The future of DFID's programme in India
The future of DFID's programme in India

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-06-14

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9780215560032

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The test of whether the UK should continue to give aid to India is whether that aid makes a distinctive contribution to poverty reduction. The Government of India has primary responsibility for this and has already reduced poverty levels from 60 percent in 1981 to 42 percent in 2005. But whilst the economy is growing there are large pockets of poverty that still remain. The DFID plans to change some of its programme, focusing primarily on three of the poorest states, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, also changing the sectors it prioritises and putting 50 percent of its budget through the private sector by 2015.The Committee supports the focus on the poorest states but provided it is supported by the Government of India. They recommend supporting in particular sanitation, malnutrition, maternal and child health and social exclusion. The Committee supports the Government's aim to forge a new enhanced partnership with India with its mutual benefits from cooperation in trade and investment but the DFID must ensure UK Government policies help protect the poorest and reduce inequalities. The Committee assuming that over the next four years as India continues to grow at current rates it will have increased its capacity to tackle poverty and meet the millennium development goals. DFID should continue to provide technical assistance where requested but the funding mechanism should change by 2015.

DFID's role in building infrastructure in developing countries
DFID's role in building infrastructure in developing countries

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-10-07

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780215561596

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The International Development Committee reports that DFID can be proud of much of the work it does to build infrastructure in developing countries - on which the Department spends £1 billion annually. But it calls on Ministers to improve monitoring of infrastructure spending through multilateral organisations, such as the EU, World Bank and African Development Bank. The UK should also insist on provisions in large multilateral infrastructure projects which require local capacity building in order to boost local employment and the private sector with developing countries. The MPs also raise concerns that infrastructure construction in developing countries is particularly prone to corruption. The report points to DFID's success in helping to establish the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) to counter corruption, which has proved effective and is to be transferred to the World Bank. DFID should continue to provide the funding and staff time to ensure that CoST can build on the successes of its pilot phase. DFID should publish a departmental strategy on infrastructure. This would help DFID clearly to convey its rationale and priorities within the sector, emphasising that DFID funding is directed to the Department's key priorities within the sector, including the need to build local capacity, implement road safety measures and ensure the use of technologies appropriate to the needs of developing countries. Far more private money is needed to finance large infrastructure projects, and DFID has done well in helping leverage private funding through initiatives such as the Private Infrastructure Development Group.

DFID's programme in Bangladesh
DFID's programme in Bangladesh

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010-03-04

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13: 9780215544346

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This report finds that Bangladesh has reduced poverty levels from 57 per cent at the beginning of the 1990s to 40 per cent in 2005 but much more needs to be done to help the country's poorest people. Despite a steadily growing economy, Bangladesh's potential to achieve more widespread poverty reduction is held back by its poor record on governance and high levels of corruption. Successive governments have failed to respond to the needs of poor and marginalised communities and instead state power has too often been used for personal and partisan ends. Bangladesh is the fourth highest recipient of UK bilateral assistance. DFID's programme there in the current financial year is worth £125 million and will rise to £150 million in 2010-11. The report praises the innovative non-governmental organisations (NGO) community in Bangladesh which plays an important role in delivering basic services in areas where state provision is limited. Gender inequality continues to be a significant problem in Bangladesh: an increase in the number of girls attending primary school contrasts with insufficient progress in tackling maternal mortality and women remain marginalised and excluded from key decision-making processes. Bangladesh is likely to be adversely affected by climate change and the poorest people will be hardest hit. The report adds large parts of the country are low-lying and susceptible to more frequent and intense floods and cyclones. Bangladesh will need assistance to cope with the effects of rises in sea levels and increased salinisation.

DFID's assistance to Zimbabwe
DFID's assistance to Zimbabwe

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010-03-26

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13: 9780215545282

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This report finds that UK aid has helped deliver progress in Zimbabwe since the Government of National Unity was established a year ago, but governance, human rights and provision of basic services are still falling well below the needs of the people. The Department for International Development (DFID) allocated £60 million for humanitarian and development assistance in the country in 2009-10. This support has been effective in reaching poor and vulnerable people. UK aid should continue, given the scale of ongoing need - two million people are estimated to require food aid this year - and should be increased in the sectors where it is making the greatest impact. Aid should continue to be channelled through non-governmental organisations and multilateral agencies. Emergency aid is making a difference but it cannot be turned into sustained development support without a long-term political settlement. The report condemns the electoral manipulation, abuse of state power, land seizures, and violence against political opponents and civil society which President Mugabe's ZANU-PF have inflicted on the country for many years. Many skilled workers left the country, leaving the health and education systems in particular near collapse. The report concludes that the international community's longer-term focus should be on strengthening the capacity of the Government of National Unity so that it is better placed to determine its own development priorities and to deliver them.

The closure of DFID's bilateral aid programme in Burundi
The closure of DFID's bilateral aid programme in Burundi

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-10-28

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9780215561985

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The Department for International Development (DFID) has decided to close its bilateral aid programme in Burundi in 2012. Burundi is a fragile country which has experienced decades of civil war. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and is unlikely to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals. DFID's states that despite such closure, it will: continue funding Burundi both through a regional programme Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) and multilateral donors (the EU, the World Bank, African Development Bank) to which DFID is a major contributor; that, other donors will take over bilateral programmes which it has been funding and that the cost of the office in Burundi is too high in relation to the size of the programme. The Committee believes though that the Government should reinstate a bilateral aid programme to Burundi for the following reasons, including: that the UK currently has bilateral programmes with all the countries in the Eastern Africa and Great Lakes Region and that the UK's engagement continues to be critical throughout this region both in perception and reality; that Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), has already helped to increase Burundi's collection of tax revenues; that there are funding gaps in many sectors in Burundi; that there is a regional dimension to conflicts in the Great Lakes area and Burundi is particularly fragile. The Committee states if DFID does cease bilateral aid to Burundi, a responsible exit strategy is the least it can do to minimise the negative consequences.

