http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/NEWS/DEVNEWS.NSF/46773469c477da92852567160...

AFRICA'S NEW APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT.

The UN aims to reduce the number of poor people by half by the year 2015, says Tumi Makbako, host of CNN Television's "Inside Africa", according to a transcript of the program. But is that goal possible? That question was tackled at a development forum in the US city of Atlanta last week and African leaders attending, measured their progress.

Makbako: "After decades of debate, the aid organizations have come up with what they believe is a winning recipe for development in Africa. They've fine-tuned a formula, they say, helps the poorest nations ultimately help themselves. And what's most incredible, even some African leaders think the development community may be on to something and there's a feeling that donors are offering a listening ear."

Joaquim Chissano, Mozambican President: "The first deal is that they listened a bit more to us and they are started doing so, that we - if we plan - at least, we plan together so that they understand what we want and that they extradite the disbursement of the funds, which are promised and that they decrease the conditionalities and they - if there are any conditionalities, they must be based on a clear understanding of the aims, which we want to achieve and not diversion of - from those aims."

Makgabo: "This new approach was unveiled in September of 1999 when the World Bank introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy papers. In it, each country draws up its own individual strategy for development based on consultations with all levels of society and submits it to the World Bank as an application for assistance. The concept recognizes that while honest and capable governments is essential to development, each country's needs are different. It's also a recognition that there are indeed leaders in Africa who are eager to take responsible for the development of their own countries."

James Wolfensohn, President, World Bank: "That is a wholly positive development and allows the international community to have a very serious partnership with the African leadership where the African leadership is saying we want to run our own ship, but when we do it well, we would expect support from the donor countries. And so, what we're trying to do is to make that marriage happen. It is a very, very positive development."

Makgabo: "African leaders have formulated a continent-wide plan to reduce poverty called the New Partnership for Africa's Development or NEPAD. It aims to place the continent on the path of sustainable economic development. And after a hard sell, the plan is winning the support of the international community. Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac have pledged their cooperation.

"For NEPAD and the World Bank initiatives, an unprecedented number of African leaders are looking at developments in a new way. They're compiling a list of needs beginning at the grassroots, setting democratic principals as a priority and forming partnerships both inside Africa and with the international community to make development a realistic part of the foreseeable future."

Meanwhile on the CNN Q&A with Jim Clancy program, Former US President Jimmy Carter said that the greatest challenge that the new millennium faces is the growing chasm between the rich and the poor "I think this is one of the most important issues that we can possibly address. And my hope is the donor countries, particularly the US, will change our past policies and will be more generous in the future." Carter said that the US contribution "is about 1/8th as much now as it was when I left office. So there has been a steady decrease in US contributions."

Carter went on to say "one of the remarkable things that has happened lately that people don't realize is the policy of the World Bank. Years ago, the World Bank was pretty well committed to creating grandiose projects: big dams, highways, big buildings and so fort, in the third world. And I think under Jim Wolfensohn's leadership, it's shifted to a concentration on the reduction of poverty, combined with a requirement that the recipient nations help control their projects and also be strictly accountable for the efficient use of funds available through grants or low interest loans. And this has basically transformed the relationship between a major lending agency, that is the World Bank and a vast array of countries around the world. We see this everywhere the Carter Center works. And I think this is also increased the quality of the governments, in their own administration of their own affairs." BACK TO TOP