Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

From Diagnosing the Problems to Remediationattention to the experts, eat well at the conferences and workshops and profit from thecurse of Africa in the form of a seating allowance 142 but nothing else happens. Conversely,there are phases in the development of a society, including the rise to power of a new governingauthority, which have the ability to suddenly drive the country forward. This is whendevelopment agencies should act without planning in order to use this opportunity and toquickly begin providing reformers with the technical aid they need and want.Another problem facing technical aid is the large number of experts and consultantsthat circulate through development agencies offering their services. This phenomenonconsumes a large portion of the funds dedicated to development aid and means that technicalaid is motivated by an excess of supply, rather than demand. Development agenciesundoubtedly need experienced specialists who they can send to a country when the windowof opportunity to absorb such technical aid opens. Sending experts to the same placeyear after year regardless of political context and actual demand for expertise is simplya waste of resources. A first year student in primary school cannot be taught to solve a systemof equations no matter how much both of you try. The same can be said for the bandof crooks in power who continuously drone on about transparent tenders and electronicauctions. The results for the country will be zero, even if you sent all of the experts available.Even worse, they would probably end up teaching the crooks how to steal on a much moresophisticated level.In addition to proper timing, the priorities of development aid and the appropriatemix of money and experts, another important aspect to effective development aid is thevolume of provided funding. In general, the volume of funds provided should increase progressivelywith how the recipient over time shows that it can responsibly distribute suchfunds. Unfortunately this is not often the case. Official development aid is subject to policyand therefore is subject to political considerations, pressure and trends. Natural disastersand catastrophes, in particular, are able to focus the attention of the world’s media andthe public on specific countries and problems. These come into the field of vision of thepoliticians, who then suddenly feel that the given problem is not to be taken lightly andmust be resolved. How? The most common way that politicians “resolve” any problem: they142 One of the real curses of Africa is the generally applied practice of seating allowances, or in otherwords, per diems and lump-sum reimbursement for travel costs, which many development organizationsincluding NGOs have started to use to pay locals to participate in the events and activitiesthey have organized. While such amounts may be considered small by most Europeans, they oftenrepresent many times the daily income of the participants and nowadays politicians, officials, teachersand regular citizens in all levels in many African countries have grown accustomed to it. The result istopsy-turvy logic and a ruined sense of ownership, professionalism and volunteerism. It has occurredthat foreign experts, thanks to these seating allowances, do not educate those who need educatingin the specialized subject matter; rather they end up training the acquaintances and relatives of localofficials who attend the workshop thanks to dubious connections. The real effect of such technical aidand education is close to zero. One can find partners who are aware of the cancerous nature of this approachin practice and who attempt to change it all over Africa, but their efforts usually end up in somesort of compromise in the form of lower allowances compared to those provided by other organizations.157