French aid boss, Remy RIOUX, hits out at USAID's 'perverse' self-reliance strategy
By Vince Chadwick // 09 July 2019
Europe should reject the logic behind the United States’ “perverse” new aid strategy, the head of the French Development Agency,
or AFD, has told Devex, arguing that Washington’s focus on countries’
“self-reliance” reflects one of two competing visions on the future of
development cooperation.
Rioux is not the first to take issue with the strategy. Last month, Matthew Kavanagh, a professor at Georgetown University, told Devex that
“middle-income countries may reach a certain threshold of income but
that can often mask the continuation of important vulnerabilities.”
Rioux
shares that view, arguing that rather than halting aid altogether as a
country grows richer, donors should alter their instruments — using
fewer grants and more loans, for example, or offering scholarships in
order to maintain ties.
