CGIAR Secretariat

McNamara, Robert S.

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THE CHALLENGES FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA ROBERT S. McNAMARA Sir John Crawford Memorial Lecture Washington, D.C. November 1,198s INTRODUCTION” 1 am deeply pleased to have been invited to deliver this first Memo- rial Lecture, sponsored by the government of Australia, in honor of Sir John Crawford. Those of you who knew him personally will understand why. It is not merely that he was a man of immense accomplishment in the complicated field of development econom- ics-at once a scholar, a teacher, an administrator, and a brilliant policy adviser-but that he wore all of these talents and abilities with such grace and modesty and contagious good humor. All who are interested in the advancement of the developing peoples will be deeply indebted to Sir John. For he was both a man of vision, and a man of action. A man who clearly understood that progress throughout the developing world was not only theoretically possible, but quite certainly attainable. Attainable, however, only if all of us-in the rich and poor countries alike-are willing, as he was, to think clearly enough, plan wisely enough, and work hard enough to help make it happen. I want to explore with you today a part of the developing world which is not experiencing progress and whose outlook is far from bright. It is the huge expanse of Africa and, in particular, sub-Saharan Africa. No area of the world has captured more dramatically in recent months the attention of people everywhere. The graphic reality of mass starvation has shocked television viewers in the affluent na- tions. There has been an outpouring of private and public donations of emergency assistance. Sensibilities have been jolted, and con- sciences have been touched. There is a strong personal desire on the part of millions of concerned individuals to help in a direct and practical way. Ironically this avalanche of compassion for the open and visible suffering of the victims of famine-genuine as it is-has tended to 11 am indebted to the staff of the World Bank, and particularly to S. Shahid Husain, Armeane M. Choksi, and John L. Maddux, for assisting me in preparing this statement. They, of course, bear no resporisibility for the judgments and conclusions I am pre- senting. 1 

The Challenges for Sub-Saharan Africa

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The Challenges for Sub-Saharan Africa

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