the
challenge
Throughout the world, people want the same things: access to clean air and water, economic opportunities, a safe and healthy place to raise their kids, shelter, lifelong learning, a sense of community, and the ability to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives.
Plagued by a history of colonization, African countries have been recipients of foreign aid since their independence. While some aid has brought positive results, continuous “foreign assistance has, at times, developed a culture of dependency in Africa and fostered paternalism—as opposed to partnership—by the U.S. and elsewhere”, Angelle B. Kwemo.
“The focus of foreign assistance needs to shift from aid to enterprise, from poverty alleviation to wealth creation, from paternalism to partnerships, from handouts to investments, from seeing the poor as consumers or burdens to seeing them as creators and from encouraging dependency to integrating the poor into networks of productivity and exchange.” – Jonathan Lea
“Why Foreign Aid Is Harmful.” Jonathan Lea Network, 6 April 2020.
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It is this realization and understanding of when helping hurts that has shaped Musana into what it is today in rural Uganda. What Ugandans need is restored hope and dignity in their own economic and social capacity that will enable them to not only survive, but to thrive.
Foreign aid fails to stimulate sustainable trade and wealth creation. The focus of foreign assistance needs to shift from aid to enterprise, from poverty alleviation to wealth creation, from paternalism to partnerships, from handouts to investments, from seeing the poor as consumers to seeing them as creators, and from encouraging dependency to integrating the poor into networks of productivity and exchange.
It is this realization and understanding of when helping hurts that has shaped Musana into what it is today in rural Uganda. What Ugandans need is restored hope and dignity in their own economic and social capacity that will enable them to not only survive, but to thrive.
