The British government has committed itself to reaching the United Nations’ goal of raising aid to 0.7% of its GDP by 2013. The Make Poverty History campaign has called for ‘more and better aid’. Yet critics point out that there is no automatic correlation between the billions that have been given to Africa in recent decades and economic growth, or living standards in the continent. Others suggest trade rather than aid is the way to help Africa, but the continent has to overcome competition from much richer countries whose businesses often enjoy state subsidies. Many argue that schemes such as Fairtrade and micro-credit empower local people and allow them to lift themselves out of poverty, but this offers little hope for large-scale economic development.
Advocates of aid and trade both tend to assume that Africa needs a helping hand from Western institutions, and this invariably means political interference. The old IMF mechanism for refusing aid if developing nations didn’t toe the line has been replaced by new ‘ethical strings’ attached to aid and debt relief. So-called ‘pro-poor’ conditions are premised on concerns that large-scale development will corrupt African governments. Any vision for Africa as an independent, developed, modern society is seen as utopian, irresponsible, or written off as a ‘free market solution’. The limited aim of ‘poverty reduction’ has redefined development away from economic growth and industrialisation. Developing countries seem always to be on the receiving end of ‘intermediate technology’ rather than proper technology.’ The millennium development goal is to cut the number of people living on less than a dollar a day in half by 2015–what about the other half?
Is Africa doomed to economic dependence and external limits? Is the brake on its development, structural, internal, or are limits imposed externally? What role should the West play to enable Africa to become prosperous? What are the conditions that will allow such current growth to continue and improve?
 | Daniel Ben-Ami journalist and author, Ferraris for All: in defence of economic progress and Cowardly Capitalism |
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 | Giles Bolton writer and aid worker; former head of British aid programme in Rwanda; author, Poor Story: An Insider Uncovers How Globalisation and Good Intentions Have Failed the World's Poor |
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 | Professor Paul Collier professor of economics, University of Oxford; director, Centre for the Study of African Economies; author, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It |
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 | Dr Firoze Manji co-director, Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice; editor, Pambazuka News |
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| Chair: | |
 | Viv Regan managing editor, spiked |
| Claire Fox director, Academy of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze; author, I Find That Offensive | |
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 | recommended by spiked |
