There is little doubt that corruption undermines the efforts of developing African nations to sustain economic growth and liberate their people from poverty.

When Ralph Goodale and his fellow Group of Seven finance ministers struck an agreement to write off $50 billion of debt owed by mainly African countries to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank, critics deplored the move as throwing good money after bad.

Similarly, calls to increase the level of aid given by rich countries are also decried on the basis that this money will simply be siphoned off by corrupt leaders.

There is some truth to these concerns if debts are written off without being coupled to requirements that African governments uphold international human rights, the rule of law, the promotion of peace, and increased accountability to African citizens.

But the criticism is often born out of a simplistic concept that poor countries—particularly impoverished African nations—are poor primarily because of corruption. Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says it is a great misconception that global efforts to help the poor are doomed because their governments are corrupt.

"The claim that Africa's corruption is the basic source of the problem does not withstand serious scrutiny," he writes in his new book, The End of Poverty.

Instead, he argues, the poor are poor because they face structural challenges that prevent them from creating an environment that fosters development. Failing infrastructure, poor energy sources, geographic isolation, disease and natural disasters inevitably conspire to foil economic progress.

The impoverished African nation of Mali, for example, has relatively low levels of corruption, yet is still dirt poor, being plagued by flash flooding, earthquakes and an ever-expanding desert.

And, perversely, there are some countries that have achieved economic growth while still having high levels of corruption. Economic powerhouse China ranks only slightly better than Mali for corruption, and the burgeoning Indian economy ranks well below.

This is not to dismiss the importance of tackling corruption. No one who works with the poor denies the corrosive effect of corrupt regimes.

Yet, the reality is that there are ways to make debt cancellation and aid effective in such environments. Moreover, such resources should be deliberately channelled into building the very institutions that combat corruption.

Launching an assault on corruption must involve the strengthening of a country's institutions, its judiciary, its enforcement agencies, its civil service and its bureaucracies.

World Vision has been pursuing such a strategy with programs like that in Cambodia, where we are helping to train police officers in co-ordination with the government.

In many cases, these countries simply do not have the capacity to fortify their institutions and are crying out for help. Further, when we think that institutions in developing nations have taken decades, even centuries, to evolve, and even now have not eliminated corruption, can we really expect a major transformation in developing nations within a short space of time?

Another weapon in the fight against corruption is to channel aid to help communities keep their own governments accountable. World Vision is running a demand governance pilot program in Africa, where people are given the skills and resources to ascertain whether their governments are spending what they have pledged on schools, roads or hospitals. A similar scheme is planned in Brazil.

African countries and institutions should be trusted to develop governance standards within the African context, while ensuring they are tied to international standards.

Tanzania, for example, has harnessed the savings from debt relief for primary education to expand enrolments, improve the quality of teaching, build capacity and strengthen central and local government institutions.

It has ended school fees for primary school children and expects to achieve universal primary education by 2006. By 2002-3, there was almost a 50-per cent increase in primary school population since debt relief was granted in 2001. During 2002-3, 17,581 new grade A teachers were recruited and the book-to-student ratio improved from one book per eight students to one book per three students in classes 1 to 4.

Ghana, another country receiving debt relief, subsequently constructed 509 new classrooms for basic level education in all districts. It has also provided micro-credit to 43,000 farmers, in addition to funding 563 sanitation and 141 water projects.

Debt relief allowed Senegal to develop community-based health-care services, thereby creating and strengthening basic community health services in rural areas.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa report (endorsed by Mr. Goodale) does not ignore the failings of African states but challenges industrialized countries to take responsibility for past failings such as their role in promoting corruption—by either giving bribes or turning a blind eye to corrupt deals by their companies. Industrialized countries must work to repatriate money and state assets stolen from Africans by corrupt leaders, and foreign banks must be obliged by law to reveal suspicious accounts. Those who give bribes should be dealt with, too, and firms that bribe should be refused export credits.

While corruption is a serious issue that confronts developing nations, it is not insurmountable—and it should not be used as a simplistic excuse to attack policy change aimed at reducing the debt burden and increasing aid flowing to poor countries.

by Dave Toycen, president and CEO of World Vision Canada

World Vision is an international Christian humanitarian relief and development organization, working in more than 90 countries helping approximately 85 million people each year.