The World Bank, of which Ireland is a member, is helping to sustain some of the problems it is intended to help solve, argues Demba Moussa Dembele.
Representatives of governments which fund the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the World Bank that provides loans and grants to the world's poorest countries, are meeting in Mozambique today and tomorrow to decide how much money they will give to IDA over the three years starting from 2008.
Many of these governments may think that their money is put to good use by the World Bank to help reduce poverty. But that is not the case.
The ongoing debate on aid-effectiveness has certainly alerted these governments that something is wrong with the "aid business". But, in the eyes of the World Bank, the culprits are "corrupt", wasteful southern governments, especially in Africa.
However, what the bank does not mention is that its policies have contributed to generating and even aggravating corruption and waste. In fact, the bank uses IDA loans to impose unfettered market mechanisms on African countries without due consideration of their economic and social situation and without any serious analysis of the impact they can have.
According to the bank's own statistics, people living on less than $1 a day have almost doubled in Africa between 1981 and 2001, jumping from 160 million to 340 million. Moreover, of the 50 countries classified as "least developed", 34 are in Africa.
So the bank is using IDA money not to help reduce poverty, but to push policies which generate poverty on a massive scale.
Trade liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation of state-owned enterprises and public services are the conditions associated with IDA loans. For instance, in 2005 Senegal was forced to privatise the groundnut processing company Sonacos, the country's largest industrial unit, at a very cheap price in order to achieve the "completion point" within the bank's debt-relief initiative.
We believe that most of these conditions are purely ideological and that there is only a tenuous link with the objective of promoting economic growth.
For instance, Christian Aid has indicated that trade liberalisation alone has cost Africa some $272 billion (€202 billion) in 20 years. Another negative impact of liberalisation is the de-industrialisation of many African countries.
Even education, health and essential services such as water are not spared from privatisation. It is well-known that the World Bank has imposed user fees in public hospitals in the name of "cost recovery".
The effects on my continent have been devastating. According to the bank, the average life expectancy at birth declined from 48 years in 1981 to 46 years in 2001.
In return for all the sacrifices imposed by the World Bank, what have African countries received? Very little.
According to officials of the bank, the average disbursement of loans to Africa is 20 per cent. Moreover, for some countries, like Senegal, in 2005 it was even lower - the rate there being 13 per cent.
In other words, the bank uses IDA money to make promises to African countries while the bulk of the money promised is withheld under the pretext that countries are "off track". There follows a subsequent implementation of harsh and unacceptable conditions.
It is arguable that the bank uses IDA not as a lending instrument genuinely dedicated to improving the lives of people in Africa, but to further impoverish African countries. Therefore, continuing to put IDA money into the bank's hands is to give its bureaucrats free rein to impose draconian policies which violate African people's human rights, such as the right to education, food, healthcare and shelter.
In the eyes of millions of Africans, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have lost their credibility - even their legitimacy - because of their ideological bias and the disastrous impact of their policies.
This is why, if most African civil society and citizens had their wish, IDA would not remain within the auspices of the World Bank group. Donors should take IDA out of the World Bank and put it in the hands of another UN-controlled structure, with democratic and transparent decision-making processes through which African and other southern countries can have a real say on how IDA money should be used.
We want donor governments to show commitment to democratic principles, the defence of human rights and African ownership of policy in their aid-giving.
We hope that the Irish Government will heed this plea and show genuine partnership with Africa when its representatives meet other donors in Maputo this week for the IDA funding negotiations.
Demba Moussa Dembele is the co-ordinator of the African Forum on Alternatives in Dakar, Senegal