Should we put an end to cooperation ?

Official development aid for Africa exceeds hundreds of billions of dollars every year. But to what end ?

In October 2021, during an Africa-France Summit, Ragnimwendé Eldaa Koama, an entrepreneur from Burkina Faso, spoke out on behalf of an entire continent: "Development aid has been going around in Africa for almost a century. It doesn't work. (...) Development aid enslaves people". Why put an end to cooperation? A debate brought back to the forefront by the lack of change and the fact that the issue can be extended to the rest of the world. The documentary Zo Reken illustrates the frustration of the Haitian population with an international aid strategy considered as colonialist, inefficient and self-centred. How can we establish healthy and constructive collaborations rather than vertical aid schemes that subjugate the population while easing the conscience of donor nations? The floor is given to intellectuals and entrepreneurs from the African continent, the most strongly affected by the issue, as well as specialists in the economics of development.

Afrique Economie Humanitaire

Sunday 6 March

14:00

Espace Pitoëff - Grande salle

Followed by the debate Should we put an end to cooperation ?

French - English

Co-presented with TV5Monde

Speakers

Uzodinma Iweala Director of The Africa Center, sociologist, filmmaker, author of Beasts of No Nation

Ragnimwendé Eldaa Koama Entrepreneur, lecturer and founder of IMPROV'YOU and Association Fenêtre d'Afrique

Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Gilles Carbonnier Professor of Development Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC)

Moderated by

Dominique Tchimbakala Journalist, TV5MONDE

To go further

L'aide au développement a-t-elle la moindre efficacité ? dans Splash.

This debat is preceded by the movie:

Compétition - Grand Reportage Films en VOD

ZO REKEN

By Emanuel Licha

Zo reken (shark bone) is the nickname given in Haiti to the Land Cruiser, a vehicle favoured by the omnipresent NGOs since the 2010 earthquake. Ten years later, in a country in full eruption, a zo reken is transformed into a space for discussion between Haitians. The driver talks to the passengers as he makes his way through the barricades and demonstrations. They talk about the state of the country, neo-colonialism and humanitarian aid. Anger is rising...