Funding for some aid organisations and countries to be cut, minister says

Independent

6 days ago

Funding for underperforming aid organisations and support for some countries will be cut after the UK's aid budget was slashed, the Foreign Office has said.
Announcing the plan for aid spending for 2025-2026 on Tuesday, the minister for development said the Government was 'modernising' its approach and that 'every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers'.
The Government announced in February it would cut development assistance aid from its current level of 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% in 2027.
As part of its new approach, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in its annual report on Tuesday that it will prioritise global organisations with a proven track record of impact, such as the World Bank and the vaccine alliance Gavi, in efforts to deliver better results for taxpayers and aid beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, the FCDO said bilateral support for some countries will decrease and multilateral organisations deemed to be underperforming will face future funding cuts.
The FCDO has not yet announced which countries will be affected.
Instead, the UK will increasingly share its expertise in areas such as finance and science and on tackling issues such as the climate crisis, health threats and humanitarian emergencies.
Through the aid budget, the UK will continue to play a humanitarian role supporting those in crisis, including in Gaza where spending is protected.
Support will also continue for Ukraine and Sudan while a reserve fund will be held to enable the UK to respond to future crises at pace.
The cut to the aid budget, announced in February, will fund a rise in defence spending which will be increasing to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, with a view to it hitting 3% in the next parliament.
Former minister for international development Anneliese Dodds quit the role over the plan, saying she knew there were no 'easy paths' to increase defence spending, but that she disagreed with the decision for aid to 'absorb the entire burden' in her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer.
Her successor, Baroness Jenny Chapman, said: 'We are modernising our approach to international development.
'Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities.
'The UK is moving towards a new relationship with developing countries, becoming partners and investors, rather than acting as a traditional aid donor.
'We want to work with countries and share our expertise – from world-leading science to the City of London – to help them become no longer dependent on aid, and organisations like the World Bank and Gavi are central to how we can work with others to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time: humanitarian disasters, pandemics and the climate crisis.'
On Tuesday, the FCDO confirmed that the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the world's lowest income countries, will receive £1.98 billion in funding from the UK over the next three years, helping the organisation benefit 1.9 billion people.
World Bank president Ajay Banga welcomed the announcement and said: 'Every taxpayer pound is multiplied many times over through the Bank's ability to mobilise capital and partner with the private sector.
'These resources help create jobs in developing countries – jobs that build self-reliant economies, reduce the drivers of instability, crime, and migration, and grow the middle class.
'In turn, they create future consumers of UK products and investment opportunities that strengthen the UK economy over the long term.'
In June, the Government announced it will give Gavi £1.25 billion between 2026 and 2030 after former prime minister Boris Johnson originally pledged £1.65 billion over five years to the organisation in 2020.
The FCDO previously said the money will help Gavi protect up to 500 million children from some of the world's deadliest diseases such as meningitis, cholera and measles.