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Zusatztext It is rare to find such a detailed, vivid, helpful account of what it is like to do development work. Informationen zum Autor Peter Griffiths Klappentext What really happens when the World Bank imposes its policies on a country? This is an insider's view of one aid-made crisis. Peter Griffiths was at the interface between government and the Bank. In this ruthlessly honest, day by day account of a mission he undertook in Sierra Leone, he uses his diary to tell the story of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, imposed a secret agreement on the government, banning all government food imports or subsidies. The collapsing economy meant that the private sector would not import. Famine loomed. No ministry, no state marketing organization, no aid organization could reverse the agreement. It had to be a top-level government decision, whether Sierra Leone could afford to annoy minor World Bank officials. This is a rare and important portrait of the aid world which insiders will recognize, but of which the general public seldom get a glimpse. Vorwort An insiders account of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, undermines democracy. Zusammenfassung An insiders account of how the World Bank, obsessed with the free market, undermines democracy. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Foreword: Is the Story True? 2. The Task Ahead 3. Meeting the Minister 4. The Expats 5. Meeting the Officials 6. The Casablanca 7. Exchange Rates 8. The United Nations 9. Doing Business in Freetown 10. Finding the Facts 11. The Casablanca 12. The Weekend 13. In the Markets 14. Vanishing Rice 15. Military Coups 16. Planning My Expedition 17. Alarm at the World Bank 18. Into the Interior 19. Visiting the Projects 20. The Resthouse 21. More Projects 22. The University 23. Trekking On 24. Finding the Facts 25. The Southern Province 26. Colonialism 27. Home Again 28. Financing the System 29. What Happened to the Money? 30. Freetown 31. Getting Information 32. How Civil Servants Survive 33. Trickle Down 34. How Much Food is There? 35. The World Bank Reform 36. Cash Flow Problems 37. The Agricultural Marketing Board 38. Of Coups and Rumours of Coups 39. How Much Rice is Imported? 40. Who Will Import? 41. How Do I Get Action? 42. The Casablanca 43. Cabinet Paper 44. Getting it to the Decision Makers 45. Handing It Over 46. On Trek Again 47. Mother Theresa 48. Waiting For Action 49. The Marketing Board 50. A Sundowner 51. Revisiting the Importers 52. A Second Cabinet Paper 53. Dishonest Expatriates 54. Alerting the World Food Programme 55. Breaking the Rules 56. The Showdown 57. And Then What? ...
About the author
Dr Peter Griffiths is an independent economist and consultant who has been involved in a very wide range of activities over many years, including export marketing studies, pricing studies, privatization investigations, project appraisal missions and project preparation studies. Originally a specialist in the marketing and pricing of agricultural products, he has worked all over the world in the EU, Eastern Europe, Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. He originally started his career at the University of Cambridge where he worked on horticultural economics. From 1972 to 1980 he was Senior Research Officer at the Irish Agricultural Institute. He has published widely in academic journals, as well as a number of books mainly on economic themes.
This book is being published under a pseudonym since its subject matter relates to a mission which he undertook for the World Bank and the results of which, despite the institutional constraints involved, he feels strongly ought to be in the public domain.
