Is foreign aid relevant to sub-Saharan Africa’s needs?

The School of Economic and Business Sciences (SEBS) hosts Dr Nyasha Mahonye to present this research seminar.

The seminar will be based on a paper which re-visits the important question on the relevance of foreign aid to Africa. Specifically, we sought to enquire whether foreign disbursed aid to selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa matches or is relevant to their prevailing socio-economic and political needs? The analytical approach of the paper is descriptive and qualitative in nature. The relevance of aid received to social, economic and other special circumstances is a strand that has been hugely neglected by the empirical research in development economics.

The findings show that military oligarchies, competitive-one-party systems and personal dictatorships are amongst the highest recipients of foreign aid in selected countries in Africa. Also, the explorations appear to show some mismatches in the distribution of aid and socioeconomic needs. These findings have important implications for policy in sub-Saharan Africa economies. There is a need to carefully assess the current needs of countries before committing and disbursing foreign aid. Donors ought to review agreed terms on foreign aid especially in the event of changing economic or social circumstances such as the occurrence of droughts, natural disasters, or disease outbreaks to name just a few.

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