The Future of Aid

"What went wrong with foreign aid? Despite many positive changes, poverty is not history, and the very idea of foreign aid is now under sustained attack by administrations around the world. The Future of Aid calls for a wholesale restructuring of the aid project, a totally new approach fit for the challenges of the 21st century: Global Public Investment. In times of crisis, when global health funds or regional support are needed, when hunger, disease or climate change threaten lives and livelihoods, it is clear that the current system of international public finance is not fit for purpose. This book suggests a series of paradigm shifts. From a narrow focus on poverty to a broader understanding that incorporates ideas of inequality and sustainability as well. From obsessing about the quantity of international public money, to looking at how well it is spent. From North-South transfers to a collective effort, with all paying in and all benefitting. From outdated post-colonial institutions to modern decision-making structures. From the othering and patronizing language of "foreign aid", to the empowering concept of Global Public Investment. Engagingly written by a well-known expert in the field, this book sets out a powerful roadmap for an evolution in the way that we think about aid, global cooperation, and the need to back up our ambitious global objectives with public money. As the world reels from the Covid-19 crisis, this book argues that it is time for a new era of internationalism to respond to our common challenges"--