MASHAV: Israel’s approach to effective development cooperation

International Development Cooperation is a popular term among development economists. It is even popular in  development discussions in Ghana and other developing countries.

A resounding concept in the discourse on how to close the yawning economic disparity between the developed and developing world remains a complicated concept in many respects. It is complicated because almost every developed country touts assistance in one area or another from a developing country. It seems to assign a different meaning to what constitutes development cooperation.

At what point is development cooperation that has been initiated by a developed country a subtle attempt to interfere in a developing country’s internal affairs? How is a beneficiary developing country selected for economic cooperation? How can developed countries deal with the imbalance created when they work directly with governments of developing countries who then divert aid funds for political reasons? Really, who benefits under any economic cooperation agreement?

These questions are among the sticky points that blur the line between true humanitarian drive to lift poverty-ridden societies from their doldrums by developed countries and their attempt, sometimes, to take advantage of a dire situation. Whose analysis about a loan advanced to a developing country by a developed country for a water project is credible? China, for instance, is gaining international notoriety for what some critics believe is a partnership with developing countries that is skewed – in no small measure – to its economic and geopolitical interest.

The State of Israel, however, seems clear in its mind on how to work within the true spirit of development cooperation. This clarity of purpose is spelt out in the mission of a six-letter organisation: MASHAV. MASHAV has for many decades been quietly, but consistently, delivering on the tenets of true international economic cooperation from India to Ghana and elsewhere.

A different approach

MASHAV’s mission, since 1958, has been to lead the State of Israel’s efforts in empowering developing countries with the tools to overcome development challenges and elicit sustainable transformation within the beneficiary countries.

Adam Levine, Mashav Project Manager and External Relations, says the organisation has been taking firm strides towards delivering on this mission.

“All the things that we do start with a needs assessment, which is a joint process with the governments and we build the understanding of what is needed, relevant and acceptable,” he said on Monday at the Israeli Foreign Ministry building in Jerusalem.

Speaking from an economic standpoint, Spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Emmanuel Nahshon, is also convinced Israel presents a unique advantage for Africa, especially for effective economic cooperation.

Also speaking on Monday at the Israeli Foreign Ministry building complex in Jerusalem, Ambassador Nahshon said, countries like Ghana and other African countries stand to gain economically when they build deeper cooperation with the State of Israel.

Emmanuel Nahshon

“We have no colonialistic past. We never ruled over anyone in Africa. We don’t have a bad conscience that we need to clean up by being nice. We are small nation coming with open hands, cleans hands for cooperation. We have advantages in high-tech, in agriculture in water management in security-related issues...all of these are exactly what Africa needs in order to develop,” he said.

This year, MASHAV’s $200 million budget has initiated projects in countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America.

In Ghana, for instance, MASHAV’s Early Childhood Education in Kumasi and Accra are equipping young children with critical education foundation. In Suntresso and Kumasi, MASHAV has established Neonatal Units with intermittent training of the health workers.

The organisation also offers yearly training programmes on health and agriculture, among others to various Ghanaians. The organisation focuses on the transfer of knowledge by bringing experts to Ghana for training and taking Ghanaians to Israel for the same.

In India, MASHAV has established Centres of Excellence in Agriculture; in Ethiopia, the organisation’s Nursery Horticultural Plant Propagation and Production, which it does with USAID, is promoting economic growth in rural areas by strengthening smallholder farmers’ production of fruits and vegetables with recognized market potential.

Instead of handing out loans with heavy conditions or giving out funds to government agencies, most of which would have been untraceable, MASHAV’s approach has always been people-oriented.

By placing people at the heart of development, MASHAV focuses its development activities on human capacity building. 

The organisation has been committed to the “training of trainers” approach, which is essentially sharing with developing countries Israel’s own development experience and expertise.

MASHAV does this by designing and coordinating the implementation of technical assistance and human capacity building based on a demand-driven approach and in accordance with the needs and requests of partner countries. Whether these activities take place in Israel or in the beneficiary countries, there is only one purpose: to focus on the people.

Whether it is in the area food security and agriculture or education, the State of Israel, through MASHAV, has consistently involved youths and the critical masses in demand-driven projects in a way that fits within efforts to alleviate development challenges.

Emerging trend

The popular architecture of development cooperation that is characterised by a focus on the provision of official development assistance while neglecting the need to tackle other development issues such as trade, transfer of technology, intellectual has added to the complication of the concept.

There have been calls among state and non-state actors in the sphere of development cooperation for a new dimension that makes development assistance more relevant and effective in meeting challenges that impede development.

MASHAV’s emphasis on creating effective partnerships for development and implementing cooperative projects both in Israel and in beneficiary countries seems to fit within the requirements of this call for a paradigm shift in development cooperation. It is an approach worthy of emulation.

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This story was written in Israel where the author, along with 22 other journalists from Anglophone from African countries, is on a study tour on the invitation of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry.

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