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Britain to match public donations to major international development charity appeals

British charities will get a £120 million boost over the next three years thanks to the launch of a new scheme to match public charitable donations with funding from the international development budget, International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced yesterday.

The UK Aid Match programme will help British charities change the lives of some of the world’s poorest people by matching public donations to charity appeals with funding from the international development budget, up to a total of £5 million per appeal. The extra funding will help millions of people in the developing world, from those lacking access to safe water in Africa to those affected by the Syria crisis.

The launch follows completion of a successful pilot scheme in March this year, which saw a total of £42 million in public donations to 17 different charities matched by the UK government. An estimated 3.8 million people in the UK donated to the appeals match-funded during the pilot stage, with some six million of the poorest people in the developing world expected to benefit as a result.

UK Aid Match was set up to give a boost to public support for charities working in the developing world.

It matches with government funding appeals run by some of the charities closest to the British public’s heart, in recognition of both the public’s generosity and the wide range of causes they support.

Justine Greening said: