Promises to Keep
With some nudging from activists, European politicians try to make good on pledges to Africa
"No Child Should Die if it's Avoidable"
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer is trying to cajole other developed countries into coughing up more for Africa.
The Road to Recovery
Though outside aid and assistance are vital, Africa must find its own path from poverty to prosperity
The End Of Poverty
In a world of plenty, 1 billion people are so poor, their lives are in danger. How to change that for good
Posted Sunday, March 6, 2005; 14.09 GMT
One prod to action will come from a U.N. conference in September that's supposed to figure out why progress toward the Millennium Development Goals — some simple measures of success in fighting poverty — has been so lousy. In 2000, nearly every country in the world signed up to meet the goals in 2015, but not much has happened since. Activists have been wanting to change that for years, and see 2005 as their best chance. data was formed in 2002 with funding from Bill Gates, George Soros and Bono to build political support for fighting African poverty. Its European director, Lucy Matthew, says that "instead of going for a palette of small achievable things, we decided to go after something big. We figured that if we didn't go for the gold, we would regret it." Blair at first resisted the idea of banking so much on Africa, but after interventions by Bono, Geldof and government experts, he came around to the idea of combining the Africa Commission with a big push to find more money. Blair and Brown, says Geldof, "see how vital an issue this is. In private too, they talk with passion and knowledge. Their minds don't wander, there's a difference in their eyes."
But to sell what Brown calls a "new Marshall Plan for Africa" (see interview), Britain had to lead by example. With just 0.34% of GNI devoted to overseas aid, it was lagging behind Belgium (0.6%), France (0.41%) and Ireland (0.39%), to say nothing of Norway (0.92%). As the government debated its budget in private last June, Geldof unloaded strategically in front of an audience of M.P.s: "I am sick of sitting with Tony and Gordon and hearing guff about scars on the face of the world, the grandiose schemes." The aid budget eventually got its increase, to 0.47% by 2008 and 0.7% by 2013. "I lose my temper," Geldof says now. "I just let it rip. Sometimes Bono tells me he thinks I have Tourette's syndrome."
Slowly, one bureaucratic and p.r. battle at a time, the 2005 Marshall Plan for Africa is taking shape. Here's what it comprises:
MORE AID European countries are now committing themselves to meeting the Millennium target of 0.7% of GNI. But most won't reach that level until 2015, which means Africa will be short of the funds needed to achieve those Millennium Goals in the meantime. Brown's idea for finding the money fast is to borrow against future aid streams to come up with $50 billion extra a year as soon as possible. The extra money would come from private lenders, who would buy bonds secured by the pledges of donor governments to repay them over many years. The International Finance Facility (IFF) is the centerpiece of Britain's proposals for the G-8 meeting in July. Brown has been working on it for a long time, drawing up a list three years ago of people he wanted to line up behind it, including Nelson Mandela, the Pope and Bono. "Who else do you want, God?" asked his adviser Shriti Vadera after he emerged from his office with the list. Brown got every endorsement, and now the IFF has received support from France, Germany and Italy.
Despite Schröder's warm words at Davos, opponents of the IFF within his own government insist he is committed only to using the scheme for a $4 billion vaccination program spearheaded by Bill Gates. Schröder, however, told Time two weeks ago that he will go beyond the vaccination program. Washington opposes the IFF altogether. It doesn't want to borrow against future aid flows when it's clear that Africa will need steady amounts of aid for decades. "It's one thing to spend money you've currently appropriated, and another to bet the future," says a senior U.S. official — because those iff bonds have to be repaid with interest when Africa will still need more money. The White House also worries that a massive cash injection will lead to waste and corruption. Instead, Washington is pushing its own Millennium Challenge Accounts, which require recipient countries to make measurable progress in good governance before money will flow. Some $5.5 billion has been budgeted for this program since it started three years ago, but nothing has yet been disbursed because recipient countries haven't jumped through the necessary political and economic hoops.
DEBT RELIEF Despite earlier efforts to cut Africa's debts, the continent still owes $293 billion and pays $15 billion a year in interest and fees — meaning some poor African countries spend more on debt service than on health or education. Only seven countries have seen their debts come down to levels considered sustainable. Campaigners would like 100% write-off of poor-country debt, including money owed to multilateral institutions like the World Bank, which hold one-third of all African debt. As a start, Britain and Canada have agreed to pay their proportional share of the debts of 21 poor countries to multilateral institutions, and are hoping others will join in.
MORE TRADE One obvious but politically difficult route for rich countries is to cut subsidies, especially in agriculture, that keep out African goods. If Africa could grab a 3% share of world trade instead of the current 2% — in 1980, it was 6% — that would represent some $70 billion in annual income, three times what they now receive in aid, and a permanent step up the growth ladder. The World Trade Organization will discuss this, again, in December.
NEW TAXES To create a separate, reliable stream of money to fund the needs of developing countries, French President Jacques Chirac proposed taxing either international financial transactions, airline tickets or deposits in tax havens. But the idea of international taxes is unpopular in the U.S. and Britain.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton thinks the world's remarkable response to the Asian tsunami may lead to what he calls the "democratization of aid. More than half the money for tsunami relief in the U.S. came through the Internet," he has said. All in all more than $7 billion has been pledged. He hopes donors can be encouraged to extend sympathy to victims of Africa's many "silent tsunamis" of disease and malnutrition. In the U.S., Evangelical Christians have recently turned their attention to Africa's problems, too, using their formidable publicity and fund-raising machines to push for more foreign aid. "The really dangerous photo is where you see musicians and actors hanging out with Evangelicals and soccer moms," says Bono. "That's when politicians will feel they have permission to spend money. Incrementalism doesn't work. For history to happen, there need to be bold steps."
With reporting by James Graff and Peter Gumbel/Paris, Jeff Israely/Rome and Charles P. Wallace/Berlin
The Corruption Cop [Oct. 11, 2004]
Nigeria's first female Finance Minister wants to make sure her country's petrodollars help people
An African New Deal? [Jun. 10, 2002]
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki is trying to sell a plan to encourage both democracy and investment. It could be Africa's last hope for joining the global economy
Look Who's Growing Fastest [Dec. 4, 2002]
One of the world's poorest regions is coming up faster than ever before
Partners, Not Beggars [July 8, 2002]
The rich world gives a mild endorsement to a new African development plan, NEPAD
Love Thy Neighbor [Feb. 18, 2002]
Nowhere is there greater concern about the crisis in Zimbabwe than in the one country that, by itself, has the means to make or break Robert Mugabe: neighboring South Africa
All for One, One for All [
July 14, 2002
]
The Organization of African Unity is dead, long live the African Union. Better luck this time?
To Eat or Not to Eat [Nov. 24, 2002]
As Zambia starves, the U.S. and the E.U. battle over genetically modified food aid in Africa
Mogadishu at 60 Miles an Hour Arms merchants are once again doing brisk business after a rapid change of power in this tough town, but so far the peace has held
The Year of The Nuke A rundown of the world's nuclear powerhouses, and what to expect in the coming months
Premium Content
