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

Yahoo

time10 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

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

Funding for some aid organisations and countries to be cut, minister says 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. Minister for development Baroness Chapman said the Government was 'modernising' its approach to aid (Aaron Chown/PA) 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. ADVERTISEMENT 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. ADVERTISEMENT 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.' ADVERTISEMENT 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.

Slashing of UK's international aid more responsible than Trump's overnight cuts, minister claims
Slashing of UK's international aid more responsible than Trump's overnight cuts, minister claims

The Independent

time15-07-2025

  • Health
  • The Independent

Slashing of UK's international aid more responsible than Trump's overnight cuts, minister claims

The UK's deep cuts to international aid will be carried out in a 'responsible and careful' way – not the 'overnight' slashes conducted most obviously by nations such as the US – the government has claimed. Charities and international aid experts have lined up to decry the UK cuts, first announced in February, which will bring spending from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of gross national income (GNI). A report also published on Tuesday by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact found UK aid spending overseas could fall to as low as 0.24 per cent once spending at home on asylum accommodation was factored in. But development minister Jenny Chapman has told MPs that 'not all aid cuts are the same and I think the way that we've done it… is slowly and in a considered way'. 'I would contrast that to the way that others have done it, where medications just stop being distributed overnight, where I know of warehouses with vaccines that there's no way of distributing,' Baroness Chapman said. 'That's a real problem and that will have a huge impact.' In the US, Trump cut roughly 80 per cent of foreign aid spending virtually overnight, in a move that could cause 14 million extra deaths by 2030. The speed of the cuts caused chaos as clinics closed, access to lifesaving medicines was disrupted and health staff didn't know if they could turn up to work one day to the next. Baroness Chapman added that the withdrawal of the United States from global health funding was proving a 'huge problem' but that, 'it isn't possible for us to backfill that capacity sadly'. Baroness Chapman also confirmed during the session of parliament's international development committee that a world-leading programme to tackle antimicrobial resistance was being cut and suggested a project giving millions access to contraception was under question. The scale of the UK cuts means they are expected to hit virtually all programmes. Even when it comes to the global vaccine alliance, Gavi, of which the UK has been a major champion and is now the biggest funder, its contribution this year fell by £400 million. Baroness Chapman said antimicrobial resistance and the risk of another pandemic were the two biggest threats facing the UK's health security, but public health and prevention minister Ashley Dalton confirmed during the session that the Fleming programme, which supports countries in Africa and Asia to monitor and prevent antimicrobial resistance, has already been cancelled. Antimicrobial resistance happens when antibiotics are used too much or incorrectly, causing germs to evolve resistance against them and creating dangerous illnesses that can't easily be treated with the available drugs. Resistant bug strains can cross borders and the phenomenon is estimated to kill a million people a year. Asked about a programme to family planning access and information to 2.6 million women and girls across West and Central Africa, Baroness Chapman said she was 'looking at it'. The minister has previously signalled that specialised programmes for women and girls may be hit hard by the cuts.

Critics question UK's foreign aid commitment at UN conference
Critics question UK's foreign aid commitment at UN conference

The Independent

time02-07-2025

  • Business
  • The Independent

Critics question UK's foreign aid commitment at UN conference

The UK is being accused of hypocrisy for its low-level participation and significant aid budget cuts at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) in Seville. Critics say that the UK sending only a government minister, Baroness Chapman, while 50 world leaders attended, signals a lack of commitment to global development finance. The UK's foreign aid budget has been cut from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income, expected to reduce aid by £6.2 billion by 2025, drawing widespread condemnation. Development organisations argue these cuts undermine the UK's credibility and ability to address critical issues like debt, climate change, and humanitarian crises in developing nations. Despite the criticism, the conference's final agreement, the "Compromiso de Sevilla", includes positive language on international tax cooperation and an intergovernmental process on debt.

UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference
UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference

The Independent

time02-07-2025

  • Business
  • The Independent

UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference

The UK has been accused of 'hypocrisy' over its lack of high-level participation at a key global development finance summit, on top of cuts to Britain's aid budget – while talking up its role in helping lower-income nations. The accusations have been made at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), a once-a-decade summit happening all week in Seville, Southern Spain, where delegates are aiming to tackle the perennial problem of how to help developing countries access the money they need. Thirty-two African countries currently spend more on debt repayments than on healthcare, and 25 African countries spend more on debt payments than on education, an issue that activists say needs urgent action. Some 50 world leaders are due at FfD4, including Emmanuel Macron of France, Mark Carney of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The UK, however, has only sent a government minister in the form of Baroness Chapman, the international development minister. 'A level of ambition from the UK government would have been demonstrated clearly by sending higher level participation such as the prime minister or Foreign Secretary,' Lydia Darby, a senior policy advisor at Save the Children, told The Independent. Ahead of fDf4, writing in The Independent, Baroness Chapman called for a 'new era for global aid and development', that would see developing countries helped in building their own tax systems, and greater investment in developing countries from the private sector, among other measures. Hannah Bond, Co-CEO at ActionAid UK, said that it is 'hypocritical' for the UK to talk about 'fair finance' while cutting overseas aid. 'If the UK truly cares about fair finance, it must honour its overseas aid commitments, tackle unfair debts, and pay its fair share in addressing the climate crisis,' Bond said. 'Without this, talk of fair finance is nothing more than empty PR.' Baroness Chapman's appearance comes off the back of the UK cutting its foreign aid budget from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) - which is expected to reduce foreign aid by £6.2 billion by 2025. Alex Farley, from advocacy group Bond, said that it is 'impossible' to see how the UK can deliver on existing funding commitments, respond to humanitarian crisis, and tackle climate change, following he 0.5 to 0.3 per cent cut. 'Let alone undo the damage these cuts have done to our reputation and credibility with countries,' he added. 'It would be nice to hear the government expressing regret for its cuts to the aid budget, rather than blithely claiming that they are somehow doing developing countries a favour,' Michael Jacobs, from the think tank ODI, told The Independent. Mr Jacobs added that the claim that private sector money can substitute public funds is 'silly at best, disingenuous at worst'. This is because 'the private sector wants returns, while much aid - for health, schools, sanitation, climate adaptation - doesn't make a profit, so is not investable', he said. Catherine Pettengell, executive director of NGO network Climate Action Network UK concurred that the UK had 'failed to sufficiently support developing countries' calls for fairer debt, tax, international cooperation, and climate finance ' in build-up to the conference. 'It's a crushing blow that only compounds the recent UK aid cuts,' she added. Attendees of FfD4 say, however, that it is not all doom and gloom in Seville. The final agreement of the talks - the Compromiso de Sevilla - was in fact agreed to just ahead of this week's conference. According to Save the Children's Ms Darby, there is notably positive language on matters including international tax cooperation and an agreement to initiate an intergovernmental process on debt. 'The document is an important step with plenty to build on in the months and years to come,' Darby said - though she acknowledged it has inevitably fallen short of 'the transformative ambition that civil society and vulnerable communities worldwide had called for'. While the UK, along with the EU, has been accused of watering down key priorities for low-and-middle-come countries, these countries have at least contributed much more positively than the US, which withdrew from talks ahead of the conference over the refusal from the rest of the world to delete the goal of 'sustainable development' from the text.

