Aid, Governance and
Development in Africa
Conference held May 12-14, 2005 at Northwestern University

As reflected in the agenda of the July 2005 G-8 meeting, proposals by Tony Blair and George Brown of the UK Government, the work of the UN Millennium Project, and the urgings of rock stars and their fans, a global campaign has been launched to scale up overseas development aid in the hope of catapulting African countries out of their economic stagnation and decline.

Within this context, the central aims of the Northwestern conference were three-fold: to conduct a probing analysis of the proposals being advocated to increase economic growth and meet Millennium Development Goals in Africa; to explore ways of increasing the probability of successful outcomes modeled on current African initiatives; and to identify how researchers and policymakers can collaborate more effectively in addressing Africa's intersecting governance and development challenges.

Particular emphasis was placed on examining these schemes through the prism of lessons learned during three decades of international efforts to "accelerate development" in Africa. Of critical importance, in our opinion, are realistic strategies to promote rapid improvements in governance and institutional capacities that are prerequisites for the productive use of increased public aid and private investments.