Britain’s proposed cuts to foreign aid on healthcare, conflict prevention and the climate crisis could cost lives, more than 200 NGOs warned in an open letter to the foreign secretary.
A government review of the international development strategy ordered by Liz Truss is due soon but the reported restructuring of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has raised concerns about development being abandoned.
“It would be shortsighted to drop critical issues like global health, climate change and conflict prevention from the forthcoming international development strategy. It would also cost lives,” said the letter.
“This move will undermine the UK’s ability to play our part globally in tackling urgent challenges, increasing security, and eradicating poverty. Supporting countries in times of crisis is critically important, but so too is investing in the development assistance that prevents these crises.”
Responding to the Ukraine crisis should not mean funding is diverted from elsewhere, the letter read. The war highlighted the importance of a development strategy that is “poverty-focused, evidence and rights-based, and accountable to the British public and communities it is meant to serve”.
On Tuesday, the Telegraph reported that the review was supposed to be published next Monday but had been delayed to mid-April after Truss ordered it to be redrawn to focus more on her interests.
The controversial restructuring of the department comes less than two years after the merger of the Department for International Development (DfID) with the Foreign Office in 2020. At the time, then foreign secretary Dominic Raab said aid would be “the beating heart” of international policy.
Last week, the aid news website Devex reported that the FCDO director general for Africa, Moazzam Malik, who previously worked for DfID, had resigned amid the restructuring.
Stephanie Draper, the CEO of Bond, the network for British NGOs, said Malik’s resignation was a blow to the FCDO.
“The FCDO urgently needs a dedicated international development minister in the cabinet to drive the UK’s development priorities. The FCDO needs real senior level expertise to help prevent future crises, rather than constantly trying to deal with the aftermath,” said Draper.
This week, parliament’s international development committee was told by NGOs that the government’s aid cuts during the pandemic had hit women and girls worst.
“It’s very clear there’s been a lack of transparency, a lack of accountability and we still don’t know where those cuts have landed,” said the committee’s chair, Sarah Champion, at the end of the session.
“I really hope the rumours of pulling out of conflict funding, pulling out of climate adaptation funding, and pulling out of much of the healthcare funding are just that – rumours – because it will be devastating if true.”
The FCDO did not respond to specific criticisms but said development remains a “core priority”.
“We will publish a new international development strategy this spring. This will set out how we deliver our climate change and health commitments, as well as restoring funding for women and girls and humanitarian work this year,” a spokesperson said.
