Challenging Aid in Africa Principles, Implementation, and Impact
This is a startling and controversial investigation into the international assistance given to countries at war. Marriage points to the similarities in the psychological and political dimensions of international aid and the violence this assistance is sup
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ZOE MARRIAGE
Challenging Aid in Africa Principles, Implementation, and Impact
palgrave macmillan
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Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006978-1-4039-7631-4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published 2006 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. First published in the United States in 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN(tm) 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN IS THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC IMPRINT OF THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73792-5 ISBN 978-1-349-73790-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-73790-1
A Cataloging-in-Publication Data record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Transferred to Digital Printing 2011.
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Surprise struck nine hours into my first research trip to Africa when on a Friday night I found myself in Guinea, which was not where I thought I was going. Stranded for the weekend, I had a drink with Ishmael-like the angel, he mentionedslightly alarmed that I had got lost so quickly. Challenging Aid in Africa is an investigation into why aid organisations espouse the objectives of humanitarian principles and human rights. It reports ~:m assistance in four African countries at war, all of which I visited in the course of writing this book. The book investigates how assistance is formulated and delivered through international NQn-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in violent contexts, to whom it is given, and how it is justified and sustained. It also traces assistance from donor and NGO policy to implementation and how it is received. The word 'game' is used to signifY that assistance has an arena, players and rules; an analogy that allows for elaboration through the book. 1 I take the rules to be the products of donor and NGO interests and conferences, rather than objective benchmarks. This is a precarious line as rights and principles assume differing meanings: the same words are used to describe something that happens, something that should happen, and something that does not happen. The assertion that everyone has a right to food is made most often about children who do not have any. I am not questioning whether children need food, I am asking what is gained and for whom by saying they have the right to it, or saying that it is provided impartially, when they have none. Central to the methodology is the journey I made through the countries. Consequently, in presenting my findings I introduce places and relay discussions; spoken excerpts are from interv
VI
Priface and Acknowledgements
views, unless otherwise indicated. I interviewed more than 150 aid agency office
