Why Foreign Aid Fails to Deliver Development in African Rural Settings: The Case of Korean Aid in Tanzania

Abstract

In 2011 KOICA sponsored a model village project in Morogoro region in  Tanzania. The aim was to create a prosperous village that would  be a model of  modern villagization to be emulated by other villages in Morogoro and finally in  Tanzania in general. The project drew its  philosophy from Saemaul Undong rural  development strategy that had been very successful in South Korea. Agricultural  equipment was  supplied and strategic infrastructure was put in place. Using  interviews with village leaders and reviewing village project reports,  this paper  reports on the performance of foreign aid in this project. Results from content  analysis of the collected data shows that, once  again, modernization development  models like the Harrod-Domar and Nurkse‟s Vicious Circle of Poverty have failed  to deliver  development, contrary to the belief that what poor rural settings need is  capital from outside. This is partly because some important  socioeconomic and  cultural factors were overlooked or underestimated when conceiving and  implementing the project. The efficiency of  the injected capital was seriously affected  by lack of ownership, poor feasibility assessment, lack of accountability as well as  wrong  timing of the project. It is suggested that small business models would work  better than village communal projects.