Aid is always a means of influence: political, commercial, military and security-related. Some influence is benign, but much of it is coercive, even imperialistic. Given the nature of aid, its effectiveness should be judged not only in developmental terms, but in terms of international relations. Even donors agree that, on both counts, the returns are meagre. This book, drawing on the author's 30 years of field experience, proposes two kinds of solution: donors should climb down from paternalistic central planning practices and support public goods that are neutral and beneficial. Index, notes, charts, 172pp, UK. EARTHSCAN.

Starts from the premise that money alone will not bring sustained development to Africa. Concludes that there are serious gaps, created in part by a striking lack of knowledge of the African context and culture on the part of the donors, and troublesome institutional constraints, that make it difficult for aid agencies to change the way they operate. Index, bib, 172pp, USA. LEXINGTON BOOKS.

An introduction to international development theory and how it affects aid and foreign policy. Index, refs, app, tables, figs, 350pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 184277039X

2003 Paperback

Asks whether the development programmes of these former colonial powers have undergone radical changes since the end of the Old World Order. BNS, 458pp, UK. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS, 0754615308

...challenges the emerging orthodoxy that international aid should play a role in the management of conflict, and that it should promote development in the midst of war....provides a sobering reassessment of the role and impact of aid in unstable states' Jeff Crisp, UNHCR. Figs, notes, refs, xiv, 191pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 1856499413

A personal study discussing why aid money has made no real impact on African poverty. The author, a mining consultant from Zimbabwe, suggests that loyalty to the extended family, combined with indiscriminate financial aid, has been fatal to the development of properly functioning nation states and the continent's development. Refs, 355pp, SOUTH AFRICA. CAPRICORN BOOKS, 0797421491

A study of the trend towards NGOs as administrators of foreign aid, asking whether they provide a convenient excuse for spending cuts or if they are genuinely better at spending the budgets than government agencies. Case studies include Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Bangladesh and Nicaragua. Index, refs, notes, ix, 246pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852558171

This is a highly personal book by a genuine hero, a man who has returned into the most desperate and violent places in the world, who has continually risked his life to negotiate relief efforts and cease fires. Jan Egeland deals with the best and the worst of humanity on journeys to the world's hellholes. He describes in scary detail his meetings with guerrilla leaders, war lords, heads of states and besieged aid workers in Darfur, Eastern Congo, Northern Uganda, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Lebanon, Gaza and Northern Israel. Bib, index, b/w photos, 253pp, USA. SIMON & SCHUSTER.

Argues that community-based organisations play an increasingly relevant role in Africa, providing services at the level of the local community and civil-society and implementing important development interventions in a variety of fields such as heath, education and gender. CBOs must perform management, finance and fundraising functions so as to ensure successful and sustainable implementation of projects. This book outlines the principles and strategies that underpin the successful management of community-based organisations. 200pp, SOUTH AFRICA. IDASA.

Provides an historical account of key issues facing NGOs today. Case studies seek to identify and analyse the roots of problems, past and present, which have led to the current dilemmas facing charitable organizations. Tables, notes, bib, index, xiii, 210pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852558554

Examines the nature and pattern of post-Cold War aid to sub-Saharan Africa. Provides suggestions for promoting a new development partnership between industrialized countries and Africa. 12 figs, 16 tables, notes, bib, index, ix, 223pp, USA. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS, 0754618781

A training manual based on the experience of Oxfam staff working with a local disabled people's organisation before, during, and after the recent crisis in Kosovo. Their work is supported by case studies from West Africa and South and East Asia show how the principles and training materials can be translated to a wide range of political and social contexts. Written in clear and simple language, with practical materials particularly useful to trainers working in geographically isolated areas without access to sophisticated equipment. Most exercises and activities can be adapted for use in groups of people with a wide range of impairments and educa-tional levels. BNS, 400pp, UK. OXFAM PUBLICATIONS, 0855984856

An NGO worker's account of her work in the Philippines and the wider picture of the multiple realities of non-governmental organisations. Index, bib, map, diags, gloss, xii, 257pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 1842771655

In September 2008, ministers from over 100 countries, heads of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, donor organisations, and civil society organisations from around the world will gather in Accra for the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (2-4 September 2008). This meeting has been promoted as helping developing countries and marginalised people in their fight against poverty by making aid more transparent, accountable and results-oriented. The agenda for Aid Effectiveness has, however, come under heavy criticism from many quarters. This timely book cautions developing countries against endorsing the agenda proposed at this meeting. Argues that, if adopted, it would subject the recipients to a discipline of collective control by the donors right down to the village level. With a Foreword by Benjamin W. Mkapa, President of Tanzania 1995-2005. 160pp, UK. FAHAMU.

