Thursday 17 October 2024 –This afternoon Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds outlined the Government’s vision for international development at a speech at Chatham House. 

Results UK’s mission to empower local communities and eliminate global poverty necessitates a robust, accountable and well-funded international development system. The UK has a long and proud history of engaging in international development, but recent political decisions have jeopardised that legacy. With a new Government in charge and a fresh development perspective, the UK has an opportunity to once again lead the international community in creating a more equitable and progressive development system. 

We are encouraged by the majority of Minister Dodd’s speech, particularly her emphasis on the centrality of partnerships, multilateralism and compassion to the development system. Reform of the multilateral system is essential if we are to promote the voices of new actors across development – something explicitly referenced by the Minister. The Minister spoke glowingly about The Global Fund and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; two of the UK’s biggest multilateral development partners. As both organisations enter their replenishment windows in 2025, we expect the Government to play a major convening role, encouraging pledges from all international partners and the private sector. 

As with all things,  simply throwing more money at a problem will not make it go away – even though a majority of development projects are woefully underfunded. The Government must prioritise the quality of its development work, not just the quantity, to ensure that programmes and initiatives are actually delivering positive outcomes for marginalised communities. The Minister repeatedly referenced the Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) and their role in assessing the effectiveness of the Government’s development finance. 

Alongside this, the Government must take a more radical stance on the pernicious effect of sovereign debt, which locks poorer countries into an endless cycle of repayments and refinancing at the expense of their domestic budgets for vital services such as health, nutrition and education. We would like to see the Minister go further on this issue – legislating to ensure that private creditors operating under English law participate in all sovereign debt restructuring deals, and supporting a UN sovereign debt restructuring mechanism. The Minister also referenced international financial reforms that ensure greater representation from Southern partners in the decision-making spaces of international development. We would like more specifics on how they intend to achieve this. 

The Minister’s speech set out a modern vision for the development system, but the upcoming Budget on 30 October will really show the Government’s commitment to development. Reading between the lines of what the Minister said, it seems that a further cut to the ODA budget is on the horizon as a consequence of the mismanagement of in-country refugee costs. This would be detrimental not only to the UK’s reputation, but also to the millions of people around the world who rely on UK development assistance. Furthermore, without more funding to support the delivery of basic services and human rights such as education, the Government will struggle to achieve many of its long-term development ambitions.   

Results will continue to work constructively alongside our passionate and dedicated grassroots activists to hold the Government to account on their development priorities to help realise a world free of poverty and inequality.