The System of International Aid with Degan Ali

Rules of the Game – discussing democratic institutions

With Degan Ali I discuss the system of international aid based on her inside experience of working in the sector for over two decades. She speaks truth to power and that really takes some bravery to do, and I honor that. Degan Ali shares many compelling stories from her home country Somalia, but also from several years of growing up and studying in the US. She explains how local agricultural markets were destroyed by foreign interference and how the Somali government is at the whim of foreign donor countries, instead of being accountable to its own people.

Listening to her perspective is really important and powerful, even though I don’t agree with all her viewpoints. With her voice and her work she tries to find ways to liberate Somalia from the traditional aid paradigm. As it is pointless to wait for the international aid system to change or even to leave Somalia, what seems the most promising way forward is to empower local civil society organizations and to raise their political profile to increase their leverage on the political stage.

Degan Ali has been at the forefront of shifting power for decades. She is the Executive Director of Adeso, an organization that made cash transfers a significant, legitimate method of delivering aid to vulnerable populations, beginning with the first large-scale cash transfer program during the 2011 Somalia famine. She is also a Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellow for Social Innovation, a contributor to the Overseas Development Institute, the Humanitarian Policy Group and the Global Food Security Journal. Her work has been featured on The New York Times, Al Jazeera and The Guardian.

As a remark, this conversation was recorded in June 2023.

⁠⁠⁠Find a full transcript and links to all material discussed in the show notes⁠⁠⁠.⁠

Schedule: 00:00 Introduction / 04:57 Personal questions / 13:41 Main discussion / 42:46 Recommendations by Degan Ali.

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Many thanks to Ana Margarida Santos who co-produced this episode.

Please enjoy this conversation with Degan Ali.