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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERpractice, but some form of exit strategy is essential for both donorsand recipients.As Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni <strong>to</strong>ld a conference inWashing<strong>to</strong>n DC in 2005: ‘I have made revenue collection a frontlineinstitution because it is the one which can emancipate us from begging,from disturbing friends…if we can get about 22 percent of GDP[double the current rate] we should not need <strong>to</strong> disturb anybody byasking for aid….instead of coming here <strong>to</strong> bother you, give me this,give me this, I shall come here <strong>to</strong> greet you, <strong>to</strong> trade with you.’ 152The best kind of aid strengthens responsive state structures. InBotswana, which for many decades has been Africa’s economic successs<strong>to</strong>ry, the government <strong>to</strong>ok control of aid immediately after independenceand made sure that it was integrated in<strong>to</strong> its own nationalbudgeting and planning procedures. Though heavily dependent onaid (even in 1973, when its economic take-off was well under way, aidfunded 45 per cent of <strong>to</strong>tal government expenditure), Botswana refuseddonor proposals that did not fit its own priorities and insisted ontailoring donor activities <strong>to</strong> the government’s way of doing things. 153By contrast, when donors fund myriad small projects, or set upparallel systems with NGOs or other service providers, they are morelikely <strong>to</strong> undermine the state than strengthen it. Qualified staff leavegovernment for better-paid jobs in the aid world, and governmentplanners struggle <strong>to</strong> implement coherent national development plansthat pull <strong>to</strong>gether different and often competing players.Part of the answer <strong>to</strong> better aid lies in providing governments withcore funding, known as general budget support (GBS), or with fundingearmarked for a particular sec<strong>to</strong>r such as agriculture or health (knownas sec<strong>to</strong>r-wide approaches, or SWAPs). In 2004 only $2bn of the $79bnglobal aid budget was in GBS form, although the amount was risingfast. 154 Rather than insisting that aid be spent on ‘flagged’ projects,where visiting development ministers can hold their pho<strong>to</strong> opportunities,GBS or SWAPs enable governments <strong>to</strong> spend it on strategicrecurring costs such as teachers’ and health workers’ salaries.A rigorous evaluation of the impact of GBS in seven countriesfound that it boosted funding <strong>to</strong> basic public services in health andeducation, and reduced the transaction costs of multiple meetings,donor visits, and reporting requirements. 155 More importantly, GBS368

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