In the shadow of politics: US AID-government of Egypt relations and urban housing intervention

This paper shows how international and local politics influence aid project s, using the example of the Helwan housing project in Cairo funded by the U S Government's Agency for International Development (LIS AID). Most discuss ions on aid focus on its economic role, neglecting how politics within dono r and recipient countries shape it and often limit its effectiveness. Many aid agencies also assume that they can impose conditions to make "their" pr oject more effective without recognizing the resentment and opposition this generates (which then reduces effectiveness). In describing the implementa tion of this project, which included upgrading for 200,000 people and 7,200 new serviced sites, the paper also shows the dependency of international d onors on recipient government agencies. These agencies have considerable po wer both in what they do and in what they choose not to do or to delay Most of the Helwan's project's goals were nor achieved. It did not change the g overnment of Egypt's approach to low-income housing and it did not even mee t ifs goals within the project itself At the-outset, no consensus was built between the different international, national and local agencies. The dono r could not stop the funding in order to enforce project conditionality bec ause it was under pressure to spend the money and because many vested inter ests would have suffered if the funding had been stopped.