On December 14, the world marked the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations. It’s a reminder that the work of dismantling empire isn’t finished—not the old territorial kind, nor the subtler versions that persist today. From the perspective of the Global South and non-aligned countries, this day isn’t about nostalgia. It’s a call to end lingering colonial remnants and modern forms such as economic exploitation or those “rules-based” orders that quietly keep inequality alive. Nowhere does this feel more urgent than in the global aid sector. Hasn’t it past time we admitted that much of what passes for aid still carries the unmistakable scent of colonial control?
Aid still largely flows from former colonial powers to nations they once dominated, often with conditions that prioritise donor interests. Billions are disbursed, yet the structures they support frequently channel benefits back to the Global North. In small Pacific islands and Timor-Leste, for instance, climate adaptation funds and disaster relief often come tied to contracts for foreign consultants and companies. After cyclones devastate Vanuatu or floods hit Timor-Leste, reconstruction projects routinely favour foreign firms, even when local builders could do the job cheaper and faster. The result? Resources are extracted under the banner of help, while local economies remain locked in subordinate roles. Non-aligned voices have long argued that these “rules-based” arrangements—from trade agreements to loan conditions—aren’t impartial. They tilt the field, ensuring raw materials and cheap labour flow northward while sophisticated goods and services move the other way.
The problem runs even deeper into the realm of knowledge. Western experts routinely arrive with ready-made solutions grounded in Eurocentric frameworks, sidelining ways of knowing that have sustained communities for generations. Decolonising knowledge means recognising Pacific navigation techniques, Timorese agroforestry practices, or communal land management systems as legitimate expertise—not quaint traditions to be overwritten by imported models. When aid programmes impose standardised agricultural packages or health protocols that ignore local realities, they don’t just fail; they actively erase diverse epistemologies in favour of a single, supposedly superior approach.
Critics will rightly point out that aid delivers real benefits—vaccines, schools, emergency food. No one disputes that. Yet those gains too often come at the cost of genuine agency, with donor priorities overriding local ones and historical debts left unaddressed. In the wake of this Anti-Colonialism Day, let’s be blunt: if the aid sector refuses to shift real power southward, dismantle paternalism, and embrace plural knowledge, it remains part of the problem it claims to solve. The Global South is already charting its own paths through South–South cooperation and regional initiatives. Aid can either evolve into genuine partnership, amplifying those efforts rather than crowding them out—or risk becoming increasingly irrelevant in a world tired of old hierarchies.
Author : Pankaj Anand, Country Director of Oxfam in Timor-Leste
Contact : pankaja@oxfam.org.au
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