Research Essay on the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid: Zimbabwe Case

This essay explores the effectiveness of foreign aid in Zimbabwe, examining its impact on the country's development and economic growth. It discusses the historical context of foreign aid inflows into Zimbabwe, including the roles of the World Bank and IMF. The essay evaluates the effects of aid on poverty reduction, economic reforms, and social services, highlighting the challenges and paradoxes of aid dependency. It argues that the effectiveness of foreign aid is contingent upon internal reforms and good governance, emphasizing the need for Zimbabwe to manage aid flows for sustainable development and poverty reduction. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of internalized reforms and timely interventions for foreign aid to yield positive outcomes in Zimbabwe.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
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SOCIOLOGY 1
Introduction
The role of the foreign aid towards the process of the growth of the developing countries
is one of the controversial topic of the debate, The context of the foreign aid is one of the
essential topic with the implications for the reduction of the poverty in the developing countries
in the world. According to Escobar ( 2011) there lies some of the mixed results regarding the
foreign aid and economic growth of the country. The essay illustrates and focuses over the
effectiveness of the foreign aid towards the developing countries specifically on Zimbabwe.
Formerly known as Rhodesia, Zimbabwe is one of the developing countries in the sub-
Saharan Africa that has evolved from the colonial government towards a full independent state.
The struggle of the country towards the attainment of the independence was spurred by the desire
and the self determination regrading the development towards the majority of the people in the
country. As the developing country . Zimbabwe has received and has continued towards
receiving foreign aid. According to the analysis by Gready and Ensor (2005) it has been argued
that the idea regrading the withholding and the granting of the has been still used for the
influence of the macro and the micro economic policies for the development of the country.
There has been instances of many reports where it has been seen that irrespective of the foreign
aids and the clamor for more aids, very little economic growth within the developing countries
has been achieved. The thesis statement of the essay argues with the fact that the effectiveness of
the foreign aid can only be witnessed in case of the changing and the improving livelihood of
people.
Discussion

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The definition of the foreign aid states the international transferring of the goods and the
capital from one country to the other who are in need and for the benefit of the country who is at
the receiver end. The essay aims to highlight the importance of the foreign aid towards the
development and the growth of Zimbabwe by highlighting the context how the country of USA
helped the people of Zimbabwe from the incident of the massive diseases and starvation.
According to Hettne (2013) there has been positive relationship among the foreign aid and the
economic growth of the country. The foreign aid funded by the public are generally of two types
and categories. These are the loans along with the direct grants in aid. The researcher
furthermore emphasized over the context how the foreign aids helps in the addressing of the
humanitarian requirements of the developing countries like the famine and the disaster relief.
The developing countries and the states, the Zimbabwe in the current context has been
struggling with some of the context of the chronic poverty since the development and the advent
of the political independence for more than a decade (Moyo and Tsakata Mafuso 2017). The
country has been presenting one of the glaring paradoxes. This is because as per the statistics and
the reports, it has received more than $1 trillion amount of foreign aid in the last century though
the proportion of the poorer in the continent has increased through out the year.
Importance of Foreign Aid
The foreign Aid refers to the transfer of the sources from the public institutions of the
countries which are economically richer to the government of the developing and the under
developing countries of the world. The organization of the economic cooperation and
development (OECD) defines the foreign aid as the flows to the multilateral institutions and the
countries with the softer financial packages than the available commercial ones. According to

