Canada’s decision to prioritize its profile in Afghanistan when providing development aid took money away from the most successful aid projects in the country and undermined the legitimacy of the Afghan government, according to development aid specialist Nipa Banarjee.
Nipa Banerjee
Banarjee is now a professor of development aid at the University of Ottawa, but for 33 years worked at the Canadian government’s aid funding agency, CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). From 2003 to 2006 she headed the agency’s aid operations in Afghanistan.
In an article posted last week on the website of the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) at the University of Ottawa, she explored the past and potential future of Canadian aid in Afghanistan.
In a frank, in-depth, and wide-ranging conversation with RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda aid development specialist Nipa Banarjee talks about the context of Canadian aid after 9/11, the initial optimism of the Afghan people, and about the sudden change of focus of Canadian aid development in 2007 which prioritized Canada’s profile and visibility in Afghanistan at the expense of the Afghan government.
ListenMore information:
Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS)/ Nipa Banarjee – An Ex-CIDA Officer’s Reflections on Afghanistan: Looking Back, Looking Forward (article) – here
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