Download or read book DFID Annual Report 2008 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for International Development's (DFID) objectives continue to focus on achievement of the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals with the overarching aim of poverty reduction. This focus remains valid. However, on current trends most of the Goals will not be met by the 2015 deadline. The prospects for achieving Millennium Development Goal 2 on universal primary education by 2015 concern the Committee. To meet the target of all children completing primary education by 2015, universal access to schooling will need to be in place by 2010. The necessary schools will therefore have to be built and teachers trained in less than two years. The global economic downturn may exacerbate the risk of failure if development assistance levels are not maintained and donor commitments on aid are allowed to lapse. In straitened economic circumstances it is vital that every pound spent achieves the maximum impact, not least so that public support for aid expenditure can be maintained. The Committee is not convinced that DFID's evaluation processes allow it to make an accurate assessment of what its funding is achieving. The Independent Advisory Committee on Development Impact has begun to improve evaluation within DFID. This process must continue with the full engagement of the Department. DFID's ability to deliver its objectives is beginning to be constrained, despite its rising budget, by the Government-wide requirement to reduce its administrative budget and therefore the number of staff it employs. The Government should urgently reassess whether DFID has sufficient staff in place effectively to deliver the objectives which it has assigned to the Department under its Public Service Agreements.
Download or read book DFID Annual Report 2008 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating HC 945-i, ii, and iii of session 2007-08. The DFID annual report 2009 published as HC 492, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780102953664)
Download or read book DFID Annual Report 2008 written by Great Britain. Parliament House of Commons. International Development Committee and published by . This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government response to HC 220-I, session 2008-09 (ISBN 9780215526472)
Download or read book DFID s performance in 2008 09 and the 2009 White Paper written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-11 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DFID is right to focus more resources on fragile states if global poverty reduction goals are to be met. However, this report highlights a number of concerns about DFID's capacity to meet this and other new policy directions set out in the 2009 White Paper (Cm. 7656, ISBN 9780101765626), based on analysis of the Department's performance in 2008-09 (the Department's annual report 2008-09 published as HC 867-I,II, ISBN 9780102962154). Climate change, another key White Paper focus area, threatens progress on poverty reduction and will hit the poorest people first and hardest. The outcome of the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009 was disappointing and real progress needs to be made before the next conference at the end of this year. The White Paper also indicates that DFID will channel more funding through multilateral organisations including the EU, the UN and the World Bank. This offers the prospect of more coordinated delivery of aid, but only if these bodies increase their effectiveness and their poverty focus. The report also argues for speedier reform of the governance of the international financial institutions. The recession has had a significant impact on developing countries. It is estimated that an additional 90 million people will be affected by poverty as a combined result of the global food, financial and fuel crises over the last few years. Donors, including the UK, have responded and have sought to identify specific needs in developing countries, though many donors are failing to meet the aid commitments they have already made.
Download or read book The Work of the Committee in Session 2008 09 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: work of the Committee in Session 2008-09 : Second report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book Aid under pressure written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-02 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the current economic crisis, poor countries are experiencing significantly reduced income from trade, remittances and foreign investment. As a result, an additional 90 million people are expected to be living in poverty by the end of 2010, and 400,000 more children are likely to die. Progress towards the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty has been set back three years. At the G20 summit in London in April, agreement was reached to provide billions of dollars of additional resources for the international financial institutions (IFIs), with the majority going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This will provide a much needed boost for balance of payments support, yet it remains unclear how much of the funding will benefit developing countries. The huge increase in resources for the IFIs needs to be matched by governance reforms and developing countries need to be given a stronger voice on the boards and in the decision-making processes of the multilateral institutions. The recession should not be used as an excuse to reduce aid flows but developing countries must also be assisted to derive the maximum benefit from their own resources. They lose billions of dollars each year to tax evasion by international companies. The UK has a clear responsibility to address enforcement of international tax standards in relation to those British Overseas Territories which are tax havens. More effort is needed towards securing an agreement in the pro-development Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations. Finally, DFID must do more to show the public the many and varied positive outcomes of its work in poor countries.
