Factors Affecting Developing Planning in Africa: The Need for Local Input

Africa has become synonymous with poverty, diseases, and despair. The continent is home to the highest number of extremely poor people in the world. Throughout the world, especially in the last few decades, many countries in the so-called South have succeeded in lifting their people out of poverty. The continent, with the exception of a few African countries, has failed to design and implement sound economic plans to bring prosperity to a billion Africans. This thesis proposes that for African countries to develop, ways should be found to include indigenous input into development planning. This assumption is based on both the literature which debates the value of foreign aid as well as externally-imposed liberalization, and also on a preliminary assessment of the models African countries have employed to date. To support the proposal, the thesis analyzes the plans adopted by four African countries, Tanzania, Botswana, Ethiopia and Ghana, each having employed a different model. It concludes that it is not just important to have a local plan but rather that six factors are important in planning: an inclusive political system, visionary leaders, open markets, investment in human and economic capital, good regional integration and good relationships with foreign powers