Foreign aid and development in Africa: What the literature says and what the reality is

Abstract

Evidence of ineffective foreign assistance is widespread in Africa. The debate on how aid can be effective and
contribute to Africa’s development is, however, still ongoing without any clear way forward. This paper adopts a
deductive approach to explaining aid and development in Africa. There is a high volume of literature on the impact of
foreign aid on development in Africa, yet not many of them recognize all the factors that contribute to aid (in)
effectiveness. The focus is often on macro -economic indicators which do not fairly represent the realities of poverty
and suffering in many African countries. We offer an analysis of the theories that have been propounded to explain
the relationship between aid and (under) development in Africa. In this paper, we critically examine such findings and
test their validity against the backdrop that socio-cultural factors have not been given adequate consideration.