AID EFFECTIVENESS: SUB SAHARAN AFRICA

Aid Effectiveness in Sub Saharan Africa



Aid Effectiveness in Sub Saharan Africa

Introduction

This paper re-examines the “good policy environment” argument for aid effectiveness and allocation in sub Saharan Africa. It does so while commanding for the function of social cohesion and its interplay with aid. The empirical outcomes show that once we account for the function of communal cohesion, the impact of principle disappears. This casts doubt on the deductions in Burnside and Dollar (2000) and the principle lessons derived from their findings. Our results have significant principle implications. They propose that conditioning help share on “good principle environment” may not inevitably lead to higher help effectiveness.

Two associated components are actually dominating development collaboration with low earnings countries. The first is concern that aid needs to be scaled up significantly in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while the second is a growing recognition of the importance of improving aid effectiveness. Both factors are especially relevant in West and Central Africa, since this region is furthest away from meeting the MDGs, has the weakest economies and arguably has the highest need for scaled-up, higher quality aid.

Major progress towards the MDGs has been made; much more needs to be done

In health, there has been major progress in reducing child mortality, in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa and even here, there have been striking declines in some countries. The slowest progress in reducing child mortality is in countries with high prevalence of HIV or those affected by conflicts. However, there has been dramatic progress in access to antiretroviral treatment in low- and middle-income countries in recent years from about 240 000 recipients in 2001 to almost 3 million in 2007. But great health inequities still exist, within and between countries. Moreover, slow progress in reducing maternal mortality is a major concern. While middle-income countries have achieved decreases in maternal mortality since 1990, declines in sub-Saharan Africa have been negligible.

Health is a litmus check for broader aid effectiveness efforts

Aid has made a important assistance to wellbeing profits achieved so far. This report contends that greater adherence to the Paris Declaration would accelerate progress still further. As such, wellbeing is a litmus check for broader aid effectiveness efforts. Improvements in the effectiveness of health help are already happening: increased predictability of help, more harmonization of the efforts of various donors, better alignment of wellbeing aid with countries priorities, and larger accountability - from both donors and recipients - for the outcomes help achieves. However these achievements need to be expanded to more countries and broadened to include a wider assembly of help actors.

Aid for health is fragmented and characterized by marked disparities between and within countries

Analysis of trends over the last ten years shows aid for health is fragmented into large numbers of small projects; more than two-thirds of all commitments were for less than US$500,000. Relatively little is provided directly into countries' budgets, and an important proportion of funds are channeled into multi-country and ...