Why some countries can't catch up
The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world. Development there has stagnated at a very low level for decades. For Katapult Magazine, Tim Glawion shows that aid measures and development programs often fail to address the needs of the population: "[I]nternational funding countries often have a different understanding of economic development. Development programs often aim to better integrate poorer countries into the global economy. For this, industrialization and specialization of these countries is particularly important. However, in the Central African Republic, most of the population live off small-scale farming and are self-sufficient. The programs fail to address their lived realities."
Other contributing factors are conflicts and increased funding of the military with external money, while public services are neglected. This is also evident in opther countries like South Sudan and Somalia. Glawion's conclusion: "For development cooperation to work, the measures have to create local structures and strengthen local ownership". Above all, a better conncetion between local communities and the global economy is a key factor for this.
The article is available on the Katapult Magazine website (Paywall, in German).