Fast Company on China's Role in Africa

I was reading Fast Company and in the back found a LONG article on China's expanding role in Africa.

I found the article to be interesting and yet another necessary reminder that what we buy really does impact folks around the world (check out the section on lumber which will make you cringe at that new Ikea furniture you bought).

My only beef with the article is in the beginning where it notes that Africa seems to be:

...a bottomless badland where $500 billion of Western aid since World War II (more than four Marshall Plans) has barely made a dent in the poverty...

Now, while it is true that much aid has gone to Africa, the aid poured into Africa by the USA and others during the cold war was not intended to reduce poverty. It was intended to ensure that those countries were allies in the global war on communism. In fact, even today a large portion of U.S. foreign assistance is for military assistance NOT assistance designed to reduce poverty or rebuild national infrastructures and government capabilities like the Marshall Plan was designed to do. The Center for Global Development's Development Matters website does a good job with explaining how much of our tax dollars are going to poor nations in Africa and elsewhere. Take a few minutes to click around their FAQ particularly to learn where we spend our aid and how much is actually spent in the places we are trying to help. You can even see where we rank in the world as far as generosity with their fun Commitment to Development index.

So, while not factually inaccurate, the author of the Fast Company article unfairly makes efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa seem hopeless and contributes to the most unhelpful view of many in the USA that we pour money into a hole if we provide assistance to Africa. In fact, the story is much less hopeless.

Click here to see what Jeff Wilson thinks about this (its a bit dark, I am still learning the limits of the flip video).