perks

Advisers and their perks

Sir, I found Alfred Sasako’s article on donor funding for developing coun tries (May, 1995) extremely useful; but wish to add three points.

Firstly, the fact that a high proportion of

the aid often goes to a consultant from the donor country itself does not necessarily mean that none of his (it is usually “his”) salary and other costs go to the recipient country. If, say, a German Adviser is appointed to Fiji for a three-year assign ment, he lives here, buys a car here, and

probably brings dependants here. In effect,

much of the money he gets remains in Fiji and only his savings may go back to Germany.

The real test is whether he carries out the Terms of Reference and effectively trains counterparts. If he does, and if it was a worthwhile project to begin with, then the donor funding has been good for Fiji.

Secondly, there is often a particular segment of the money that never reaches the developing country and that is the fee paid to the overseas firm that provides the Consultant. Possibly very few people know that if it costs, say, % 100,000 to obtain a Consultant over a particular peri od, as much as $40,000 may go to the company that “owns” him. And that part does stay overseas.

Mr Sasako writes from Forum secre tariat and I believe that this body could look at this procedure - along with the high failure rate of Consultants to the South Pacific. It should be possible for Forum to build up its register of good Consultants (more and more including experts from the Pacific) and encourage all donors to use that list, and similar sources of their own, thereby cutting out the mid dle men. In that way, excessive commis sions to “international head-hunters” could be avoided.

Finally, I come back to the issue of “donor-led” projects. One Asian country has its own plan for how Pacific airports

should develop. The European

Community is still trying to impose

Brussels-designed projects on the Region, in areas such as the environment and rural development, quite opposed to what the

countries themselves have made clear that they want. Several donors, again including the EC, attempt to push USP in certain directions. I have heard of other examples but can only report those of which I have direct experience.

Here again. Forum Secretariat is in the best position to fight for the people of the Pacific. Please ensure that every donor supports projects that are really wanted by the region. Let them all fit in to the Pacific’s long-term strategy. If that is achieved by, say, 2020 there will be no fur ther need for aid. And if any donor insists on financing projects that they want and the Region does not, then please tell them to pack their bags.

David Bryant,

Beach Road, Suva Point, Fiji.