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Gukurume (2012) foreign aid can be in the form of the economic assistances that includes the
investments within the economy of the needy countries, the loan and the infrastructural
development .
In the term of the international relations theory, the context of the foreign aid can be
defined as the voluntary extension regrading the resources from one of the individual to another
individual or the society. Help or Aid can be given as money stipends, concessional credits,
obligation crossing out or alleviation or some of the other forms. It very well may be utilized for
the specialized help and preparing for people in beneficiary nations or it tends to be given as a
motivation from beneficiaries to embrace arrangements supported by the giver. According to
Crewe and Harrison (1998) aid can be bilateral and bilateral.
Economic development of Foreign Aid
According to most of the studies and the research the aid has been portrayed as the factor
of the pride, dominated and the ambition that gives away towards the deference and the
independence. Though targeted, the services and the public management have either collapsed or
destroyed , the context of the poverty and the inequality have worsened together with the
prevailing of the insecurity. Further evidences have illustrated that the foreign aid has some of
the string and positive effects regarding the growth in the case of the lack of the inclusion of the
state intervention (Lewis and Mosse, 2007). Aid furthermore works good in the good policy
environment and the good policies generally includes the low or the zero budget deficit, the low
rate of the inflation and the open trade regimes together with the open trade regime, liberalized
financial sector and the friendly government of the private sector.
Inflows of foreign Aid in Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe in the time of the independence saw the rise regarding the development of the
assistance within the framework regarding the 1980 UN decade for the development of the Third
World. Both the World Bank and the IMF had been the two major donors of the Zimbabwe.
Figure - 1
Source – (Moyo and Tsakata Mafuso 2017)
The table of the figure above highlights the inflows of the foreign aid enjoyed by the
government of Zimbabwe from some of the multinational institutions. The table furthermore
highlighted how the grants of the foreign aid had been stopped due to the depth of the crisis of
Zimbabwe.
The nation's territory change program in 2000 activated, announced and undeclared
approvals against Zimbabwe. These assents were forced on Zimbabwe by multilateral money

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related establishments. The assents implied that Zimbabwe was not eligible for access to money
related, specialized help, suspension of casting right to vote and suspension of equalization of
installments (Yontcheva and Masud 2005). According to the reports, the country was being
suspended from the very year of 2000 which resulted and precipitated the economic crisis of the
country. This was followed by the break of the ties of the country with the financial institutions.
The development of the foreign exchange rationing in the country of Zimbabwe was
altogether ill advised. This furthermore came with the devaluation of the dollar and some of the
other measurements of the austerity. The country received more number of the assistance of the
development within the framework of the 1980 UN decade for the rise and the development in
the Third World. According to Dollar, Collier and Collier (1999) the country has been
furthermore supported by the independent states on various of the fronts. The US pledged more
that $225 million over the three period for the launch of the ZIMCORD or the Zimbabwe on
Reconstruction and Development for the governmental goals regrading the post war
reconstruction, the development and the distribution of the land and the development of the
skilled manpower. With the end of the 1986, it has been reported that Zimbabwe received the
foreign aid and was been directed towards the development and the reconstructions.
According to Ekanayake and Chatrna (2010) the dependency of Zimbabwe was being
defined by the aid regarding the attached conditions. The conditions of the structural adjustments
did not favor the government of Zimbabwe but rather the donors. This totally meant that the
government of Zimbabwe become more accountable and responsive towards the donors rather
than towards the people for which the foreign aid was being collected. Though as per the reports,
the economy of Zimbabwe was better off with the motivation of the government towards the
changing international conditions and the capital formation regarding the economic growth, the

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question regarding the effectiveness of the foreign aid regarding the development of the lower
and the poor struggling class of people in the country still existed. According to Loxley and
Sackey (2008) though the country received foreign aid, but the gap among the poor and the rich
has not been closed but widened.
As per the reports of the UNDP, Zimbabwe needs towards the management of the flow of
the aid for the benefit regrading the growth and the reduction of the poverty. The political factors
that undermines the governance have initiated in the disruption of the economy of the country by
restricting its growth and development.
Evaluation of Foreign Aid and the effectiveness in Zimbabwe
As per the economic policy and the social goals, it is legitimate for the country towards the
growth at a fast rate for the generation of the sufficient revenue for the development of the fund.
As per the reports by the UNDP, the effectiveness related to the official development of the
assistance towards the achievement of the development of the economy of the country and the
development goals can be subdivided in the procedure of the aid delivery and the impact of the
aid towards the achievement of the objectives for the development. According to Bräutigam and
Knack (2004) the effectiveness of foreign aid in the Zimbabwe has been largely influenced by
the economic reforms that has not been internally oriented. The research states that for the
government of Zimbabwe it has become necessary for the launch of the economic reforms by the
local press.
In the context of the foreign Aid, it has been viewed that the fiscal policy of the Zimbabwe
never supported the growth. Instead of being supportive regrading the poverty reduction and the
growth, the macro economic policies of the government often constituted some of the main

