African countries must urgently start the process of ending aid dependency

On why African countries must seize this moment to start the journey towards self-sufficiency

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I: We must not waste the current crisis

The projected effects of aid cuts by the United States government are sobering. According to one estimate, USAID cuts could end up costing 500,000 lives in South Africa over the next decade. People who’ve come to depend on life-saving U.S. assistance are facing the unimaginable. Beyond the dire consequences for aid recipients, the destruction of professional careers and livelihoods both in aid recipient countries and in Washington, DC will prove costly. The lost human capital will be hard to replace. The effects of job losses and program halts will reverberate across the economies of low-income countries in the coming months and years.

It’s worth reiterating that the trend in aid cuts extends beyond the United States. Furthermore, over the last four years donor count…