FOREIGN AID AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FROM TAIWAN AND IMPLICATIONS FOR BURKINA FASO

Using content analysis, and countries foreign aid to economic growth selective variables comparison, this study reassesses Taiwan (ROC) earliest economic achievement. The period considered is the early post World War II (1951 to 1965), the subject focus is the U.S. Aid investment to human capital formation, its correlation to the country further development and its implications for Burkina Faso today. The research therefore evolves around this main objective and raises the following questions: how financial and technical resources from the US Aid were investing into Taiwan human capital formation? How does it covariate with the country’s economic development? What were intervening factors to this achievement? Which lessons are worth learning? How can, both the MDGs and Burkina Faso leadership, on the light of Taiwan’s experience improve the development process in Burkina Faso? The data analysis led to the conclusion that most of the USA funds for this early period went primary to fill the human capital gap, which in turn allowed the financial gap to be filling up. This finding comforts our proposed theory that filling the human capital gap is the pre-requisite for countries that still in the first stage of their development. Based on this foundation theory, the study suggests in its conclusion, a couple of policy recommendations for the Millennium Development Goals achievement in Burkina Faso. The suggested recommendations militate firstly, for a better process for financial funds disbursement and investment through a semi autonomous institutional framework, and secondly, for the establishment of a human capital bank through a national volunteer program