When Does the Development Aid Work in Africa? Lessons from the Ireland Aid in Sidama, Ethiopia: Part I
By: Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo 1.Introduction: the Failure of the Conventional Aid Model The micro and macroeconomic impacts of development aid in Africa has become one of the most contentious issues for decades now. The recent path breaking book "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo, an Oxford/Harvard economist, has shaken the foundation of the development aid model and stirred up the debate whether aid does in fact help to reduce poverty and increase economic growth in poor African countries. Moyo (2009) argues that although in the past fifty years Africa received more than $1 trillion in development related assistance from rich countries, poverty rates continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined. "Between 1970 and 1998, when aid flows to Africa were at their peak, poverty in Africa rose from 11% to a staggering 66%" and that " roughly 600 million of Africa's billion people are now trapped in poverty". Moyo would admit that aid has done some