What Africans think about Aid-III

Following on the heels of Andrew Mwenda's talk, and Jen Brea's excellent article, I wanted to post this last talk by George Ayittey , who had set the tone for the conference in the first place. I would highly recommend browsing through the entire collection of excellent TEDAfrica talks here, and look at Ngozi talks for example. Be prepared to open your mind:

What Africans think about Aid-II

Freelance Journalist Jennifer Brea's article has caused quite a stir (photo credit)

Almost two years later, an article written by a young freelance journalist (now graduate student at Harvard) about African development and aid, is still making the rounds. Jennifer Brea was a Fellow at the TEDAfrica conference in 2007, when she happened to witness an exchange between fiery African Journalist Andrew Mwenda (whose talk I blogged about yesterday) and the West's passionate Africa advocate, Bono from U2. You can watch the  talk that Mwenda gave here (I believe the exchange between the two has been edited out, but from eyewitness accounts, it was quite an exchange!). 

Mwenda's talk resonated with many of the youth at the Conference who were tired of the extremely pathetic westernized view of African development. An inspired and incised Brea, put her thoughts down on paper. Probably not surprisingly, it became the most talked about article post TEDAfrica, and to date is still being circulated. Its how I came across it as well; a month ago, a friend of mine forwarded it to me and it got me thinking as well. 

So it begins...make sure you read the rest here. I promise you, its worth it! BTW, here is Brea's response to all the "brouhaha" that the article caused. 

What Africans think of Aid-I

I was listening to the following talk by respected African journalist Andrew Mwenda, and was floored. People who subscribe to the aid model are going to increasingly hear from voices like his and need to figure out a more effective means of philanthropy. Watch it: