UAH 2024: what paths towards decolonised aid?

Although the subject has been explored for many years and the movements surrounding the wars of decolonisation have had a major influence on the players and practices of development aid, it is clear that there are still major inequalities of power between the players in the ‘global North’ (many of whom are former colonising powers) and those in the ‘global South’ (often former colonised countries), and this asymmetry seems to be inherent in the aid architecture¹.

Today, however, we are experiencing a profound transformation in the international balance of power – against a backdrop of the West’s loss of influence – which is having a direct impact on the contexts in which aid agencies operate and their ability to act². The fundamentals of development aid are being called into question and rejected by some stakeholders on the grounds that it masks interests and maintains a relationship of domination. The breakdown in cooperation between some Sahel countries and France in recent years is a good illustration of these ongoing dynamics and their direct impact on aid providers and their partners.

However, ‘although international meetings and regional programmes are multiplying [on the decolonisation of aid], they are mainly concentrated in the Anglo-Saxon area and the representation of French-speaking African countries remains weak “³. Beyond the lack of representation from French-speaking Africa, it is the involvement of French-speaking actors in international aid that seems to us to be missing from the debate, in order to feed it with their own reflections and points of view.

The aim of the Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid (UAH) 2024 is therefore to open up a space for joint and collaborative reflection for French-speaking actors in order to explore issues linked to the history and materiality of the coloniality⁴ of international aid and the resulting imbalances of power. The aim is to question the colonial legacy and explore together possible ways of working towards the decolonisation of international aid, by considering the next steps to be taken to design and build change, taking into account institutional responsibilities and our individual role in this process.

Organised with the support of French Development Agency, Fondation de France, Région Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes and Monegasque Cooperation.

1. Peace Direct (2021). Time to decolonize aid. London, UK. https://www.peacedirect.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PD-Decolonising-Aid_Second-Edition.pdf
2. The members of Coordination Sud have therefore decided to work on ‘What capacities for action do Western NGOs have in a multipolarising world?’, a study carried out by ONGLab and implemented by Kayros, the results of which will be published in autumn 2025.
3. WACSI (2023). Décolonisation de l’aide: perspectives de la société civile d’Afrique sub-saharienne francophone. Accra, Ghana.
4. “La colonialité consiste en l’articulation planétaire d’un système de pouvoir “occidental” […] (qui) se fonde sur une infériorisation prétendument naturelle des lieux, des groupes humains, des savoirs et des subjectivités non occidentales”. Escobar, A., Restrepo, E. (2009). Anthropologies hégémoniques et colonialité. Cahiers Des Amériques Latines, (62), 83-95