than it was in 1960, asserts Pomerantz, author and Chief Learning Officer of the World Bank. The problem is not the amount of money, but lack of basic cultural understanding on the part of donors, and a lack of trust on both sides. She examines the type of aid that is given, whether in cash or materials, and how it so often does not meet real needs at the developmental level. She notes how disconnected aid agencies are from their own field workers and recipients, and how agencies can construct insuperable barriers to providing aid of worth and value to recipients. She also gives some practical ways to instill trust on both sides of the aid equation by building relationships based on mutual needs and goals. Pomerantz includes a list of further reading with her references. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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