Miscellaneous 9-Journalistic Mainstream

Africa Needs More Funds to Deliver U.N.’s Goals by 2015 Deadline (Scientific American, July 2008)

Summary: Director of the U.N.’s Millennium Goals Project, Jeffrey Sachs, argues that the only way for Africa to reach the U.N.’s goals by 2015 is to make sure donor countries follow through on their promises to invest more funds in the project.

Topic: Should the state department of the Obama administration double foreign aid for Africa?
Category: Mainstream Journalistic
What Is It? An article published in Scientific American magazine

Title: Africa Needs More Funds to Deliver U.N.’s Goals by 2015 Deadline
Publication Information: Scientific American, July 2008 in “Society and Policy” section
Author: Jeffrey D. Sachs, American economist and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Location: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=africa-needs-funds-extended-version
Accessed: January 6, 2009

Support:
• A different Scientific American article pertaining to malaria
• “Many Analysts” – no specifics mentioned here
• Ban Ki-moon, MDG Africa Steering Group head and U.N. Secretary-General
• Millennium Villages program report
• G8 countries promises
• John F. Kennedy
The article links to another Scientific American article that questions a newly developed Malaria drug. Sachs references “many analysts” as having overlooked the importance of public investments. Ban Ki-moon and the African Steering Group are cited for their critical review of the progress made in African thus far and their development of a “roadmap” for the measures to be taken in order for the 2015 goals to be met. The Millennium Villages program is used as an example for how effective the MDG investments in rural villages are. The major G8 countries are cited as promising more funds, but when Sachs uses the actual numbers and percentages of GNP, it turns out they haven’t risen at all. John F. Kennedy is quoted from an early speech committing the U.S. “for as long as it takes” to eliminate global poverty.

Audience and Agenda: Scientific American is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. They boast an impressive list of contributing writers consisting of world leaders, U.S. government officials and economists and industrialists. They publish 15 foreign language editions worldwide and have more than 1,000,000 copies in circulation around the globe. They have an enormous audience and are funded by advertisers.

Usefulness: This article is in opposition to most of the other articles I’ve come across. It argues that what’s been missing in the plans for reviving Africa is funding. Sachs casts aside “technology, the will, the plans, the methods of implementation, [and] the ways to control corruption in aid delivery” as more or less inconsequential without the proper funding. He argues the inverse of what Easterly argues; that without proper funding, it doesn’t matter if the other aspects of that funding are addressed. Whereas Easterly is arguing that without proper controls in place (ie: technology, will, plans, corruption prevention etc.) the funds themselves don’t matter because they don’t achieve what they were sent for. Sachs focuses a lot on the economics of funding and analyzes the amount (as percentages of GNP) that the G8 are providing. He argues that investment in public projects, not just private projects, are important for stabilizing the poorest of the African nations. He seems to be addressing an economically savvy audience, using a lot of jargon.

Works Cited:
Scientific American About page
Ulrich’s periodical directory through the Gateway.wordpress link

The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid debate with Easterly’s opinions