The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. (2006).
by William Easterly
A refreshingly frank, easy to read book written from decades of "inside" knowledge and experience which should be a bible for anyone involved or interested in releasing Africa's undoubted potential. .. Mr. David G. Stables.
"The White Man's Burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good' poses two fairly simple questions. First of all, how have the rich countries managed to give away $2.3 trillion over the last decades and still see people dying of malnutrition and entirely curable diseases? And secondly, why can the free market deliver millions of copies of a new Harry Potter book to children around the world all on the same day, but can't deliver a life-saving vaccination programme?
His conclusion is that aid has failed, from a mixture of corruption, overambition, and incompetence. He then draws a distinction between `planners', and 'searchers'. Planners are the big thinkers, the `big push' schemes like the Millennnium Development Goals, or Make Poverty History. While the planners get the celebrity endorsements, the best solutions are the ones that are home-grown - small-scale, "effective piecemeal" approaches that start with the poor and work out their needs and how to meet them. These are the 'searchers', who are concerned with what works rather than big and noble ideals.
"I didn't expect to agree or to like a book that is so critical of aid, but his critique is balanced with a very real compassion for the poor. Ultimately, he's on their side, and Easterly's belief in small-scale, bottom-up approaches is one that needs to be widely read by policy-makers." By Jeremy Williams
