AFRICA/GHANA - “Accra should help poor people become the authors of their development,” Christian representatives at the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

Accra (Agenzia Fides) – “Half of all aid comes in the form of expensive consultants responding to directives from donors. Local communities must have a greater role in making decisions that ultimately affect their lives the most. That means an end to the imposed conditions of international donors that continue to undermine democratic ownership of aid.” This was how Gweneth Berge, representing ACT Development (according to its official website, ACT “brings together churches and related organizations in a new global alliance aimed at eradicating poverty, injustice and the abuse of human rights”), described the current system of donations to the underdeveloped nations, in a press release launched on the eve of the 3rd High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness which began yesterday, September 2, in Accra (Ghana).
In the press release, which was also sent to the Agenzia Fides, was signed by Caritas Internationalis, the Symposium of Episcopal Conference in Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE), and ACT Development. “Our fear is that the interests of the poor have not been reflected in draft documents produced for Accra,” they stated.
“About 29,000 children under the age of five die every day, 21 each minute, mainly from preventable causes. Six million of the almost 11 million children who die each year could be saved by low-tech cost-effective measures. Accra has the potential to improve how we end this scandal of poverty but only if it helps poor people become the authors of their development,” said Mvume Dandala, General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).
“Churches and faith-based organizations are major providers of health, education and other social services in developing countries. They must be recognized as partners in delivering development aid,” said Bishop Francisco Silota of Chimoio (Mozambique), who represents SECAM in the Accra Forum. “We also have to contribute to a change in the mindset of African citizens. The dependency syndrome has to be overcome. People have to understand that they have been given talents and charismas in order to define their own destiny. But they need to make use of them,” he added.
The Accra Forum will be attended by over 800 representatives of multilateral and bilateral donors, developing country governments, and civil society organizations. The meeting will review the Paris Declaration, a roadmap to improving aid effectiveness signed by one hundred ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials in March 2005, in hopes of reaching one of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, namely that of cutting thee global poverty level in half by 2015. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 3/9/2008)