from the Telegraph By Andrew PierceBritain's international aid budget to 115 countries, which costs more than £6 billion a year, will also be reviewed by a David Cameron administration.But it is the aid budget to China, which this year spent £20 billion on the Beijing Olympics, which will be eliminated first. The money will be redirected to genuinely poorer countries in Africa.Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, will make the pledge in his speech at the party conference today."We have just marvelled at the spectacle of the Beijing Olympics and gloried in the success of our brilliant young sport stars. Those games did not come cheap – the price tag was a record £20 billion. Not a great surprise perhaps for a country that is powering out of poverty, had a...
from the Times Online Zahid Hussain in IslamabadBritain is doubling its aid to Pakistan to almost $1 billion, reflecting concern over rising Islamic militancy which threatens the battle against the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan.About a third of the money is expected to be spent in provinces abutting the porous western border, where the Taleban and other militant forces are increasingly challenging the authority of the government.Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, today announced the £480 million package that will make Pakistan the second largest recipient of British aid by 2011.More than £250 million will be earmarked for education, with plans to get five million Pakistani children into school and to boost training opportunities for young people. Much of...
from The Jakarta Post Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, JakartaBritain's minister for international development, Shahid Malik, paid visits Tuesday to the headquarters of Indonesia's two largest Muslim organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to discuss poverty reduction programs.After a meeting with Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin, Malik said the British government had agreed to provide US$150 million assistance for the development of poverty eradication programs in Indonesia over the next three years."The UK is obviously a very strong friend of Indonesia, and certainly friendship goes beyond aid and money. But in terms of development assistance over the next three years, we hope to support Indonesia with the $150 million, on priorities set by the Indonesian government....
from the Guardian, UK by Larry Elliott,Parliament's spending watchdog will warn the government today that lax monitoring of aid spending meant hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money was at risk of corruption or being wasted.In a report critical of the Department for International Development (DFID), the Commons public accounts committee said monitoring of the £461m sent to governments in 2006-07 had been inadequate."Despite spending around one fifth of its bilateral aid in the form of direct payments to the governments of developing countries, DFID does not know how good an instrument this is in reducing poverty," says Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee. "Nor does the department know whether such support provides better value for money in reducing poverty than other...
from Afriquenligne Ghana and the United Kingdom on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which the UK is committing 42.5 millio n pounds sterling to the Health sector.Mike Hammond, Country Director for the UK's Department for International Development in Ghana and Dr Anthony Akoto Osei Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning, signed the MOU.Hammond said this commitment over the next five years signified the strong relationship between Ghana and the UK, as the biggest bilateral donor to Ghana."I am pleased to be able to make this announcement as it shows the UK's support for Ghana's progress in meeting some key health indicators, such as the increase in immunization coverage."He pointed out, however, that significant challenges remained in particular...
from Reuters UK ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it will give Ethiopia 2.5 billion birr (133 million pounds) this year to help the Horn of Africa country try to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Some of the money will be used to send 1 million children to school and buy three million mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria, one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest killers.British High Commissioner (ambassador) to Ethiopia Norman Ling said the assistance was the biggest Britain has offered to any African country, adding the aid would be provided through the UK's Department for International Development."The UK is fully committed to helping Ethiopia achieve the MDGs as the assistance of the 2.5 billion birr for this year shows," Paul Ackroyd, the head...
from the Guardian
Despite early successes, Labour has lost its way pursuing conflicting policies in the continent
Tom Porteous
The crisis in Somalia, the result of a dangerously escalating conflict pitting Ethiopian forces and their Somali allies against insurgent groups, is the world's worst, according to the UN. Serious human rights violations and war crimes have been committed by all sides.
Yet the British government consistently downplays both the gravity of the crisis in Somalia and the role of Ethiopian forces there. Among other things, Ethiopia has been accused of indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas of Mogadishu. But in the assessment of Somalia in the Foreign Office's latest annual human rights report there was not a single mention of Ethiopia, let alone the...
from ZW News Focus on reducing inflation and steadying the exchange ratePatrick Wintour, political editorBritain is working on an unprecedented £1bn-a-year international emergency aid and development package to rescue the ruined Zimbabwean economy. The scale of the programme - nearly triple the aid presently going to Zimbabwe - means it will be coordinated by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and United Nations. It will be discussed at the IMF spring meeting on April 12 and 13 in Washington, at an EU general affairs council later in the month, and possibly at the margins of the Nato summit in Bucharest. The IMF prepared a rescue package for the Zimbabwean economy nine years ago, but it was rejected by Robert Mugabe. British officials are looking to see how it...
from All AfricaAccra Mail (Accra)Douglas Alexander MP, UK Secretary of State for International Development, on Friday 22 February 2008.announced increased aid for Ghana during a one-day visit to the country.During his visit he called on the President John Agyekum Kufour, and announced a 20% increase in UK aid to Ghana over the next 3 years totalling $500 million.The Secretary of State said: "This additional commitment signifies the strong relationship between Ghana and the UK, making us the biggest donor to Ghana after the World Bank. I am pleased to be able to make this announcement as it shows the UK's support for Ghana's positive record on good governance, economic stability and its role as peacekeeper on the African continent. I have seen first hand this morning, when I visited Nima,...
