Former World Bank economist Dr. Emily Brearley argues that decades of foreign aid have enriched bureaucracies and elites more than the poor. In this conversation, she explains why USAID and the World Bank lost public trust, how China is expanding its global influence, and what a more transparent “Aid 2.0” could look like.
Former World Bank economist Dr. Emily Brearley says billions in foreign aid have been wasted by corrupt NGOs, bloated bureaucracies, and elites disconnected from the people they claim to help.
Dr. Emily Brearley is a former World Bank development economist and author of Aid Inferno. After decades working inside the global development system across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, she now critiques the failures of modern foreign aid, USAID, NGOs, and the World Bank. She is also founder of Solution 42, a consulting organization focused on transparent, locally driven development projects.
Brearley argues that aid institutions wrongly assume countries are poor simply because they lack money, when deeper institutional and governance problems are usually the real issue.
She claims much aid money never reaches intended recipients because it is absorbed by contractors, consultants, nonprofits, and administrative overhead in Washington D.C.
Development agencies often receive more funding when projects fail, creating no incentive to admit mistakes or shut down ineffective programs.
Brearley argues some international NGOs perpetuate poverty narratives because their funding depends on keeping crises alive and emotionally marketable.
She warns that China is strategically using loans and infrastructure projects to expand influence across Africa and Latin America while Western aid institutions focus on ideology and bureaucracy.
According to Brearley, local NGOs and local universities are often more competent and accountable than international aid bureaucracies.
Brearley criticizes the push for Western gender ideology within aid programs, arguing it alienated conservative countries and distracted from core economic development.
She advises students to avoid expensive, low-value degrees and instead pursue practical, employable skills in STEM, trades, economics, engineering, or healthcare.
“The premise that countries are poor simply because they don’t have enough money is false.”
“Nobody in the aid business has an incentive to say: ‘Hey, this isn’t working.’”
“We should stop talking about whether USAID was shut down and start talking about what Aid 2.0 should actually look like.”