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A Marshall Plan with Africa: development aid and investment

A Marshall Plan with Africa: development aid and investment

The first part of the session titled Looking for Solutions on Site of Day 2 of the 2017 Aurora Dialogues Berlin was moderated by International Broadcaster Nik Gowing, while the keynote was delivered by Günter Nooke, German Chancellor's Personal Rep. for Africa in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Panelists included Franz Fischler, President, European Forum Alpbach, Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and women’s rights advocate, Hina Jilani, former UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Bernard Kouchner, Co-Founder, Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), and John Prendergast, Founding Director, Enough Project.

Nik Gowing, International Broadcaster and Visiting Professor, Kings College London and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, opened the discussion by introducing the keynote speaker and suggesting the panelists should build upon the topics and issues addressed in the preceding sessions, adding that, although it was unrealistic to expect to cover all the aspects in one sitting, some progress was still to be made. “We cannot cover everything but we’re trying to get as much done in a short while, in one day,” he noted.

Günter Nooke, German Chancellor's Personal Rep. for Africa in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, who delivered the keynote, shared with the audience his thoughts on changes in the narrative of the global development corporations from aid to focus on the private sector, also touching upon the duration of the current crisis and pointing out the need for clarity when it comes to the language used to describe it. “We are talking about migration and refugees, and the kind of crisis that <has been> going on for two years,” he said. “Two terms – ‘flight’ and ‘migration’ – are often used as synonyms but I believe that is not correct,” he emphasized.

Franz Fischler, President, European Forum Alpbach, warned the participants against getting carried away by well-wishing and a desire to take an overly proactive role in helping the continent with its development programs. “We are not to teach Africa how they should develop. We can work a bit as a catalyst, a bit as a supporter, but the initiative and the driving force must come from Africa itself,” he explained.

John Prendergast, Founding Director of Enough Project, agreed and added: “That is a prerequisite for any aid and investment-driven plan, regardless of what it is and what it’s called. The essential problem that exists now is the set of incentive structures. For many governments in Africa, the incentive structures favor mass eluding, mass corruption and, in many cases, terrible violence.”

Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Laureate, Liberian peace activist, women’s rights advocate and Aurora Prize Selection Committee member, stressed out the importance of bottom-up vector when it comes to sustainable progress. “As activists, we are saying to the rest of the world: for development to actually catch, let it be homegrown, let it be done by local people. If it’s coming from outside, I don’t think it’s going to work,” she said.

Not all panelists agreed that the Marshall plan with Africa was aptly named. Bernard Kouchner, Co-Founder, Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), and Aurora Prize Selection Committee Member, summed up those doubts by saying, “We need to help Africa and they need to help us. <…> The Marshall’s name – take it out and let’s talk about the African Plan.”

Hina Jilani, former UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Aurora Prize Selection Committee member, drew everyone’s attention to the real people who should benefit from whatever development plans are approved and implemented. “African governments can misuse, misappropriate and misapply funds. That’s quite apparent because we can see the reality. However, it is also true that the people of Africa have certain aspirations. And if there is to be a development aid plan, it must invest in the people’s aspirations,” she noted.