Embargo: Tuesday 3rd February 2015, 00:01
A
radically different approach to development is needed if progress in reaching
the poorest is to be accelerated says a new report from the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI).
In spite of aid flows and robust economic growth, the report, ‘Adapting
development: improving services for the poor’, shows that some
countries could still take 100 years or more to deliver some basic healthcare,
sanitation and education services.
“For too many poor people, the question is not whether they will have access to
services by 2015 or even 2030, but by 2090 or even later” said Leni Wild, lead
author of the report and ODI’s public goods and services team leader.
International aid can be part of the solution, but if development practice is not
reformed then the goal of improving services for the poor and narrowing
inequality gaps, is likely to take many decades to deliver. In the report,
authors highlight that on current trends and projections:
· Kenya, one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa, faces a 150-year wait until nationwide sanitation is achieved.
· In Ghana there is a 76-year gap between when the richest and the poorest are projected to have access to a skilled health professional during childbirth.
· Rwanda, Burundi and Lesotho have up to 85 years to wait until full coverage of improved drinking water sources is achieved.
· Across sub-Saharan Africa, rich urban boys will be completing primary school 65 years before all poor rural girls.
While
an ongoing commitment to aid in the UK is welcome, the authors note the current
focus on volume of aid, has to be matched by an emphasis on the quality and better
delivery of aid, which are key to improving outcomes. “Looking at how aid works
is more important than how much to spend”, said the authors.
“Our
research for the last three years has shown us that projects delivering good
results are locally led, politically smart and often employ entrepreneurial
techniques,” said Ms Wild.
“Too often donor-funded aid programmes are designed as ‘one size fits’ all, not
tailored to the political realities and the capacity to deliver of the
countries they are operating.”
The
authors argue that development agencies need to be more innovative and
flexible, learn from failure, and ‘spread their bets to minimize risk’
–something which is well recognised in other sectors, including the experience
of business ‘start-ups’.
However
they say to do this, there has to be a more honest debate about aid, beyond the
simple ‘heart strings’ approach. A more public
discussion about the difficulties would enable development practitioners to
take more risks.
“They
fall back on technical fixes, rather than working in the more uncertain
territory of locally-led solutions”, added Ms Wild.
The
report calls for governments to be honest when aid programmes fail and to cut
schemes that cannot prove they have made a difference.
It gives examples from Malawi, the Philippines, Nigeria and elsewhere of what successful
approaches to aid look like.
In the Philippines, long-standing efforts to tackle property rights were solved
when local reformers worked differently, by building coalitions to target local
power-brokers.
- Ends -
For more information, a copy of the report, or to arrange interviews with the
report authors please call Clare Price on +44 7808 791 265 or email [email protected]
Notes to the editors:
The figures are projections based on the observed rate of change experienced by
countries in selected service provision indicators from the late 1990s to the
present day.
The report, info graphics and film can be found at:
http://www.odi.org/adapting-development