The Brown Capital Management Africa Forum - Reimagining Development Finance for a 21 Century Africa

The roots of contemporary development practice reside in the immediate post-World War II era, when extraordinary efforts to provide temporary financial and technical assistance for European countries from the ravaging effects of the war helped to get back on track toward shared national and since then, the foundations of this approach became the cornerstone of development thinking. [...] The statements made and views expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of the author and do not represent the views of the Wilson Center or Brown Capital Management. [...] A Development Retrospective The United States hosted the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 as the victorious global powers sought to consolidate peace after concluding the Second World War.2 The likelihood of an economic collapse in Europe was foremost in the mind of framers of the conference. [...] A decade after the establishment of USAID in 1961,11 the United States established the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in 1971 in recognition of the crucial role played by the private sector.12 Established in 2004, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) introduced development compacts that linked development finance to good governance.13 OPIC was revamped and the Development Fin. [...] The introduction of OPIC and the DFC emphasized the contributions of the private sector in bolstering economic development, while the advent of the MCC highlighted the centrality of sound economic governance and strategic investments, including infrastructure.