2 minute read
Aid watch
The new FCDO
Despite the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) now being officially in charge of the UK aid budget, there is still little clarity on what the full implications of the merger will be for the future of development.
We have been co-ordinating with allies across the sector and in parliament to try and ensure a degree of continuing aid scrutiny. Despite being slated for dissolution earlier in the summer, both parliament’s International Development Committee (IDC) and independent watchdog (the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, ICAI, which has previously been critical of UK aid under the Conservatives) will be maintained, at least temporarily.
However, the government has also ordered a review of how ICAI operates, and the IDC seems likely to last only as long as that review does. It seems the government is intent on reducing scrutiny of how it spends development funds under its ‘Global Britain’ agenda.
One reason for that might be that the prime minister is rumoured to be considering changes to the International Development Act 2002, which enshrined the requirement for UK aid to demonstrably contribute to poverty reduction into law. In a recent session with parliament’s Liaison Committee, Boris Johnson said that he would “reserve [his] position on amending the act” for now but that he did think aid should be spent in pursuit of the UK’s interests, “and indeed the commercial, the employment, the jobs interests of the UK”.
CDC group
Another reason the government doesn’t want too much attention on its aid policy right now is that it is still planning to transfer over a billion pounds in UK aid to its development bank, CDC Group, in the next two years despite the organisation’s appalling record on aid transparency and effectiveness. Updated government figures show that some of these payments will come slightly later than originally planned. However, with £2.9 billion of cuts to aid expected next year, campaigners had been calling for no further capital to be given to CDC so that vital public health programmes could be protected from cuts instead.
Taking action
You can help by writing to your MP, either as a group or individually, to express your concern about the future direction of aid and aid scrutiny under the FCDO, using information from our briefing. We already have a petition to the prime minister on this issue which could also help you to formulate a letter.
You could also organise a local Zoom meeting with our campaigner Daniel Willis (daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk) to hear more about the corporate takeover of aid as Global Justice Cambridge did recently. Their feedback was that it was “well worth recommending to other groups”.
Key resources
The Future of Aid after DfIDShocking development projects supported by the UK. Four-page briefing (July 2020).
Doing More Harm Than Good 40-page report on CDC group (February 2020).
