Strategies for Africa reviewed Despite the billions of dollars spent on development assistance in Africa, the success stories are limited. Add to this growing environmental degradation and unfavourable terms of trade, and the need for revitalized development assistance becomes imperative. The failure of many development efforts to take root in Africa has led FAO to conduct projects aimed at reassessing and reorienting the strategies that have been applied. The project will review previous approaches to rural development, proposing alternatives based on participatory, sustainable methods tailored to the sub-continent. An important component of the programme focuses on building up internal self-management capacities among the member countries.
Decentralization is part of a growing process of democratization throughout Africa.
It involves the transfer of tasks that were previously the responsibility of the state to local communities and the private sector. By analysing the weaknesses of past efforts, it is expected that the process can be made more efficient in the future. FAO will conduct comparative analyses of these experiences to fine-tune its approach. Also on the policy level, FAO is reviewing development programmes with sub-Saharan states to include incentives that will induce farmers to conserve and maintain the natural resource base under their custody. The objective is to meet the current populations' needs without jeopardizing future generations' quality of life.