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Why We Lie About Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change
Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donor publics, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum, with the right claiming we spend too much, and the left that we don't spend enough.
The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't – or at least shouldn't be – about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of 'accountability' and 'ownership'. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries – from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras – Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid.
The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't – or at least shouldn't be – about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of 'accountability' and 'ownership'. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries – from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras – Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid.
275 pages, Paperback
Published February 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 23, 2018
I enjoyed it.
June 20, 2018
Yanguas argues in his new book Why We Lie About Aid that pressure to see immediate results from aid money force recipients to behave in ways that are counterproductive to development and permanent ladders out of poverty. If they fail to produce evidence that their aid money is “helping” quickly, they risk donors pulling funds altogether and reallocating them. Yanguas says this myopic view of the efficacy of aid money is what’s causing foreign aid efforts to fail. Unfortunately, they’re simply not designed for transformation. They’re designed for a quick-fix rather than sustainable growth and development..
Think about the last time you made a spur-of-the-moment donation to a cause. Was it because of a sudden tragedy or breaking news story? Or was it because you were made aware of a deep systematic issue that will take 20 years to resolve? Chances are, you donated to the first category. From natural disasters to warfare, most aid goes to the issue that can grab the most headlines and garner the most social media shares. Yanguas argues that it’s this mentality -- the swoop in and fix it model -- actively prevents aid from going where it can fully fix issues, not just temporarily patch them up.
Think about the last time you made a spur-of-the-moment donation to a cause. Was it because of a sudden tragedy or breaking news story? Or was it because you were made aware of a deep systematic issue that will take 20 years to resolve? Chances are, you donated to the first category. From natural disasters to warfare, most aid goes to the issue that can grab the most headlines and garner the most social media shares. Yanguas argues that it’s this mentality -- the swoop in and fix it model -- actively prevents aid from going where it can fully fix issues, not just temporarily patch them up.
March 14, 2019
I’m not too sure who this is aimed at, and I don’t think the cover design does it any favours. It seems to sit slightly awkwardly between a general interest book and something aimed at development practitioners. Fortunately for me, that is me. The central theme of this book is that development is messy and political and those involved need to pick a side. I fully agree, and this is a decent exposition of that. I would have preferred a bit more on what should come next, but for a better understanding of how aid actually works you could do a lot worse.
August 10, 2018
This is a well-written and engaging book on how development happens in reality and how we should realistically think of aid donors’ contribution to development. The author populates his thesis with interesting examples from around the world. The book deserves a wide readership, not only amongst those interested in international development and aid but also amongst those interested in politics: domestic and international. I would highly recommend this book!
July 8, 2018
See my review at http://www.devpolicy.org/book-review-...
February 20, 2021
I read this book for my 'So You Want to Save the World' anthropology class - Great insight into aid diplomacy and relational aspects surrounding foreign aid.
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June 7, 2018NPR 6/7/18
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews