LAST week I had an interesting discussion with some representatives of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at the Binga Rest Camp.
This NGO wanted to assist fishermen dry and market their catches and was planning to hold a strategic planning workshop the next day.
A group of fishermen had been identified to participate and each fisherman was to be given an attendance fee of US$100.
Considering the low catches of fish, due to the winter cold, many fishermen could not resist this ‘free money’, so the meeting was over-subscribed.
It had to be extended to the next day as fishermen jostled to attend.
One thing was clear – they (fishermen) did not understand what was happening or what they were going to be told.
Just like many NGO activities in Binga and other communities, it was not surprising this particular NGO wanted to ‘teach’ BaTonga new ways of catching fish, when in actual fact these fishermen had been doing so for decades.
In fact, their lives depended on fishing.
The above project is one of the many which are misplaced and simply dumped on the people in many African communities.
A book published on January 28 2010 by a Zambian woman, Dambisa Moyo, best illustrates this misplaced aid and how NGOs tend to impose projects not beneficial to communities.
Titled Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, Moyo says: “The notion that aid can alleviate poverty and has done so is a myth.
“Millions in Africa today are poorer because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended, but increased.
“In the past 50 years, more than US$1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa.
“Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans?
“No.
“In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse – much worse.” 
Judging from the average awareness of many people in African communities, Moyo’s analysis must have been annoying – and not without reason.
For many years, Africans have become convinced the social and economic development of their continent depends on the amount of aid richer nations are willing to send to Africa.
In fact, many African politicians beg for aid even though it has been detrimental to their local economic development.
While it is true some people travel thousands of kilometres away from their homelands, all to lend a helping hand to the people they barely know, it is equally true that aid-giving and the NGO affairs are not limited only to those kind of people, whom in realty are quite few in number.
Hiding behind the noble humane gesture of ‘giving’ is a powerful idea, an idea about total human domination and exploitation.
An idea that does not talk, bleed or feel human agony; yet in its name, deeply rooted in commerce, the tears on the faces of Africans no longer count as evidence of human suffering.
They have become means of earnings for some interest-driven individuals, corporates and NGOs.
Apparently the aid business is booming in Africa.
As Africa’s problems multiplied, so the number of foreign NGOs has risen.
There were few NGOs in the 1960s, but there are thought to be well over 25 000 today and their staff in Africa is usually comprised of outsiders.
They don’t come cheap.
It is said an estimated US$4 billion is spent annually on recruiting some 100 000 expatriates. 
It is difficult for many African communities to accept that the majority of NGOs’ activities on the continent are merely games.
The local authorities have often failed to provide employment to their people.
They have not been able to develop infrastructure and build trust in the local system.
These have obviously made many Africans, especially those in rural areas such as Binga, the right target for this type of exploitation. 
While there is nothing wrong with helping somebody in need, there is everything wrong with aid that comes with strings attached.
Africans do not need to depend on other people’s projects, but to plan for themselves.
Most times, the money raised in the West for projects in Africa is never really used for those projects.
It’s said about 80 percent of the total money usually remains in the West.
Only some 20 percent goes to Africa and when it does, about 10 percent will go to the staff who in most cases are from Europe.
The five percent will have to be paid to community leaders while the remainder may be used for a borehole.
They will take a photograph of it, play around with the figures and say: “We have built 10 or 20 boreholes in different villages.”
Some people might be angry and argue NGOs have built hospitals and fed ‘the vulnerable communities’ in Matabeleland North and South Provinces, but one thing for certain is NGOs are not really helping Africans, but themselves to advance foreign agendas while firmly entrenching the dependency syndrome.