Rich nations threaten to pull the plug on Africa just when aid is making a real difference

JUST as world leaders at the recent meetings of the G20 and G8 showed that they would rather forget their promises of more and better aid, the world’s poorest countries are showing real leadership in the global effort to make poverty history.

Two reports published in recent weeks — one by Britain’s Overseas Development Institute and another by the McKinsey consulting group — show the global recipe for the eradication of extreme poverty is working. This recipe was agreed at the beginning of this century and consists of eight “millennium development goals” — a set of global development objectives agreed by world leaders in 2000. The goals were framed so they would apply to rich and poor countries alike.

Ten years on, as world leaders — including Taoiseach Brian Cowen — are preparing to meet in New York to review their progress towards the millennium goals, there is hard evidence now that these have brought about real changes in the lives of millions of poor people. And, interestingly, 11 of the 20 countries making the most absolute progress towards the goals are among the poorest countries in Africa.