IMF

In a research article by Kristina et al. (2011), the free market fundamentalism of the IMF and the World Bank had a disastrous impact on the development of the African countries. This impact was in contrast to the stated aims of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) as per which the development perspective can be understood in terms of structural changes, economic growth, and poverty eradication. The authors make a claim that the policies advocated by these institutions rarely analyze the consequences on human rights of the people of recipient countries. For example, the policies imposed by IMF and World Bank requires privatization of the industry in the recipient country and thus the cocoa industry in Cote d’Ivoire was privatized for complying with this policy. Now, in order to repay the loan taken from IMF, farmers are under increased pressure to produce more cocoa which has further increased the illegal exploitation of children. The African government itself has lowered the legal age of children for agricultural work to twelve. This further proves that the African political system is a major contributor towards the poverty and lack of development of African inhabitants. The monumental failures of the internal African public policies; the ways in which African states have been created; and the complicity of African governments has largely resulted into the underdevelopment of Africa. It is also affirmed that the vagaries of the external environment controlled by the industrialized countries are responsible for Africa’s economic woes.
          Fawzya