Although the continent is rich in natural resources and receives foreign aid from wealthy nations across the globe, the people of Africa remain poor compared to those in other regions and are far behind in achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals as set by the United Nations.
Those development goals range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.
This dire situation indicates that the influx of foreign aid has not worked to improve the lives of African people suffering under poverty.
Here are seven reasons why foreign aid from the West has failed to transform the economic conditions of Black people in Africa.
Doesn’t Eliminate Overall Poverty
According to The Wall Street Journal, over the past 60 years, at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been donated by rich countries to Africa.
However, the real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50 percent of the population — over 350 million people — live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades, according to the 2009 report.
