So hats off to Morgan Tsvangarai for clinching a meeting at the White House within Obama's first 100 days of office.
On Saturday, Obama announced a $73 million aid package for Zimbabwe. The conditions? The money would not be diverted through government but through local development aid agencies.
This is great news as far as stemming the bureaucratic red tape that has delayed so much development manifesting on the ground, but then it really does boil down to which development agencies will be used. My experience with development agencies in Africa suggests the smaller they are and the closer they are to the original community impact zone, the more effective they are. Big agencies however, that have evolved into bureaucratic monsters are not too dissimilar from governments.
My concern for what Obama's conditions might spell for Zimbabwe, is this new aid package is likely to be diverted through USAid. I'm definitely not looking to undermine what positive impact USAid has had to date in Africa, but they do have some convenient restraints as far as service suppliers and consultants goes - which ultimately leads the money back to the US.
It would be revolutionary if USAid - recognising the potential power they hold here to achieve real sustainability would look at recruiting the wealth of Zimbabwean experts that now populate the globe as economic refugees.
There is not a single Zimbabwean I have met abroad that does not want to go home. Imagine the prospect the of Zimbabweans engaging in rebuilding their own country rather than temporary US expats?
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