What do peasants do in the face of severe food crisis, and how do they manage to survive? The author traces origins of famine back to the years of recovery providing ecological perspectives on sources of famine. Bib, refs, maps, 247pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE. 9171063145

The author argues that famine is preventable and that its persistence reflects political failings by African governments, western donors and international relief agencies. Case studies include Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda and Zaire. Bib, index, notes, 238pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852558104

Analyzes the impact food aid programmes have had over the past fifty years, assessing the current situation as well as future prospects. Issues such as political expediency, the impact of international trade and exchange rates are put under scrutiny. Extensive African examples. Index, bib, notes, 314pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Analyses the failure of aid to promote development in Africa, concluding that Africa's economic crisis has had a devastating effect on aid effectiveness while donor countries dominate aid decisions leaving local governments with little say. Tables, notes, refs, 224pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE.

David Sogge asks: Is there a real net flow of financial resources to the South? How much aid should there be? On what terms should it be given? Do the strings imposed imply a resurrection of old colonial controls? Can Northern governments, international financial institutions and developing countries ever agree? Can we think of an aid system for the new century -- democratic, effective, adequate and just? Boxes, graphics, notes, further reading, websites, index, 256pp, UK . ZED BOOKS, 1842770691

A personal study of poverty and the romantic notions of the noble savage. The author attempts to refute the notion that poverty is caused by wars, disease and pollution and instead shows that the removal of economic competition and increasing aid is exacerbating the problem rather than helping. ix, 326pp, SOUTH AFRICA. CAPRICORN BOOKS.

This pocket guide presents some tried and tested methods for putting impact measurement and accountability into practice throughout the life of a project. It is aimed at humanitarian practitioners, project officers and managers with some experience in the field, and draws on the work of field staff, NGOs, and inter-agency initiatives, including Sphere, ALNAP, HAP International, and People In Aid. Includes a CD-ROM. 74pp, UK. OXFAM PUBLICATIONS.

The recent occurrences of famine in Ethiopia and Southern Africa have propelled this key issue back into the public arena for the first time since 1984. Exploring the paradox that is the persistence of famine in the contemporary world, this book looks at the way the nature of famine is changing in the face of globalization and shifting geo-political forces. This collection challenges perceived wisdom about the causes of famine and analyzes the worst cases of recent years, including close analysis of food scarcity in North Korea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Malawi and less well known cases in Madagascar, Iraq and Bosnia. With fresh conceptual frameworks and analytical tools, major theoretical constructs which have previously been applied to analyze famines (such as the 'democracy ends famine' argument, Sen's 'entitlement approach' and the 'complex political emergency' framework) are confronted. This volume assembles an interna-tional team of contributors, including Marcus Noland, Alex de Waal and Dan Maxwell; an impressive roster which helps make this book an important resource for those in the fields of development studies and political economics. 367pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Historicizes NGOs using the Rockefeller Foundation as a case study, looking at its tripartite paradoxical roles as an agent of colonialism, globalization and development/underdevelopment. It deploys interdisciplinary devices to show how the RF projects have engaged in marginaliza-tion, patronage and othering of African values and customs and the ensuing controversies. Using globalization, postmodern and postcolonial theories the book deconstructs the long-held myths about NGO inviolability, and opens ground for understanding their strengths. It interro-gates sites of contestation, apprehension and possibilities that the RF has produced. 288pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Using econometric analysis, the author examines the factors that really determine the patterns of aid giving looking at aggregate aid flows, aid from multilateral organisations such as the EU and the UN and aid from bilateral donors such as Germany, Japan, the US as well as Arab donors. BNS, 128pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE, 0415298113

For eight years, Giles Bolton worked for DFID in countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Iraq. Idealistic and committed, he was determined to make a difference, but instead found himself confronted by an appallingly wasteful global aid industry and a persistently unequal trade system. He also began to see how Africa was being ripped off in its relations with the West, and how the western consumer and taxpayer was also losing out as a result. This account ad-dresses the five crucial issues at the heart of this dilemma - Poverty, Aid, Trade, Globalisation and Change. It attempts to answer the questions behind the campaigns and concerts: Why is Africa still poor? What really happens to our aid money? How do trade rules affect the ordinary consumer at the checkout? And will the new promises made by Tony Blair and others finally make a difference? 352pp, UK. EBURY.

