Absence of US Foreign Aid in Sustainability Might Hurt African Countries
The United States has played a significant role in foreign aid assistance in West Africa alongside their Chinese competitors. Since most of US foreign aid is delivered as a form of a grant (gift) rather than loans, African countries generally favor US aid over aid from other countries. The aim of this essay is to evaluate to what extent US foreign aid has impacted environmental sustainability in Africa.
The literature on US Foreign Aid towards environmental sustainability in Africa is minimal. Before 1970s, US foreign aid for sustainable infrastructure development was significant but ultimately drop to less than 50% of its initial average amount. The decrease of foreign direct investment was enhanced when President Bush’s initiative in 2008 to increase US foreign aid to reward underdeveloped countries with good governance. Since then, foreign aid to Africa mainly focused on creating more stable governance on the continent. The United States also distinguished itself on sectors like humanitarian aid, economic development and most importantly in health care. Although US funds were generally not allocated to sustainable infrastructure development, it is important to acknowledge that they still funded major urban water and sanitation systems in Egypt in the 1990s. Recently in the resolutions at the COP21 Paris Summit, United States was part of the countries that agreed to raise $100 million dollars to support underdeveloped countries work towards development while prioritizing sustainability.
Though the United States is well known for being the first humanitarian aid donor in the world, its absence in the foreign aid “market” for infrastructure development in Africa has negatively affected the continent. Here, some might argue that there is no guarantee that investment from the US in the infrastructure sector in Africa would encourage environmental sustainability. While, such argument holds a certain level of truth, one must understand that leaving the platform for foreign aid for infrastructure development in Africa to China as the main investor will continue to hurt the continent. Historically, the United States has shown more concern to sustainability than the Chinese government. This puts US in a much better position to fund green building in Africa than China. Economic infrastructure is now also supported by U.S. assistance in a wider range of developing countries through the Millennium Challenge Corporation. In this case, recipient countries design their own assistance programs, most of which, to date, include an infrastructure component.
In general, the United States has had mere impact on sustainable infrastructure development in sub-saharan Africa as a result of its focus on expanding democracy and promoting. However, there is hope that programs like the Millennium Challenge Corporation will reverse the current situation. In the Millennium Challenge Corporation, recipients can design their own assistance program which might include infrastructure plans. An effective way to not only make the US present in foreign aid for sustainable infrastructure but also make it efficient, is to reduce direct cash transfers to avoid corruption and increase training and technological assistance in environmentally friendly infrastructures.