Download or read book DFID s programme in Nepal written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-28 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DFIDs programme in Nepal : Sixth report of session 2009-10, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book DFID s assistance to Zimbabwe written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-26 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report finds that UK aid has helped deliver progress in Zimbabwe since the Government of National Unity was established a year ago, but governance, human rights and provision of basic services are still falling well below the needs of the people. The Department for International Development (DFID) allocated £60 million for humanitarian and development assistance in the country in 2009-10. This support has been effective in reaching poor and vulnerable people. UK aid should continue, given the scale of ongoing need - two million people are estimated to require food aid this year - and should be increased in the sectors where it is making the greatest impact. Aid should continue to be channelled through non-governmental organisations and multilateral agencies. Emergency aid is making a difference but it cannot be turned into sustained development support without a long-term political settlement. The report condemns the electoral manipulation, abuse of state power, land seizures, and violence against political opponents and civil society which President Mugabe's ZANU-PF have inflicted on the country for many years. Many skilled workers left the country, leaving the health and education systems in particular near collapse. The report concludes that the international community's longer-term focus should be on strengthening the capacity of the Government of National Unity so that it is better placed to determine its own development priorities and to deliver them.
Download or read book DFID s programme in Bangladesh written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-04 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report finds that Bangladesh has reduced poverty levels from 57 per cent at the beginning of the 1990s to 40 per cent in 2005 but much more needs to be done to help the country's poorest people. Despite a steadily growing economy, Bangladesh's potential to achieve more widespread poverty reduction is held back by its poor record on governance and high levels of corruption. Successive governments have failed to respond to the needs of poor and marginalised communities and instead state power has too often been used for personal and partisan ends. Bangladesh is the fourth highest recipient of UK bilateral assistance. DFID's programme there in the current financial year is worth £125 million and will rise to £150 million in 2010-11. The report praises the innovative non-governmental organisations (NGO) community in Bangladesh which plays an important role in delivering basic services in areas where state provision is limited. Gender inequality continues to be a significant problem in Bangladesh: an increase in the number of girls attending primary school contrasts with insufficient progress in tackling maternal mortality and women remain marginalised and excluded from key decision-making processes. Bangladesh is likely to be adversely affected by climate change and the poorest people will be hardest hit. The report adds large parts of the country are low-lying and susceptible to more frequent and intense floods and cyclones. Bangladesh will need assistance to cope with the effects of rises in sea levels and increased salinisation.
Download or read book Sessional returns written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-01-27 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On cover and title page: House, committees of the whole House, general committees and select committees
Download or read book Draft International Development Official Development Assistance Target Bill written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1970 the UN General Assembly called on the economically advanced countries to provide 0.7% of their income as Official Development Assistance (ODA) by the middle of the decade. In 2004 the UK committed to meet the target by 2013. The Government proposes to enshrine in law its commitment to meet the target in 2010 and each subsequent year. Whilst the legislation is widely welcomed the Committee remains uncertain that it will have the wider impact claimed. The accountability measures contained in the draft Bill weaken the commitment and provide the Government with an easy excuse for not meeting the target. The 2002 International Development Act stipulates that DFID's expenditure on ODA should have poverty reduction as its primary objective. With increasing pressure to find additional finance for responding to climate change or to new types of security threats, there is a danger that increased amounts of UK ODA will be used for purposes only marginally related to poverty reduction. The Government must take appropriate steps to guard against this whether or not the Bill becomes law. Ultimately the Committee supports the 0.7% goal and feels the UK should maintain and build on its reputation as a donor.
Download or read book Department for International Development annual report resource accounts 2009 10 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-02-03 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review the Coalition Government announced its decision to achieve the internationally agreed target of providing 0.7 percent of Gross National Income as ODA from 2013. This will involve spending an additional 2.5 billion pounds in 2013-14 to make the total DFID budget 11.3 billion pounds in that year. There will be a large increase in spending on fragile and conflict affected states and it will be difficult to ensure that every pound is well spent in such war-torn environments. When scrutinising DFID's accounts the MPs were also surprised to discover that the Pope's visit was paid for in part by money supposed to be for overseas development aid (ODA). The Committee expects a response from the Government as to what the £1.85 million, transferred to the Foreign Office for the papal visit, was spent on and an explanation as to how this was ODA compliant. The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) announced reductions in DFID's running costs to 2% of the total budget. If achieved, this would make DFID the most cost-efficient development organisation in the world.This is to be achieved by a large reduction in back office administration costs (which excludes front-line staff) of £34 million over the CSR period. The International Development Committee supports the proposals to make savings in back office staff, but the MPs are warning that Ministers must ensure that reduced administration budgets do not affect the ability to deliver aid programmes on the ground. While declining as a share of total costs, running costs will increase in real terms over the next four years because the total budget will rise so much.
