'Big Think' Contributes to African Aid Failure
by Stanley Meisler
Commentary by Stanley Meisler
February 19, 1967
February 1967
Nairobi, Kena
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Countries Often Waste Money, Equipment Through Lack of Organizational Ability - Foreign aid often fails in Africa because everyone thinks big when they should think small. Now there are faint signs of a change. Most important, the United States has decided to revamp its African aid policy. There may be smaller visions in the new look. In the past, U.S. officials, acting as if they were back home, have sometimes blinded themselves to the frailties and limitations of African governments. In West Cameroon, for example, the Agency for International Development (AID) gave the Ministry of Community Development six pieces of road-building equipment a few years ago. The gift was a meager one by American standards worth several thousand dollars but it overwhelmed the ministry and almost destroyed it...
Countries Often Waste Money, Equipment Through Lack of Organizational Ability - Foreign aid often fails in Africa because everyone thinks big when they should think small. Now there are faint signs of a change. Most important, the United States has decided to revamp its African aid policy. There may be smaller visions in the new look. In the past, U.S. officials, acting as if they were back home, have sometimes blinded themselves to the frailties and limitations of African governments. In West Cameroon, for example, the Agency for International Development (AID) gave the Ministry of Community Development six pieces of road-building equipment a few years ago. The gift was a meager one by American standards worth several thousand dollars but it overwhelmed the ministry and almost destroyed it...
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