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binding constraints (Alesina and Dollar 2000). During the year 1980. The country recorded the
delivery of some of the major social services which includes the health, education,
infrastructures and the basic services.
According to Riddell (2008) the queries regarding the effectiveness of the foreign aid is
essential when looked for the reasons that is taken for granted. The context of the foreign aid is
being viewed as the medium or the process promoting the economic growth hence promoting the
economic development. According to Wright and Winters (2010) in other words, the foreign aid
is being viewed as the tool of the modernization. As per the analysis of Easterly and Pfutze,
(2008) there lies some of the major stages regarding the foreign aid effectiveness. These includes
the following factors.
 The stage of the high aid and the high growth stage where the flow of the aid remains
high and gets more effective with the lags of the unwind
 The stage of the low growth for the low aid where the near subsistence economy is being
cut off from the aid due to the reason of the political instability, the war and the economic
mismanagement.
 The stage of the high aid and the low growth where the increased flow of the aids have no
immediate effect due to the gestation lags
 The stage of low aid and the high rate of growth where the aid diminishes irrespective of
the continuing of the growth at the highest places.
As per the research studies and the proposals, the foreign aid works much better in case of
the reform when internalized by the local government rather than being imprisoned by the
outsiders. Hence the foreign aid is much more effective when it is being facilitated by the

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effectiveness and the timely reforms of the local authority. Despite of the involvement of World
Bank, the structural adjustments programs showcases the nonexistence of the neutrality
regrading the multilateral institutions.
Thus the essay summarizes to the point that Zimbabwe has received the foreign aid since
the time of the independence up to the year 2000 (Loxley and Sackey 2008). Even though the
country has been receiving a large portion and the quantity of the foreign aid, this has not been
effective. The paper highlighted the fact how Zimbabwe was able to have some of the
considerable amount of the growth in the year of 1980 but experienced the sudden decline
regrading the economic growth of the year 1990.
Conclusion
Thus it can be deduced from above that Zimbabwe is one of the developing countries in
the sub-Saharan Africa that has evolved from the colonial government towards a full
independent state. The struggle of the country towards the attainment of the independence was
spurred by the desire and the self determination regrading the development towards the majority
of the people in the country. Foreign Aid refers to the transfer of the sources from the public
institutions of the countries which are economically richer to the government of the developing
and the under developing countries of the world. The organization of the economic cooperation
and development (OECD) defines the foreign aid as the flows to the multilateral institutions and
the countries with the softer financial packages than the available commercial onesThere has
been instances of many reports where it has been seen that irrespective of the foreign aids and
the clamor for more aids, very little economic growth within the developing countries has been
achieved. Though targeted, the services and the public management have either collapsed or

9SOCIOLOGY
destroyed , the context of the poverty and the inequality have worsened together with the
prevailing of the insecurity. Further evidences have illustrated that the foreign aid has some of
the string and positive effects regarding the growth in the case of the lack of the inclusion of the
state intervention. Aid furthermore works good in the good policy environment and the good
policies generally includes the low or the zero budget deficit, the low rate of the inflation and the
open trade regimes together with the open trade regime, liberalized financial sector and the
friendly government of the private sector. Though the country received foreign aid, but the gap
among the poor and the rich has not been closed but widened. The essay summarizes that despite
of the involvement of World Bank, the structural adjustments programs showcases the
nonexistence of the neutrality regrading the multilateral institutions. Thus even though the
country has been receiving a large portion and the quantity of the foreign aid, this has not been
effective.

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References
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economic growth, 5(1), pp.33-63.
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Africa. Economic development and cultural change, 52(2), pp.255-285.
Crewe, E., and Harrison, E., 1998. Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid Zed Books
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reform and effective aid can meet international development goals. The World Bank.
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aid. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(2), pp.29-52.
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Hettne, B., 2013. Thinking about development. Zed Books Ltd..

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