Parliamentary Committees and Public Enquiries
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MPs: Government must set out what it wants from international aid
MPs have urged the Government to clearly set out what success will look like as it advances a new approach to delivering international aid.
The International Development Committee has also called on the Government to work with others to communicate the “tangible mutual benefits” of international aid.
The recommendations feature in the Committee’s report on the Future of UK Aid and Development Assistance (attached).
It comes as the Government has outlined significant reductions in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and set out four "essential shifts", which include moving from donor to investor and from providing grants to providing expertise.
The report calls on Government to outline the evidence base for the four essential shifts and how this will be used to evaluate their success:
“A clear qualitative and quantitative description of what success looks like is required and over what time scale. It should also include a model for how development partnerships are envisaged to operate with clearly defined roles for FCDO missions, external stakeholders and departmental support.”
The report also proposes that the Government adopt a fifth essential shift focused on communication around the breadth of UK aid activities:
“From unfamiliarity to understanding; working with schools, civil society, as well as businesses, both in the UK and in partner countries, to raise awareness of the tangible mutual benefits of UK aid and development policy.”
The recommendations follow a recent external evidence session at Kings College London featuring young activists and community workers from Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, opinion data experts and a senior journalist. During this session the Committee heard about steps Government could take to inspire more confidence in what UK aid is spent on.
Elsewhere the report sets out key approaches that should underpin the Government’s development agenda:
A safer and more prosperous world is a safe and more prosperous Britain
With countries that do not share the UK's values seeking to undermine its influence, the report sets out how aid and development assistance is of huge strategic value to the UK. It states: “Building resilience in fragile states and ecosystems improves the quality of life of today's extreme poor. It contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals and lays the foundations of a stable and prosperous world.”
Aid should be considered as a preventative tool
The report stresses that spending of the UK's ODA now means that greater domestic and international costs (financial and otherwise) are saved in the future. The report states that aid “enables the kind of collaboration needed to prevent risks to the UK's national security, such as the collapse of critical ecosystems, health threats and food insecurity.”
Empowerment needs to be at the core of the Government's theory of change
The report states that Government should prioritise upholding the rights of marginalised groups and that “focus on these groups is integral to the solving of proximate development challenges, and preventing the drivers of instability in the future.”
Chair comment
International Development Committee Chair Sarah Champion yesterday said:
“As Ministers get to grips with the shrunken UK aid pot, there is some promise in the new approach they have set out. But what evidence has informed their strategy? What tangible benefits is it expected to yield?
“The International Development Committee found there are still significant gaps in what we know so far. To put this right, we are calling on the FCDO to explain what success will look like and how our external partners will be involved. On top of this, the Government should be clearly taking steps to regain public trust and rebuild the case for aid.
“The reality is, when done well, development spend doesn't just directly help the poorest in the world. It also helps to prevent conflict, keeps people secure and prosperous in their homes, prevents migration and enhances our global reputation. Crucially, spending money on aid now will prevent the need for greater expenditure and risks to the UK in the future.
“Currently we only have the skeleton of the Government’s new approach to development spending. Ministers still need to put flesh on the bones, and do a better job when it comes to communicating the many benefits of aid – both for people around the world and for taxpayers here in the UK.”
Further information
Original article link: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/213345/mps-government-must-set-out-what-it-wants-from-international-aid/
