Hi all
Will it be sponsored event?
Mahmood Tufail-Pakistan

Hi All,

I'm interested in organizing an event similar to this event in New York City and will like to host the event along with interested partners. write to me at kemi.osukoya@imekmedia.com

A lot of good content here in the presentations. Less impressed with the closing DFID comments yet again dredging up the Development Agency speak to request new ideas to be submitted for consideration and business to business to civil society etc etc considerations, when in fact they have plenty of ideas already submitted but choose to find ways to sit on their hands and fiddle around the edges stopping well short of doing anything meaningful with the vast amount of taxpayers money at their disposal. When DFID starts to talk to the mainstream sensibly about growth and infrastructure in rural communities and actually tracks the impact of its budgetary assistance programmes then we will be much better off. At present taxpayers are paying for the privilege of the aid machine to tick over paying salaries and civil society organisations to tackle symptons and not fundamental problems.

@Phil- I recognise some of the issues you raise and some folk on the ground in Africa at least would too. The missing link in DFID's work is FOLLOWING THE MONEY/AID quiet literary. Most folk on the ground are not aware that AID comes in as they do not see the direct benefits to them or their personal lives. Most are happy just to have someone to trade with which is where business comes in. If you take the crop soghum, that SAB MILLER uses in their new brand of beer in Uganda, this is a crop that almost no one would buy and most farmers in Uganda would not necessarily grow it with the view to earning money out of it. But with demand from SAB MILLER the incentive for farmers to grow this crop is apparent. someone asked if the large breweries would not price out the local beer producers? the answer is no and you would ahve to understand the culture of the locals to appreciate this. Local beer is aprt of cultural ceremonies such as weddings, funerals and engagements and however rich you are in Uganda you can't get away with not providing local beer at any of those ceremonies.

@Kemi I would urge you to take this sort of debate to Africa to compare views there with those from here

I am afraid your views are simply denying the very big picture and fundamental change that is needed in aid /trade and which DFID (and to be fair most other development agencies as well) choose to ignore because they simply do not have the business knowledge, committtment or passion for putting into practice what the G20 have pledged. Until they move on from focusing on small successes and small/low budget initiatives which are largely unsustainable then effectively you have more invested in salaries travel and consultants than is commensurate with the gain. Yet again there was the debate the other night about scale - "why are these apporaches not being widely adopted" - is a commin question.If you take cocoa - we have 3 milllion farmers to produce 3.6 million tonnes which is fundamentally unsustainable. Where is the big picture approach from DFID to develop provide leadership for improved local governance and infrastructure to capacity build those communities to diversify away from cocoa. DFID have all manner of policies, books and brochures talking of encouraging growth through education and public services and do not seen to grasp that mainstream markets can have an impact but for that impact to occur governemnts and development agencies have to make sme kajor conmmittments to infrastructure and building a vision of hope for rural communities via clear business income opportunities. Education, roads and health are needed - not challenge funds for micro projects. Sorry but this is not the best method of setting out these very big concerns and suggested solutions. I have posted the project ideas elsewhere on this site.

I Hope we didn't misunderstand each other here Phil. I not only agree with some of your views but recognise what you are talking about.

I can't tell from your profile whether youa re Africna or not. But based on what you have written I iwll respond from an assumption that you are not. if you were African you would recognise that in some parts of Africa or African countries, coffee, cocoa, sugarcane sorghum, tea etc is all there is. this makes your suggestion of moving away from/dviersying not only unreasonable but detrimental to that community.

AID is not monitored as effectictively as it should, and if you ask the locals as far as they concerned they see the AID/NGO workers as 4x4 wheel drivers who live in big mansions and have nothing to do with them.

By way of illustration take a look at this photo I toook in in Kampala Uganda in spetember last year. Please take not of the houses at the top of the hiil

this is what the bottom of that same hill looks like

I work with the women that live as the bottom of the hill and on my last visit(sept 08) I said to tehm you live in a seemingly posh neighbourhood. Have you approached the people in the nice houses at the top of the hill and they told me "that is mostly Mzungus they would never help the like of us"

Like I said, DFID and such agencies need to do more to monitor waht ahppens to the AID when it is sent to develpong countires otherwise, raods or education progammes can't be delivered.

A system of dishing out welfare beneifts in this country has been applied on AID administration meaing that they are no effective check and balances in place, same way that I came across folk cheating the housing benefti ssytem in this country (claiming whislt working and one of them was a lawyer) consequnetly a lot of money goes to waste.

I am not sure how in your view DFID could provide leadership for improved governance, imperialsim is gone and ahs been gone for sometime now.

The third way is a much better approach where AID is reduced as mechanisms to police it so that it benefits those that it shoudl beneift remin elusive. Therefore looking at more equittable trade terms is a much better propoposal as it is more dingified and sustainable