DFID critics speak out: White Paper policies would perpetuate poverty, poor education and ill health
IPN Press release
London, 13 July – The DFID White Paper on International Development, released today, is, “a victory for ignorance over evidence and of hope over logic,” according to Julian Morris, Director of International Policy Network. He continued, “If its proposals are implemented, the winners will be aid bureaucrats and the political elite. The poor will be the certain losers.”
Meanwhile, education expert James Tooley and aid expert Fredrik Erixon offered the following comments about proposals in DFID’s White Paper:
Education: the failure of foreign aid in Kenya
In 2003, Kenya received a huge influx of aid money intended to increase the number of children attending primary school. Yet on-the-ground research in Kenya by Professor James Tooley, E.G. West Centre for Education, says that this aid caused more harm than good for poor students:
“Far from expanding primary education in Kenya, this foreign aid-funded programme simply resulted in children being transferred from private to government schools. There was no increase in the number of children attending primary school,” said Professor Tooley. “Worse, parents themselves said that children receiving ‘free’ education in government schools were ‘neglected and abandoned’, whereas when they had been in private schools they had been looked after by highly committed teachers whose educational standards were far higher.”
Tooley concluded, “Parents know that by paying fees they keep the school accountable to them. If you ask, they’ll tell you that free primary education is entirely the wrong solution to their educational needs and aspirations.”
Foreign aid: DFID ignores evidence that aid causes more harm than good
Fredrik Erixon, author of IPN’s study Aid and Development: Will it work this time? said that the White Paper portends more of the same failed policies that have perpetuated poverty:
“In recent decades, the UK government’s aid regime has been more about preserving despotic political regimes and supporting failed policies. Sadly, DFID’s new White Paper indicates that there will be no shift in future UK aid policy,” said Erixon.
Erixon observed: “The White Paper neglects the vast amount of research and evidence which demonstrates that poor countries have been seriously damaged by western aid spending. The evidence shows that there is a negative relationship between economic growth and foreign aid. Economic development in poor countries has and will come from domestic policy reforms which release people, entrepreneurs and markets from the shackles of excessive regulations and the Soviet model of central economic planning still favoured by many poor countries in Africa.”
Erixon’s paper: Aid and development
Professor Tooley’s website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/
Tooley discusses education in Kenya, Nigeria and India: http://www.id21.org/viewpoints/TooleySept05.html
