Development assistance plays a critical role in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. The combination of African leadership and smart development assistance has demonstrated remarkable results in recent years, helping Africans meet urgent needs in areas like water, health and education while also laying the foundation for future growth.
While Africa's development ultimately rests in the hands of Africans, wealthy nations have a moral duty and a strategic interest in helping Africa end extreme poverty. This imperative was reflected at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the world's wealthiest nations agreed to a new partnership with Africa, committing to double development assistance to the continent by 2010 and wage a renewed effort to strengthen democracy, accountability and transparency. The historic Gleneagles promises could save or improve millions of lives in the world's poorest continent, but only if they are kept. Promises alone cannot break the cycle of extreme poverty in Africa.
Just as important as delivering on the promises, is ensuring that as the quantity of assistance increases, the quality does as well. This means good governance and accountability must play a central role in determining how and where assistance is directed. It also means donors must harmonize their development efforts, strengthen local capacity and align their spending with nationally owned programs and priorities.
Every dollar counts in the fight against extreme poverty. Donors and African governments have an obligation -- to taxpayers in wealthy countries and poor people in Africa -- to ensure development assistance is used efficiently and sustainably and achieves its intended results.
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Fact Sheets and Analysis
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