It does seem to me true that the United States tends to use foreign aid in its own self-interest (for example, to help American farmers and American shipping companies) with too little regard for what kind of aid is actually needed by the people we claim we want to help.

As an example of a bottom up approach to aid, he talked about GlobalGiving, a portal for small aid projects identified by locals and advocated on the ground in needy areas of the developing world, and put up for individual funding. Because these sorts of projects are locally planned and desired, there’s greater likelihood that they’ll acheive their aims.

Also fascinating along those lines was the EconTalk with George Srour, founder of the Building Tomorrow project for locally run non-profit schools in Africa.

Dambisa Moyo gives an interesting take here:

http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/954/moyo/