Isn't the purpose of aid to end aid?

The second day at the HLF IV offered us a particularly inspiring opening ceremony with high level participants and strong messages.

The president of Korea reminded how his country is an example of a successful development policy which brought Korea from a post conflict state in 1953 to becoming a member of the G20 group of world major economies. All speakers reaffirmed the need for an engagement in a new global partnership for development underlining the importance of the use of country systems, of accountability, of results and of capacity development. The president of Korea clearly stated that the biggest investment that his country made for exiting the post conflict situation is the one in education.

Rwanda president Kagame, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Queen Rania of Jordan and the US Secretary of State Clinton offered their vision on how to shake up what has been called "donors' orthodoxy" and move towards new paradigms for aid delivery. "Donors need to move from designers of aid to actual implementing partners, from leaders to team players and promote equity. [….] peoples in the developing world request dignity not dependence and aid is not only about eliminating poverty but also about creating prosperity […]. Isn't the purpose of aid to end aid?" (Queen Rania of Jordan)

The US Secretary of state invited partner countries to take up the challenge and get more in charge of their own development becoming what she called "smart shoppers", selecting carefully the aid they can receive, its use and its impact and move away from donors offering " quick fix solutions" that have no long term benefits. Donors, on the other hand "must end making their own plans independently from partner countries development plans…".

After all these declarations, there is not so much space for going on business as usual…..