from ReutersBy Katrina MansonMAKENI, Sierra Leone, Visiting squalid urban slums and giving vaccinations at a crowded rural clinic, Britain's aid minister called on Saturday for World Bank reform and a sharper international focus to fight poverty in Africa.Britain is becoming an increasingly important international aid donor as it aims to ramp up aid in line with United Nation targets designed to fight world poverty."We want to ... influence the broader global system. We want to see greater devolved decision making in the World Bank," International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander told Reuters during a visit to Sierra Leone, a former colony whose brutal civil war Britain helped end in 2002."The main (work) the World Bank can do is in the area of climate change. In March 2005 we...
from IRINBANGKOK - One of the main aid donors to Myanmar (formerly Burma), the UK government, has announced it is doubling its humanitarian aid to the impoverished country over the next three years, in response to what it describes as a "staggering" humanitarian crisis.The UK provided around £8 million in humanitarian aid in 2007, supporting projects run by UN agencies and non-governmental organisations in the fields of health, basic education and poverty alleviation. It also provided nearly £1 million to help Burmese refugees who have fled the country.Over the next three years, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) will gradually increase aid to Myanmar's most needy people to around £18 million per year by 2010/2011.USAID requested US$7 million for the 2007...
from The Times MirrorBy Tom Parry Ministers have pledged £75million to provide clean water and toilets to millions of poor families in Ethiopia.The massive aid donation - to be unveiled this week - will put Britain at the forefront of a global effort to stamp out deaths caused by waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea.International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Almost half of Ethiopia's people lack a safe water supply and the average Ethiopian has to survive on only 15 litres of water a day - compared to 220 litres in the UK."The project will pay to build 7,000 water points, as well as latrines in schools and health centres."This will mean thousands of lives saved - 15 per cent of all premature deaths in Ethiopia are as a result of diarrhoea."Today is World Toilet Day on...
from the GuardianTania Branigan, political correspondent The government has promised to double the amount it gives in aid to Burma after coming under pressure from MPs, but will still provide only half the funding the Tories have pledged.Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, announced Britain's support for health, education and humanitarian support schemes would rise from £9m this year to £18m by 2010.But the Conservatives immediately attacked the "disappointing" increase and pledged to raise aid four-fold if they won the next election, in line with the recommendation of a recent Commons report.Andrew Mitchell, the shadow development secretary, said he was disappointed by the government's failure to act on the international development committee's advice and...
from the GuardianRecord amount of £7.5bn spent on poorer countries· Gordon Brown urges G8 members to raise budgetsAshley SeagerThe GuardianBritain has become the world's second largest overseas aid donor thanks to a 12% increase in spending in the past year, the government said yesterday. Aid spending rose £808m in the last financial year to a new record of £7.5bn, putting Britain second behind the United States"It's clear that the UK is keeping its promises and that aid for development is increasing," said international development secretary Douglas Alexander."Every year our aid helps to lift around 3 million people permanently out of poverty and empowers poor countries to provide basic services such as health and education that we commonly take for granted."In the past 10 years, Mr...
from Yahoo NewsBy Adrian Croft ReutersLONDON (Reuters) - Seven developing countries in Africa and Asia will be the first to take part in a new global health campaign aimed at directing aid more effectively at the basic needs of poor countries, Britain said on Wednesday.Health ministers from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Cambodia and Nepal will take part in the launch of the initiative at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office later on Wednesday.Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the creation of the International Health Partnership when they met in London last month.Norway, France, Italy, the Netherlands and international organisations including the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, the European Commission and the African Development Bank have also...
from The BBCThe first minister has said Scotland will not be diverted from its overseas aid programme by criticism that it is too little to make a difference.It comes after BBC Scotland revealed that nearly a third of the £2m spent on the Scottish Executive's Malawi programme has gone on running costs.Jack McConnell was speaking at a reception in the Scottish Parliament for the charity Oxfam.Oxfam warned much more needed to be done to address endemic poverty.Mr McConnell said: "Devolved Scotland should never become insular. Throughout our history we have looked beyond our borders. "I am determined that we will continue to support Scots helping those elsewhere in the world who are in desperate need."He added that the executive's International Development Fund had backed 58 projects...
from Somali Net(SomaliNet) Rwanda has got over Frw 51billion from United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) as part of an effort to help get rid of extreme poverty.The DFID funds are part of United Kingdom (UK) development assistance to Rwanda, the DFID Director in Africa, Dave Fish told journalists on Thursday shortly after meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame.“The DFID is satisfied with Rwanda’s accountability. All the funds remitted to the country are managed properly,” Fish said.In 2006, Rwandan government and the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding which calls for the two countries’ commitment to end poverty.“The UK has been providing humanitarian and development assistance to Rwanda. It provides bilateral assistance totaling to...
from The GuardianShadow chancellor moves into Brown's aid territory· Bono's 'guru' accompanies Osborne on Uganda tripWill Woodward in Ruhiira, UgandaThe Conservatives will today make their first significant pitch on international aid by unveiling plans to spend $1bn (£510m) a year on malaria treatment until the disease is eradicated worldwide.George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, will deliver the pledge at the end of a three-day visit to Uganda with Jeffrey Sachs, the UN adviser also known as aid "guru" to the singer Bono who is widely acknowledged as the world's leading development economist. The UK's contribution to beating malaria would amount to a third of what Professor Sachs says is the necessary annual global budget. Malaria kills about a million people a year worldwide, yet is...