Development Assistance: Was Development Assistance A Mistake?

Critical Evaluation of Development Assistance

“Was Development Assistance A Mistake?”

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Introduction

The disbursements of development assistance have been mounting from Global-North to Global South since the 1960s. According to World Bank data, only in 2014, the net outflow reached to $162 billion. The primary aim of the assistances is to maintain macroeconomic stability with a strong emphasis on the balance of payment and alleviation of poverty in the developing countries. Now decades after, both the disbursers and receivers have been evaluating the effectiveness of such concessional allowances. A number of economists and analysts (Lipton and Toye 1990; Cassen 1994) believe

The way push and pull factors turned it to be ineffective are the sources of the mistake. The development experts know what actions achieve development, and the money and advice the north has provided can achieve development, but they need to consider country particular conditions as ‘Single Administrative Documents’ (SADs) do not fit to successfully derive SAPs. Finally, the development process is not solely the responsibility of the development experts or individual groups and financial institutions (IMF, WB). The development shall be achieved through participatory development approach. To encapsulate this, the burden of the failure, which today it is considered as mistake shall be cleaved proportionately to development experts (for neglecting various other exogenous conditions to the growth), creditors in the north (for recommending similar prescriptions for all debtors), and debtors in the south (for unproductive spending strategies, corruption and lack of accountability).

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