Poverty reduction has long been the core issue concerning the development of Africa. Over the past more than two decades since the end of the Cold War, sub-Saharan Africa has been at the bottom of the UN Human Development Index ranking, with poverty being the greatest problem. While the world as a whole has seen declining poverty rates in the last decade and some African countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya have registered rapid economic growth, most of African countries remain mired in poverty due to their expanding populations.

In May 2014, China and the African Union issued the Program for Strengthening China-Africa Cooperation on Poverty Reduction, the first document of its kind. In the document, the two sides agreed to strengthen their partnership, and set poverty relief as the top priority in development, thus establishing the priority of poverty reduction in China-African cooperation.

The well-being of people is the ultimate goal of the cooperation between China and Africa. China has provided multi-layered assistance to help Africa shake off poverty. In regard to infrastructure building, China sent experts to help African countries construct urban and rural public facilities, such as affordable housing, to improve the living conditions of locals by overcoming harsh natural conditions and threats of diseases. For example, China helped construct the drainage works and rain water system in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, for free, which greatly eased the problem of waterlogging in the tropical city and ameliorated its sanitary conditions. China also supported Ghana to renovate a market in Cape Coast with preferential loans, which injected vitality into local businesses and boosted its economic development.

Well digging and water supply is another way through which China lends a hand to Africa. In recent years, the country has carried out water supply projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, and other countries, which has greatly alleviated the problem of water shortage in these countries. A China-built water supply project provides clean water to 700,000 residents in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia; a China-assisted water supply project has drilled 920 wells in Zambia, benefiting 300,000 people directly; and China has also helped Malawi dig 600 wells, supplying water to 150,000 local people.

More importantly, China's antipoverty gains over the past four decades has been widely lauded by African countries. China's experience in governance provides African countries with a development path toward modernization entirely different from the neoliberalism touted by Western countries. Moeletsi Mbeki, a political analyst from South Africa, said that sub-Saharan Africa can learn from China's successful experience in agricultural reform, which has been proven by its achievements in poverty reduction.

From the slave trade and colonial rule to resource plundering, the history of Africa has been constantly rewritten and misrepresented by the West. In the national liberation movements and the third wave of democratization in Africa, the colonial rulers arranged African countries to adopt the Western-style development path and policies. After a century, however, under the guidance of the Western countries, Africa has not shaken off poverty. Now, they turn to China, a rapidly-growing developing country that can provide an alternative path.

Improving the governance capability of African countries is crucial to lifting Africa out of poverty. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has made the exchange of experience in governance a key component in developing foreign relations and participation in global governance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee confirmed the key role played by improving independent development capability in its cooperation with other developing countries. But China is also facing difficulties in realizing better results in its assistance to Africa.

Providing aid without political strings attached and without interfering in the internal affairs of assisted country has been the principle of China in its foreign aid programs, which have run well in the early stage of assistance featuring infrastructure construction and technology transfer. Today, it is up to the willingness of African countries themselves to stick to the principle, which has been compromised by the relatively opaque governance system of these countries. The African countries need to strengthen supervision and evaluation to enhance their governance capabilities.

Therefore, a two-way accountability mechanism should be established in Sino-African programs. First, the mechanism requires the Chinese enterprises to hire a third-party body to oversee the whole process from project design, bidding of contractors, to program supervision, and hold those who make mistakes responsible. Second, a mechanism should be set up to supervise the organizers of training programs in course design, selection of experts and feedback from trainees, thus improving the quality of training programs. Third, aid-recipient African countries should monitor evaluation of other stakeholders, and the establishment of a co-evaluation mechanism, so as to build a new Sino-African partnership through discussion, sharing and co-building, avoiding the rent-seeking of power holders and improving the information disclosure of local governments and legislative bodies in African countries.

China hopes to share with Africa its experience in poverty reduction, economic development, and country governance accumulated over the past few decades to help Africa realize modernization. Despite the difficulties we face in evaluation and supervision during the implementation of the assistance programs, the two sides will see more reform motivation with the growing political mutual trust between the two sides.

The author is an associate researcher with the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. 

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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