DFID's performance in 2008-09 and the 2009 White Paper
DFID's performance in 2008-09 and the 2009 White Paper

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010-03-11

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 9780215544629

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DFID is right to focus more resources on fragile states if global poverty reduction goals are to be met. However, this report highlights a number of concerns about DFID's capacity to meet this and other new policy directions set out in the 2009 White Paper (Cm. 7656, ISBN 9780101765626), based on analysis of the Department's performance in 2008-09 (the Department's annual report 2008-09 published as HC 867-I,II, ISBN 9780102962154). Climate change, another key White Paper focus area, threatens progress on poverty reduction and will hit the poorest people first and hardest. The outcome of the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009 was disappointing and real progress needs to be made before the next conference at the end of this year. The White Paper also indicates that DFID will channel more funding through multilateral organisations including the EU, the UN and the World Bank. This offers the prospect of more coordinated delivery of aid, but only if these bodies increase their effectiveness and their poverty focus. The report also argues for speedier reform of the governance of the international financial institutions. The recession has had a significant impact on developing countries. It is estimated that an additional 90 million people will be affected by poverty as a combined result of the global food, financial and fuel crises over the last few years. Donors, including the UK, have responded and have sought to identify specific needs in developing countries, though many donors are failing to meet the aid commitments they have already made.

DFID's programme in Nepal
DFID's programme in Nepal

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010-03-28

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780215545428

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DFIDs programme in Nepal : Sixth report of session 2009-10, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal Minutes

DFID's Programme in Zambia
DFID's Programme in Zambia

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 9780215047700

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Although Zambia has enjoyed significant economic growth in the last decade, it remains one of the least-developed countries in the world, ranking 164 out of 187 countries in the 2011 UN Human Development. The country is seriously off track on the poverty Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and inequality remains very high. Women suffer disproportionately; violence against women is widespread and maternal mortality rates (MDG5) are high. The foremost challenge for the Zambian economy is to spread wealth to rural areas and the Committee welcomes DFID's proposed rural markets development programme, which seeks to increase the productivity of poor smallholder farmers by strengthening markets for inputs and crops. Lack of access to reproductive health services is one of the key reasons maternal mortality is high. The report recommends that DFID encourage the Zambian Government to allow clinicians other than doctors, including nurses and midwives, to be trained to provide Long-Acting and Permanent Method contraception. DFID should focus its efforts on rural areas and young people. Secondary, tertiary and vocational education should also be prioritised in DFID's education expenditure. There is a particular need for business education with a lack of competent middle management across the Zambian economy in the public and private sector. The report also highlights major inefficiencies in Zambia's public expenditure - which, if removed, could free up revenues to improve public services. The biggest of these is the maize subsidy

House of Commons - International Development Committee: The Closure of DFID's Bilateral Aid Programmes: The Case of South Africa - HC 822
House of Commons - International Development Committee: The Closure of DFID's Bilateral Aid Programmes: The Case of South Africa - HC 822

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014-01-08

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13: 9780215066015

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In 2010 the Department for International Development (DFID) undertook reviews of both its support for multilateral organisations in its Multilateral Aid Review (the MAR) and of its bilateral aid programmes in a Bilateral Aid Review (the BAR). As a result of the BAR, DFID decided to close a number of country programmes following criteria set out in the review. The Department published, in March 2011, the priorities and expected results for the countries where bilateral programmes were to continue. Yet 18 months and two years after that publication, the Department announced that bilateral programmes with India and South Africa would come to an end in 2015. The Secretary of State has not convinced the Committee that the announcement to end the programmes in India and South Africa were in accordance with the principles and process established by the BAR. Such decisions to end a bilateral programme or to start a new one should be made only following a Bilateral Aid Review, except in exceptional cases. Concerns remain about the timing of the decisions and, in particular, that they are neither methodical nor transparent, but related to short term political pressures.

DFID's contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
DFID's contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2012-05-22

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780215045133

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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2001 to increase funding to tackle three of the world's most devastating diseases. It has approved £14.1 billion for programmes in 150 countries, provided AIDS treatment for 3.3 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 8.6 million people and 230 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. The UK is the Global Fund's third highest donor and Ministers had committed over a year ago to increase funds to it but this money has not yet been delivered nor the amount of the increase confirmed. The Committee is concerned by the delay in delivering funds and is calling for the UK to increase its contribution to the Global Fund significantly - over and above the current £384m pledge for 2012 to 2015 - subject to reform. The Committee says that the G20 meeting in Mexico provides a good opportunity for the UK to announce new funds, but only if conditions are met and UK taxpayers' money is adequately safeguarded. The Global Fund has had a difficult year, with financial problems, corruption scandals and the resignation of its director. Confidence in the Fund was affected with some countries temporarily suspending payments and the Global Fund had to cancel a round of grants totalling some £930m. However, the MPs say that the Global Fund has made good progress under its new management to reform the organisation's structures and financial risk monitoring. In May 2012 the Global Fund announced some £630 million in new funds