British aid used to train waiters at billionaire's playground

Welcome to the weird world of “international aid” in which millions of pounds

in development funds can be spent training waiters in a country which nobody

even pretends is poor.

Barbados is, in terms of GDP per capita, wealthier than Portugal, Croatia and

Hungary. Average life expectancy is 80 for women, and over 99 per cent of

the population is literate.

In the UN Human Development Report for 2010, Barbados was listed among nations

with a “very high” level of human development, officially a “developed”

rather than a “developing” nation.

Indeed, the country has established itself as a billionaire’s playground, with

the Sandy Lane hotel attracting the likes of Simon Cowell and Sir Philip

Green. Coleen and Wayne Rooney have a house on the island, perhaps attracted

by the arrival of Louis Vuitton and Cartier, just off Sunset Boulevard on

Barbados’s wealthy west coast. The former British colony sees £36 billion in

offshore finance pass through its doors each year.

Yet still the EU, DfID and a host of other development agencies pour money

into this tiny Caribbean island of 280,000 people. From their offices

overlooking the Caribbean, the EU staff dish out sizeable sums of money to

projects focused on increasing agricultural productivity, tackling “climate

change” and promoting renewable energy.

The cash has created a mini-industry for consultants. When the EU — or any

other aid agency — has decided their projects, they will publish a “Request

For Proposals”, inviting international consultants to bid for the project.

The use of international consultants has created a thriving cabal of

highly-paid, globe-trotting specialists who flit from one project to the

next. As The Sunday Telegraph revealed last week, these “poverty barons” can

earn six-figure salaries for their work in countries such as Barbados, where

they can be employed for several months at a time.

Large consultancy firms such as Deloitte and KPMG have their own offices in

Barbados and other international consultants are keen to grab a slice of the

pie. Some Caribbean consultants have even set up a “European office” — often

little more than a small room in Paris or London — in order to gain an aura

of international prestige, and help their bid for the contract.

Once the contract is signed, consultants can spend months, even years,

investigating elements of Barbados’s society and economy.

Those working for the International Monetary Fund will check into the Hilton,

with which the IMF has a worldwide deal, making it the favourite for other

consultants too, and socialise at the Royal Westmoreland golf course, or

Champers’ restaurant. There, say local critics, the aid deals are done.

“If I worked in this industry for 40 years, I could never break into that

gang,” said Jeremy Stephen, a Barbadian business consultant. “Local firms

are struggling to win contracts for development consultancy because there is

this network of key individuals, who you see time and time again heading up

the big projects.” Mr Stephen, who runs his own consultancy, said that using

outsiders often resulted in projects that faded away without a proper

legacy.

“A disproportionate amount is spent on consultants, and then two years down

the line the project fails and everyone says it is due to lack of

capitalisation. Well the money was there. But it was just not spent wisely.”

The wisdom of the spending is certainly an open question.

Despite Barbados’s burgeoning financial sector, the EU has allocated £800,000

in a “Budget Support Programme in support of the International Business and

Financial Services Sector”.

A further £1 million has been spent on a forensic science laboratory. They

also donated £3.1 million for the expansion of the Barbados language centre,

which teaches Barbadians how to speak French, German or Chinese.

And one scheme is to modernise Andrew’s Sugar Factory, the oldest producer in

a country built on sugar cane . Agricultural experts agree that the industry

should have been modernised decades ago and in January 2010 the EU spent

£960.000 million commissioning development consultants Landell Mills to

investigate the crop and suggest ways of improving production. Their study

is helping the Barbadian government increase productivity and produce more

molasses — vital for rum production.

Most experts back the findings of the project, which is designed by the EU to

help nations compete equally, once the World Trade Organisation removed

preferential tariffs.

But even people who think the EU study was a good idea question whether

employing outside consultants is the best way to enhance agricultural

efficiency.

“Development agencies often come with a solution in need of a Caribbean

problem,” said Keeley Holder, an agriculture consultant and president of the

Barbados Society for Technologists in Agriculture.

“The people actually farming the land are excluded from the process, and the

money never reaches them.”

One of the key figures in the aid world in Barbados, Dr Arnold McIntyre,

project coordinator for financial services organisation CARTAC, is well

aware of the heated debate around aid to Barbados.

CARTAC, funded primarily by Canada, with DfID contributing around £3.7 million

for the period 2011-16, provides provide technical assistance for

macro-economic policy, regulation, customs and tax in the Carribean –

undeniably useful and well-run schemes. In Afghanistan, for example,

improving the tax revenues would have a huge impact on the country. Does it

really make such a difference in a developed nation like Barbados?

“In terms of the poverty impact, then that’s absolutely correct,” he said.

“That’s why the IMF [which manages CARTAC] has four offices like ours in

sub-Saharan Africa, and only one here for the entire Caribbean.” Dr McIntyre

strongly denies that money sent to Barbados is ill-spent, and that their

consultants — who earn an average base salary of £94,864 — are overpaid.

“Ten or 15 years ago, it was the case that the aid agencies were awash with

cash, and perhaps spending it on crazy projects. But not any more,” he said.

“We are always criticised for how much consultants earn. But that is the

market rate — indeed, often less, as consultants like working for the IMF

and having that on their CV.

“We could offer £308 a day to consultants. But we would not get someone

capable of doing the job.”

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British aid used to train waiters at billionaire’s playground
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British aid used to train waiters at billionaire's playground