G8 Report Card

Gleneagles, though painfully interrupted, proved to be a step forward for white bureaucrats who want to show they actually care about Africa. You know, that place south of Europe with 800 million people? Ring any bells?

Development aid to Africa has always been one of those unique situations where the hand that feeds you also bites you. The familiar loan-and-default cycle has arguably left the continent worse than when aid programs began; back then, at least everyone was poor and nobody could scrape enough money (or food) together to slaughter half a million of his neighbors.

At face value, the Gleneagles Communique is another supremely ambitious and naive document, full of heartwarming plans to eradicate poverty worldwide. We're going to increase aid by $50bn to Africa? Great! African leaders are agreeing to "commit to democracy and good governance" - FINALLY! Give us a break. Fundamentally, you're always going to see these meaningless but popular sentiments announced - it's like campaigning for student body president and vowing to put Coca-Cola in the water fountains.

But there are signs that the Eurocrats (and maybe even the Americans?) are starting to get it. For years, development economists have been screaming their heads off about debt relief, and it looks like at least someone's listening. Forgiving the debts of the 18 poorest African nations is a MUCH bigger deal than most people have acknowledged. Perhaps some African development aid will actually get spent on Africans soon.

Not that soon, unfortunately. (The aid increase, as well as plans to create universal access to anti-HIV drugs, won't be implemented until 2010, by which time AIDS will have claimed 10,000,000 more African lives.) And worse, the agreement does little or nothing to address the following equally-important issues: corruption, security, rule of law, infrastructure, local development, reinvestment, or even, say, implementation. Most disappointing was the failure of the G8 to seriously consider Blair's call for grant-based aid. The U.S.'s own grant program, the Millennium Challenge Account, has been embarassing in its stinginess.

Debt Relief: A-
Climate Change: C
Development Aid: C+
AIDS: C-
Reform: F

Overall: C-

Not terrible, G8. But please, try a little harder next time.