THE UK AND AFRICA

How do we promote development?

This presentation looks at DFID’s approach to aidExamples of DFID’s work in African countriesCriticism of DFID

UK AID TO DEVELOPING NATIONS

DFID: AID works

Justine Greening is the Secretary of State for International Development.

EXAMPLE OF DFID AT WORK: MALAWI

Malawi UK

Unemployment N/A 6%

GDP per head £118 £20.048

Doctors per 1,000 head of population

0.02 2.3

Average Life Expectancy 50 79

Infants deaths per 1,000 births

120 6

Adult HIV/AIDS rate 14.1 % 0.6 %

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world……

PARTNERS IN DEVELOPMENT

DFID however does NOT work in isolation. Depending on the specific situation, DFID will work with any number of international government and non-governmental organisations.

DFID will work, for example, with the government of Malawi. Malawi now has a more democratic government and DFID will work alongside it to promote development.

DFID will partly fund UN agencies such as UNICEF and FAO, and the work of the UN World Food Programme.

DFID will also happily work with NGOs on the ground in countries, such as Christian Aid and Oxfam.

DFID also gives money to organisations such as the IMF or the World Bank for their development programmes.

DFID in Malawi

SCOTLAND AND MALAWI

Scotland also has many development projects in Malawi. Scots were one of the first “explorers” in the country.

Working with the Scotland/ Malawi Partnership, pupils from Glasgow's Holyrood Secondary school raised a staggering £70,000 to fund a visit to Malawi to re-furbish two schools in Blantyre, Malawi.

Sir Tom Hunter has set up a foundation to fund development in Malawi.

Health care in Malawi

Apart from it’s long term development work, DFID has made a contribution to the 2011 East African Famine.

DFID has delivered:

Ethiopia: Food aid for 1.36 million people facing starvation, plus shelter, water and medical help for 100,000 people in the Dolo Ado refugee camps

Somalia: Help for 500,000 people including food rations, treatment for malnourished children and farming supplies to help people grow food

Kenya: Support for 300,000 people with treatment for malnourished children and mothers. In addition, we are helping 130,000 refugees in the Dadaab refugee camp with safe water, food and basic healthcare

EMERGENCY RELIEF TOO

THE MDGS

•Poverty & Hunger•Child Mortality•Gender•HIV, AIDS, Malaria and other diseases•Aid, trade, Growth & Global Partnership•Maternal health•Education•Environment

In July 2012, the UN reported on progress made towards the goals as part of it’s annual audit.

The overall conclusions are that there is a “mixed picture” in development and action.Other countries have to match the UK’s commitment if the ambitious targets set for 2015 are to be met.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

WHO GETS DFID’S MONEY?

The vast bulk of DFID’s money goes on reducing poverty in Africa.

In 2007/08 DFID spent approximately £1.17 billion on bilateral and regional programmes to reduce poverty in Africa.

The Labour Government enshrined in law a commitment to raise UK aid spending to 0.7% of GDP by 2013, a pledge that will involve the budget of DFID increasing by more than 10% a year.

DFID’s 14 priority countries are Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

NO MORE BLANK CHEQUES

In 2004, the UK established the Commission for Africa, which set out a “New Deal” for Africa.

Debt relief would come. Better trade would come. More aid money would come. But only if the UK could be sure the money would not be wasted. Targets would have to be set. The aid money would be rigorously monitored.

African Governments would have to become more democratic. They would have to plan for becoming more independent and less dependent in the long term.

The African Union (AU) which replaced the discredited Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 2002 is evidence of this. Its signature organisation, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) makes explicit that fairer trade, more aid and debt relief will only come to Africa if African governments can prove that they will not squander the money or indulge in human rights abuses.

THE G8 IN 2005: MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

The 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit was unusual in requiring leaders to sign up to a series of specific measures. The G8 promised to increase overall aid spending by $50 billion by 2010. It promised to make Aids treatment free, provide universal access to free primary education and health care.

But keeping the commitments - and the funding needed for them - has been harder than making them. All G8 countries have suffered from economic problems. But Germany and Italy have been most reluctant to meet their aid promises.

THE G8 IN 2011: MAKE POVERTY HISTORY. BUT NOT JUST YET.

The G8 met in 2011 in Deauville in France, David Cameron criticised his fellow world leaders for not keeping their promises.The Prime Minister renewed his commitment to raise UK aid to 0.75% of GDP by 2015.

.

CRITICISM AT HOME

David Cameron has faced criticism from newspapers such as the Daily Mail which feels that Britain spends too much on development aid.

The Prime Mister replied saying that spending on vaccinations was the right thing to do. 0.7% of GDP is not that much either.

He also claimed that it was in Britain’s best interests to prevent countries becoming failed states. Quoting Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said it would have that would have been a better decision to have spent money earlier on development, than the massive amounts now on war.

David Cameron pledges £814m in development aid

2012 AID PLEDGE

Critics of UK Aid hope that the new Minister for International Development, Justine Greening, will be an aid-cutter. Their hopes rest on the fact that the 0.7% of GDP going to aid is a target, there has been no government legislation to enforce it.

0.7% costs each British taxpayer 2p a day.