Africa has received over $1 trillion in development-related aid in the past fifty years, yet the poverty levels continue to surge upwards. Kenya, a sub-Saharan African country and recipient of large-scale foreign-aid, experienced an 83 percent increase in donors for industrialization and a 325 percent increase for political reforms between 2000 and 2005 but their situation is no different. This book analyzes the on-ground reality of the effectiveness of such foreign-aid schemes by conducting face-to-face semi-structured interviews with local residents of Kenya.
The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter One, “The Concept of Human Security and the Politics of International Law,” sheds light on the deep-rooted security and development issues in Kenya, such as poor border control, frequent civil wars, outbreaks of epidemics, and the emergence of infectious diseases. The author shares concern over the paradox that most of the poor and troubled nations in Africa have the largest natural resources acting as their main source of conflict—leading to gross violation of human rights and accounting for nearly one-third of the world’s conflicts between 1989 and 2009 (8). Even though the continent receives enormous aid, the impact is nullified due to high levels of debt, insecurity, unemployment, and poverty. Reports show that Africa still suffers from various kinds of evils like witchcraft-related murders, extrajudicial killings, widow discrimination, gender inequality, child marriage, and sexual violence. The level and extent of these human security threats calls for international foreign-aid assistance for which several major organizations have been established—such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Court of Justice, International Labor Office, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, and so on—but they often fail to provide justice to the victims.
Chapter Two, “Key Human Security and Development Problems in Kenya,” shares the perspectives of Kenyan citizens about the social determinants like poverty, food insecurity, growing terrorist threats, political intolerance, and so on, which create instability in the state. The interviewees say that there is limited availability of land and no resources to make it profitable as they are prone to the effects of deforestation, climate change, and infertile soil, which leaves their big families in poverty. This further contributes to compromised childhood, leaving children under vulnerable situations with poor school enrollment ratios. Others mentioned that there is a critical shortage of healthcare workers and even if the hospital is present, people cannot afford the facilities—as a result, Kenya suffers high maternal and child mortality rates. They even confirmed that the cultural beliefs and practices are increasing the general inequality and sex-based violence, which limits the effectiveness of foreign aid. An educated nun interviewee says that “A man can never be equal to a woman and a boy child is more valued than a girl” (41).
Chapter Three, “The Legacies of British Colonial Rule and Neo-Colonial Practices in Kenya,” discusses the historic land alienation, oppression, torture, trauma, and the evil divide-and-rule strategy, which drained out the wealth from Kenya. Europeans captured, enslaved, and sold Africans to Americans and any meager profit made was rechanneled to Europe. They favored Kikuyu people at the expense of other tribes, making them fight against each other (55). One of the interviewees says that other countries which were colonized along with Africa have reached a sustainable level of performance globally but the material progress was delayed in Africa, and foreign powers continue to shape the present-day lives of Kenyans.
Chapter Four, “History and Processes of Foreign Aid,” discusses the patterns of foreign aid received from international organizations and countries. Africa receives millions of dollars for military, peacekeeping, good governance, and food assistance from the United States and the European Union, and China invests heavily in education and training programs. Various regional and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are also working actively to mitigate poverty but the results are limited, igniting various controversies around the effectiveness of such foreign aid. A few interviewees gave affirmations that the foreign aid is really helpful for some of the vulnerable sections (70) while others have the opinion that it just leads to bad governance and dependence as there is large-scale corruption involving senior government officials leading to misuse of foreign aid (71–72). The author also talked about donor fatigue reducing the funding at major organizations like the World Health Organization, which hinders the continuation of support programs. Lastly, bureaucratic failures, stringent conditions imposed by governments, and huge administrative costs are other significant factors leading to the ineffectiveness of foreign aid.
Chapter Five, “An Effective Way to Prevent Foreign Aid’s Capture in Bad Governance and Corruptive Practices,” suggests that bypass theory is effective in yielding positive results of foreign-aid support. The interviewees mention that NGO-administered aid has helped some of the most vulnerable communities of Kenya and it is easier to hold them accountable. The author further argues that the impact of bypass theory can be credited to civil society organizations (CSOs) even better than the NGOs as CSOs are not registered with government, which provides them freedom to carry on their advocacy work (82).
In conclusion, this book is an excellent attempt at understanding the effectiveness of foreign-aid support programs in Kenya, which is essential for policymakers. It can be concluded that partnerships at regional and global level is the way out for improving the effectiveness of foreign aid.
