On Tuesday 2nd February, 45 RESULTS UK campaigners from across the country came together for our monthly network-wide call to hear about what is happening with UK aid at the moment and why we should fight against the proposed cuts to the aid budget. Find out about the February ‘Oppose the aid cuts!’ campaign here.
We started with the usual roundups with Aaron Oxley, Executive Director, giving an overview of why we’re concerned about the cuts and Ruthie Walters, Campaigns Coordinator, giving an update of the last month of actions and campaigning.
Our guest speaker this month was Ian Mitchell, a senior fellow and the Director of Development Cooperation in Europe at the Center for Global Development (CGD). He leads CGD’s work in Europe on how governments’ policies accelerate or inhibit development and poverty. He is also an associate fellow at Chatham House and co-author of this extremely useful article on how the impact of the cuts might be felt. Ian addressed the scale and nature of the cuts as well as the potential impact of them, noting that the cuts are a political choice not a financial one. Our grassroots network had plenty of questions to ask and the talk led to an interesting discussion.
I think it’s fair to say that many of us left the call feeling more informed about UK aid and motivated to take action to Oppose the aid cuts! See our action materials here.
If you’re interested to join our next monthly call, happening on Tuesday 2nd March, sign-up to our mailing list for updates.
Watch the call back below!
Links mentioned on the call:
Oppose the cuts! February action materials
Sign up to the 0.7% bill campaign training sessions here
Stort Valley media coverage from Gill
Meryll’s letter to Ian Murray MP
Grassroots survey – open to 12 February
More information on the Marshall Plan
Dasgupta Review Full Report and 10 page summary
Conservative manifesto pledges on international development