Planners vs. Searchers in African Agricultural Aid

William Easterly

QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, 2008, issue 3

Abstract: A Planner vs. Searcher paradigm is used to illustrate the lack of positive progress in aid to African agriculture. Planners announce good intentions, raise expectations, but take on no responsibility in meeting them; they determine what to supply, apply global blueprints but lack knowledge of the basics. Searchers find out what the reality is at bottom, find out what is in demand, find things that work, and accept responsibility for their actions. The prevalent approach in African Agricultural aid has been that of the Planners, but the ambitious agricultural development plans advocated have largely failed. Aid agencies could play a much more helpful role by working as Searchers rather than Planners, which means trial and error experimentation, rigorous independent evaluation, and drawing on local knowledge rather than presuming that the answers coming from outside are the best.

Keywords: Foreign Aid; Role of International Organisation; Agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F35 O19 Q10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rar:journl:0088

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