IIHFD
Human Factor Academy Papers
The IMF-World Bank
Africa's Development in the Twenty First Century
Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have been actively involved in the economies of many African countries since the 1970s. The main declared objectives of these international financial institutions have been to adjust and stabilize the economies of developing countries. Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), believed to strengthen the banking sector and de-regulate exports and imports, have been introduced as primary means of achieving socioeconomic development in Africa.
The strict implementation of SAPs has not only failed to generate economic development, but also increased the debt load, social inequality, poverty, and environmental destruction in many African countries. Realizing these problems of the economic adjustment programs, the IMF and the World Bank are proposing a “fundamental” change in their development programs.
At the Vancouver Forum on the International Financial Institutions (IFI) and Poor Countries in the 21st Century which occurred on the 20th October 1997, the IMF-World Bank emphasized the need to shift the focus of their programs from the purely economic to incorporate social and environmental perspectives. The program devised to implement this new development objective is the HIPICs. The HIPICs aims at reducing, to sustainable level, the debt load of countries which have strictly implemented the economic structural adjustment program but are still very poor (Burkina Faso, Uganda and Bolivia are the first countries to qualify for this program), fighting corruption and environmental pollution, and providing education for the poor, particularly girls and women.
This seems to be a laudable development program, but the question is, will it work for African countries?
The HIPICS cannot reduce poverty, corruption and environmental destruction to any desirable extent. This is because although IMF and the World Bank have broadened their scope, their fundamental development philosophy remains virtually the same. This philosophy can be summarized as follows: postpone the debts of developing countries while expanding the focus of the structural adjustment model. Any program based on this philosophy will at best provide only cosmetic solutions. With the HIPICS what the IMF-World Bank are doing is just putting a new wine in an old wineskin. Of course the old wineskin will burst under the pressure of the wine.
The populations and institutions of contemporary African countries constitute the old wineskins that have lost their containability for any new wine. The people and their institutions must, therefore, be transformed if the new adjustment program the IMF and the World Bank have initiated is not to destroy African countries completely.
In order to achieve a fundamental, positive socioeconomic transformation in African countries, the International Financial Institutions must forgive the debts of Africa and overhaul the existing education system of Africa which decays and/or underdevelops the human factor (Senyo Adjibolosoo, 1995: The Human Factor in Developing Africa, Praeger, Westport). In effect, for a real fundamental change in their development perspective, the IMF and the World Bank must (1) forgive Africa’s debt and (2) transform the existing human factor of African countries.
Forgive Africa’s Debt?
In ancient Israel, the development principle was that in every seven years all debtors were forgiven their debts. The debtors then restart life debt-free. Given the fact that the IMF and the World Bank represent the interest of the Western countries, the principal creators of Africa’s debt, there is a compelling reason to follow the example of ancient Israel. It is important to note that many of the Israelites whose debts were forgiven did not become poor again when their lives were transformed through appropriate re-socialization or spiritual transformation. What this suggests is that debt forgiveness is not enough to make Africa sustainable. It must be combined with human factor development.
Human Factor Development:
Human factor development involves a holistic education. It encompasses physical, mental, moral and spiritual development of people. The graduates of a human factor development program acquire and apply relevant knowledge, practical skills, appropriate character, as well as high self-esteem. They become problem solvers rather than problem creators and problem creatures. The colonial education of Africa virtually went against these human factor principles of education: (a) it put much emphasis on Africans acquiring literacy and knowledge about Europe and North America, (b) mission schools placed more premium on prayer, meditation and worship than relevant character formation and good work ethic, (c ) the few mission schools which taught practical skills focused on western forms of elementary carpentry, masonry, sewing, and cookery.
Unfortunately, the education system of contemporary Africa does not differ much from the colonial model. Cramming of irrelevant information remains the focus, and where agricultural, technical or business education is introduced the emphasis is on the acquisition of mere theoretical knowledge. Practical skills to be gained from these courses are put on the back burner. Moreover, character formation is neglected or relegated to the background. Products of this human factor deficient education system, not surprisingly, become human factor deficient individuals. In effect, these graduates not only lack problem solving abilities and skills, but also deficient in vital human qualities such as honesty, integrity, trust, self-discipline, hard work, loyalty, stewardship, responsibility and accountability, selflessness and the like.
With these widespread human factor deficiencies of African countries, it is little surprising that Africa’s debt is rising astronomically, poverty and social inequality are increasing dangerously, and environmental destruction is worsening terribly.
In a nutshell, the clear messages to the IMF and the World Bank are that (a) forgive Africa’s debt and (b) provide the necessary assistance to re-socialize Africans to acquire and apply the appropriate human factor. With a debt-free status and relevant knowledge base, practical skills, and appropriate human qualities, Africans will be able to generate their own capital, construct their own institutions and infrastructure, and create their own programs and projects that will enhance the human condition of African countries. In other words, forgive Africa’s debt and transform the hearts and minds of Africa’s debt creators and debt victims, and you have produced a sustainable people who will successfully create and manage economically, culturally, socially, and environmentally sustainable societies in Africa.
To conclude, it is exciting that at long last the IMF and the World Bank have correctly realized that development is more about people than projects and programs. However, the initiated changes in the programs of these financial institutions discussed at the Vancouver Forum of International Financial Institutions (IFI) in the 21st Century do not go far enough. The proposed changes only add on social and environmental programs to the controversial economic structural adjustment programs (SAPs). The fundamental changes (forgiving the debt and producing sustainable people) necessary for Africa’s socioeconomic development are virtually neglected. Until particular attention is paid to these vital dimensions of Africa’s development, the IMF-World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), whether economic, social and/or environmental, will simply SAP Africa’s material resources and human energies, and eventually suffocate African countries to death.
Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri teaches Sociology at Camosun College and University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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