After listening to Dambisa Moyo discuss aid strategies and their failings in Africa (provided by Williee on October 14th) I became interested in alternative strategies. It was this interest that led me to Jacqueline Novogratz.
Novogratz and Moyo continue the debate on which method will be the best suited to bring the world out of poverty. Moyo, examines foreign capital provided by foreign governments and suggests that it is the policies of aid that foster country dependency on foreign Investment creating unmotivated governments in terms of looking for alternative financing. Novogratz, on the other hand, submits the idea of “patient capital” which sees poverty stricken people not as passive recipients of charity but individual customers and looks to invest philanthropic capital in local entrepreneurial innovation thus avoiding the creation of dependent, unmotivated governments.
An interesting difference between Moyo and Novogratz is the belief in the appropriate time frame within which success can be seen, where Investment will be allocated and who will provide the capital. They are both discussing aid but through quite different sources. Moyo points to aid graduates and explains how aid distributed through governments can be successful if it is done in a “sharp, short and finite” manner; this way a dependency is not allowed to emerge. Novogratz explains how “patient capital” invests in the local community leaders and entrepreneurs and requires a “long time horizon in terms of allowing those entrepreneurs time to experiment”. It seems to me that most discussion about global policy shifts and the quest for alternative approaches to global issues is often presented with emphasis on immediate implementation of them for fast results. It was nice to hear Novogratz use the word ‘patience’ throughout her presentation, notably, when talking about returns, building trust, and having local innovations reach the global scale.
I enjoyed the presentation and think that she is on to some key concepts: solutions must begin from the perspective of those we wish to help; funding that enables enterprises to grow and intertwine fostering partnerships is important; patience is important in such bottom up aid as uneven development has put some nations far behind others in terms of infrastructure and economic well being; a new approach to end poverty is needed and the time for us to begin innovating and looking for new solutions is now.