In a country such as Mozambique aid donors have more influence than they like to admit.
Joseph Hanlon and Teresa Smart have written a book which I hope creates discussion and debate, not least of all in Norway. The Oslo Government is a strong promoter of both budget support and the Millennium Development Goals. The authors are critical of such a focus in promoting development. Just to give you a couple of quotes from “Do Bicycles Equal Development in Mozambique?”:
“It does appear that neither the donors nor the nomenklatura really want government in the drivers’ seat. The Frelimo Elite prefer to be sitting in the back of a luxury car chauffeured by the donors, while the donors see the government as a taxi driver going where the donors direct.”…
Hanlon and Smart admit to not having all the answers, but they argue for a more active developmental state.
“Mozambique does not need to wait for foreign investors to fly in. The people who can develop Mozambique are already there. But they need training, long-term support, and credit – which the developmental state can organize and provide…..use domestic resources and people, and stop holding out hands begging for aid and foreign investment.”
Jan Speed