Samenvatting

Economic underdevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa has a long history. Two centuries of globalization has left sub-Saharan Africa lagging far behind in its economic development - its income is twenty five times smaller than the income of the USA, the richest economy in the world. This unfavorable situation both combines forces with and contributes to various other factors in order to keep sub-Saharan Africa at the very bottom of the ladder of economic prosperity. Diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria claim the lives of millions every year. Furthermore lack of basic infrastructure and ineffective agriculture holds back the regional economy and constantly threatens the population with hunger.

The international donor community has devised various projects and strategies for ending economic underdevelopment and extreme poverty. The Millennium Development Goals constitute a comprehensive plan for curing the most severe problems of regions like sub-Saharan Africa. But the fulfillment of those goals requires the genuine commitment of all the donor countries, especially the ones with the greatest capacity, in order to solve the problems of sub-Saharan Africa. From the perspective of the year 2008 is realistic to say, though, that the gap between promises and action is hard to bridge. Notwithstanding the fact that the overall amount of ODA disbursed has increased that has been mainly due to the sizeable portion of emergency aid and cancellation of debt which do not contribute to the very development of the region.

Besides ODA there have been other significant efforts of non-state actors in the field of helping sub-Saharan Africa overcome its gravest problems. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are a good example of alternative sources of funding for development programs. Both organizations work with local partners in order to address the most devastating disease in sub-Saharan Africa and agricultural degradation. This makes their programs more efficient, inclusive and result-oriented. The activities of these organizations so far constitute an ample effort and their impact can already be seen, but they need to be scaled up in order to give comprehensive results.