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Okay, I'll explain some things here for those who aren't familiar with developement aid politics...
SAP's = Structural Adjustment Programmes.
The God from Worldbank and IMF from the 90's that would get Africa back on track. In SAPS, the governments could get loans on certain conditions. I had already written a full page when I stumbled on this link, which explains it simple and clearly: SAP's
So now, at the beginning of a new century, they've changed their policies:
HIPC = Heavily Indebted Poor Countries programme.
$54 billion has been reserved for debt relief and cancellation. Here's what it's about mostly: WorldBank HIPC initiative
Funny how views can swing 180 degrees in such a short period of time. The problems with the SAP's were that the free market didn't work at all: people couldn't pay for tution fees and dropped out of school, health care became too expensive.
Agricultural reforms couldn't be passed because:
1: If prices are too low, farmers take their 'exit-option', which means they stop producing for the market but turn to self sustaining agriculture. The agricultural boards have been corrupt sometimes and used by the government to roam of the profits made off the products.
2: Scale enlarging was virtually impossible to realise. Farmers were not likely to give up their own plot of ground to start working in a larger agricultural co?peration. Large scale agricultural businessess were impossible to create that way.
3: Cash cropping is a vulnerable business: prices vary, and if they take a dive, so does the incoming flow of foreign currency, with all the nasty consequences...
Women had the biggest problems: if anyone was going to school, it would be the man, not the woman. She'd have to stay home to do all the housework, and take care of the ones fallen ill (couldn't afford the hospital). So in the end, socially and economically SAP's marginalized the role of women in the official economy even more, instead of pushing it.
The HIPC initiative is adressing the faults of SAP's, and concentrating on those areas that in the long run will be the basis of a strong economy, like health care (healthy population is more productivity and more stable workforce) and education (which is always the basis of technical development).
I'm pretty sure this one will have it's flaws again, and it requires a lot of control so as to make sure the countries spend the newly acquired funds correctly, but at least it's adressing the mistakes made in the past. We'll just have to see what happens...