Britain slashes global vaccine budget, putting millions of women and girls at risk
Britain slashes global vaccine budget, putting millions of women and girls at risk

Telegraph

time25-06-2025

  • Health
  • Telegraph

Britain slashes global vaccine budget, putting millions of women and girls at risk

Britain has slashed its funding for the Gavi global vaccine partnership by 40 per cent in real terms, putting millions of women and girls at risk from cervical cancer and other diseases. The government will now contribute £1.25 billion to Gavi – which facilitates the vaccination of nearly half of the world's children – for the next five years, down from the £1.6 billion pledge given in 2020. It comes as Britain and other western powers have dramatically cut their aid budgets in recent months as they prepare to ramp up spending on defence. Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Baroness Chapman, the Minister of International Development said: 'We've had to make some really tough choices. But we've decided as a government that we want to invest in defence, because that's the world we are in. 'When we cut the aid budget, we knew we'd have to cut things that are globally good. Gavi would be something it would be great to put more money into in future and I hope we can, but for today this is a good pledge from the UK,' she said. Britain's funding cut represents a 40 per cent reduction in real terms after accounting for inflation. It will threaten funding for 23 million child vaccinations over the next five years, potentially causing an additional 350,000 deaths, according to estimates by the ONE campaign. Andrew Mitchell, former Conservative International Development Secretary, condemned the government's 'brutal' cut to Gavi, warning it will 'leave Britain less safe and more vulnerable to disease.' In another major blow, the US announced at Gavi's pledge summit in Brussels today that it would cut its support entirely for the organisation. It had given $1.13 billion in the organisation's last funding round. In an inflammatory video message delivered to the summit, US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior accused Gavi of neglecting vaccine safety, and criticised its decision making around Covid-19 immunisation recommendations and the use of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTPw) vaccine in low-income countries. Global vaccine experts rejected the jibe, saying they had 'full confidence' in the DTPw vaccine. Gavi is relying on raising at least $9 billion to support its work between 2026-2030. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that procures and distributes vaccines at significantly reduced prices to the world's poorest countries. It targets diseases such as HPV, malaria, yellow fever, COVID-19, Ebola, measles, and typhoid. It was founded by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. It has immunised over a billion children worldwide and is estimated to have saved more than 18 million lives. The UK has historically been the organisation's largest sovereign donor. Baroness Chapman, appointed Minister for International Development earlier this year shortly after the UK government cut its aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income – the lowest level in 25 years – said foreign assistance should not just be about 'doing good' but about helping countries to 'stand on [their] own two feet.' However, experts argue that Gavi is one of the best ways to achieve that goal. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), Gavi's innovative funding mechanism which former Chancellor Gordon Brown helped design, is widely regarded as one of the most effective and sustainable aid projects in history. Every dollar invested in Gavi is estimated to generate a $54 return on investment – far outperforming traditional markets like the Dow Jones, which returned $2.26 per dollar over the past decade. Over the past 25 years, 19 countries, including Indonesia and India, have successfully transitioned out of Gavi support and are now donors themselves. The UK government has been a key champion of Gavi's accelerated rollout of the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls in developing countries, aiming to eradicate cervical cancer, which kills around 300,000 women annually. During Gavi's 2026–2030 strategic period, it plans to vaccinate an additional 120 million girls with the HPV vaccine. However, these plans may be scaled back due to the funding shortfall. 'The HPV vaccine is a real game changer in the fight against cervical cancer [...] But again, we have had to make a decision about putting more money into defense. Therefore there's less money to spend on overseas aid,' Baroness Chapman said. The organisation's work does not just benefit its recipients, say experts, but protects all countries from the risk of future pandemics. 'We've learned through Covid that if you have a pandemic, or if you have viruses emerging from other parts of the world, no matter how far away they might be, that none of us are safe, it is a global challenge and Gavi is huge part of that answer,' said Baroness Chapman. Gavi's CEO Sania Nishtar told The Telegraph: 'The UK relationship for GAVI is super important. The UK is where GAVI was born. We've had bipartisan support from both sides of the aisle in the last 25 years. We're very grateful for the pledge at this very difficult moment.'

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