RFI: Equity Indicators (6)
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Dear Julia Valderrama and AFRO-NETS colleagues,
Thank you, Julia, for bringing the focus back to the reality of ac-
tivities on the ground. As I understand it, you have a concern about
the issue of fairness.... and specifically the issue of fairness be-
tween resource allocations (services delivered) to those that can af-
ford it compared to those that cannot afford it.
Maybe you are also concerned about the issue of those that have ac-
cess to services compared to those that do not have access to ser-
vices.... not only because of affordability of the services...... but
also because of issues such as physical geography and availability of
services.
I keep coming back to some very basic issues in development. There
are NEEDS and there are RESOURCES. The resources are totally inade-
quate to satisfy the needs. If NORTH type costing is done of the re-
sources that are needed to satisfy NEEDS, then development resource
flows (including developing country revenues) are in a range of 5% or
less of what is needed. If more money resource gets to be made avail-
able the conditionality is usually so onerous as to be ridiculous. So
we start with a situation that is DOOMED to failure.... at any rate
as long as the prevailing development paradigm is followed.
The NORTH can help, but it is the SOUTH that must be the solution.
Most people in the SOUTH are not able to work effectively because
they lack the resources to do the job well..... or they are unem-
ployed because there is no salary money (a modest amount) to get them
to work. Certainly there is work to be done...... but the institu-
tional framework for work to get done is incomplete and under-funded.
So the challenge is to find a way to get resources from the NORTH to
help people in the SOUTH work more effectively...... to help people
presently working outside government and well funded projects and not
presently known to the NORTH at all. We are developing an information
solution to this problem...... and would be delighted to get feedback
from people who might be interested in collaborating.
As the information component emerges..... behind it we are developing
other elements to handle resource allocation and distribution.... and
the accounting and accountability that is missing from the present
official development assistance (ODA) framework. In our complete
analysis framework.... the NEED that is never satisfied will be docu-
mented..... and one day the issue of FAIRNESS can be addressed based
on a reasonable body of information that reflects reality on the
ground.
Meanwhile... thank you again Julia for bringing this fairness issue
to our attention.
Sincerely
T. Peter Burgess
VP and CFO ATCnet
New York, USA
Tel +1-212-772-6918
Fax +1-707-371-7805
mailto:profitinafrica@aol.com
mailto:hivaidsstories@aol.com
http://www.atcnet.org
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