A renewed agenda for development aid is emerging, one which is entirely in line with the Make Roads Safe campaign’s proposals on road safety and its impact on development.
In a critique of the current aid system issued during the recent UN Financing for Development summit Professor Jeffrey Sachs, a leading figure behind the Millennium Development Goals, argues for a revitalised “expansive vision” for development. His plea is for a development aid to be reconnected with measurable inputs and outputs – tangible programmes such as disease control, education and infrastructure. Specifically, he notes that the most successful aid in recent years has been for targeted purposes through global funds – to provide immunizations for children, or to fight HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Professor Sachs is right that a rethink of donor financing is long overdue.
Of course, as part of this rethink one such initiative will have to be a sustained and coordinated global road safety programme. It should be an integral part of efforts to upgrade and build new infrastructure, and will be crucial if we are to avoid the projected catastrophic loss of life and economic drain on developing countries over the next decades.
Click here for Professor Sachs’ comments >
Click here for the UN Financing for Development outcomes >