Argues that the market fundamentalist approach to economics, promoted by most of the industrialised countries and the Bretton Woods institutions, actually increases the vulnerabilities of small and poor countries, exposing them to financial crises. 78pp, SENEGAL. CODESRIA.

Giordano Sivini was an international aid consultant for over twenty-five years. Here, he channels a 1960s and 1970s idealistic political commitment into fieldwork and the sphere of development from the 1980s to the present. While the fathers of independence of British and French decolonization wanted to change the colonial conditions of exploitation, Sivini finds that their good intentions have been shipwrecked. Ironically, the longer Sivini served as an aid consultant, the more he found himself dismayed at the various projects that were under way or slated to begin. He perceived some of the projects as grotesque, and, almost all ineffective. The money was wasted on such ventures not because of a particular government's interest in the social effects they would have on the local populace, but because of the direct and indirect benefits the government would receive. Translated by J.K. Hall. 310pp, USA. TRANSACTION PUBLISHERS.

Argues in two extensive essays that the role of NGOs in Africa cannot be understood without placing them in their political and historical context. Aid, in which NGOs play a significant role, is frequently portrayed as a form of altruism, a charitable act that enables the wealthy to help the poor. As structural adjustment programmes were imposed across Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, the international financial institutions and development agencies began giving money to NGOs for programmes to minimise the more glaring inequalities perpetuated by their policies. As a result, NGOs have flourished and played an unwitting role in consolidating the neoliberal hegemony in Africa. 84pp, UK. FAHAMU

Revised edition. What are the roots of poverty in Africa and what should now be done about it? How can a better understanding of African politics contribute to an entirely new policy agenda for aid, trade, and debt? This book draws on a substantial body of research to argue that much thinking on Africa - from both official donors and from international NGOs alike - is flawed, because that thinking either does not recognize or does not draw out the implications of the central role of politics and the state in Africa's development problems. The author argues that almost all African countries the political elites are uninterested in leading a development process. Index, bib, notes, tables, 194pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

A critical but light-hearted look at the international aid industry, following the author's career from a youthful do-gooder in the Philippines to Director General of the Kenya-based African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF) and its renowned Flying Doctor Service. Topics covered include the Peace Corps, debt relief, the aid business, health, food and cultural practices, among many other subjects. Tales from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, India and additional countries form the backdrop to this entertaining account. 280pp, UK. TROUBADOR PUBLISHING.

New in paperback. Long time World Bank official argues that most of Africa's misfortunes are self-imposed, and why the world needs to help the continent in a different way. Argues that African countries have steadily lost markets through mismanagement; and that corrupt, dictatorial regimes have hobbled agriculture, enterprise and foreign investment and that African leaders prey intentionally on Western guilt. Aims to move beyond the hand-wringing and finger-pointing which dominates most discussions of Africa. Index, notes, 249pp, USA. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Examines the role of NGOs in African development, and gives advice to governments and development agencies on ways to encourage the growth of NGOs. Identifies access to and creation of power as crucial to NGO development. Based on original case studies of Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Senegal. Index, bib, xi, 206pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS.

Critique of the worlds largest multilateral development lending agency in the context of globalization and the increasing domestication of market-based economic reforms. Adopting a tripartite historical, theoretical and empirical approach the study shows how the Bank is still moored in neo-liberal market ideology and western hegemony, lacks transparency and democracy in its workings, and boasts pro-poor policies that are little more than empty rhetoric. 94pp, SENEGAL. CODESRIA.

New in paperback. Why after 50 years and US$2.3 trillion are there still children dying for lack of twelve cents' medicine? Why are there so many people still living on less than $1 a day without clean water, food, sanitation, shelter, education or medicine? This book argues that grand plans and good intentions are a part of the problem not the solution. Giving aid is not enough, we must ensure that it reaches the people who need it most and the only way to make this happens is through accountability and by learning from past experiences. Index, notes, charts, 400pp, UK. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.