Download or read book Eastern and Western Ideas for African Growth written by Kenichi Ohno and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-29 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West and the East approach economic development differently. The Europeans and Americans stress free and fair business climate, promoting private activities generally without picking winners, and improving governance. East Asia is interested in achieving concrete results and projects rather than formal correctness, prioritizing a few sectors for industrialization, and eventual graduation from aid. The West mostly shapes shifting strategies of the international donor community while the East has in reality made remarkable progress in industrial catch-up. The two approaches cannot be merged easily but they can be used in proper combination to realize growth and economic transformation. This book proposes more dialogue and complementarity between the two in the development effort of Africa and other regions. In this collected volume, contributed by experts and practitioners from both East and West, the need to introduce Eastern ideas to the global development strategy is emphasized. Analysis of British and other Western donor policies is given while Japanese, Korean, and other Asian approaches are also explained with concrete examples. The concept of governance for growth is presented and the impact of rising China on development studies is contemplated. The practices of industrial policy dialogues and actions assisted by East Asian experts are reported from Tunisia, Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and others. The book should be applicable to all donors, institutions, NGOs and business enterprises engaged in development cooperation.
Download or read book Africa written by Tony Binns and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-01-11 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many, Africa is regarded as a place of mystery and negative images, where reports of natural disasters and civil strife dominate media attention, with relatively little publicity given to any of the continent’s more positive attributes. Africa has at last begun to receive the depth of interest it has long deserved, in the shape of debates about trade, aid and debt, the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, and the UK's ‘Commission on Africa’. But, behind the superficial media façade, Africa is a diverse, complex and dynamic place, with a rich history and a colonial engagement that, although short-lived, was fundamental in determining the long-term future of the continent. At the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century, when the world is engulfed in a major financial crisis, Africa has the dubious distinction of being the world’s poorest continent. This book introduces and de-mystifies Africa’s diversity and dynamism, and considers how its peoples and environments have interacted through time and space. The background and diversity of Africa’s social, cultural, economic, political and environmental systems is examined, as well as key development issues which have affected Africa in the past and are likely to be significant in shaping the future of the continent. These include: the impact of HIV/AIDS; sources of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction; the state and governance; the nature of African economies in a global context and future development trajectories. Africa: Diversity and Development is a refreshing interdisciplinary text which enhances understanding of the background to Africa’s current position and clarifies possible future scenarios. It is richly illustrated throughout with diagrams and plates, and contains a wealth of detailed case studies and current data.
Download or read book Sustainable development in a changing climate written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change threatens to destroy gains made in poverty reduction in many developing countries. Substantial funding will be needed to help poor countries tackle climate change. This funding must be additional to pledges already made for development assistance because developing countries are not responsible for the emissions which have caused climate change and the estimated costs cannot be met from existing development assistance or national budgets. The current economic crisis could derail efforts to tackle climate change or it could provide an opportunity to chart a new "greener" growth strategy in developing. Climate change should be central to the Department for International Development's (DFID's) work in developing countries and it needs to start establishing comprehensive climate change programmes. Sustainable management of the natural resource base is vital. DFID has focussed on water resources management and it should now consider the creation of marine and forestry management strategies to ensure that these sectors can continue to contribute to economic growth, in a sustainable manner. Developed countries should ensure that actions taken to reduce emissions do not impact negatively on developing countries. Tourism and export horticulture are important contributors to poverty reduction in many poor countries and these sectors should be supported to increase their pro-poor benefits and reduce their climate change impact. There is a need for more research into low carbon options which are appropriate for poor countries and for mechanisms to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer. The Copenhagen Conference to decide the successor to the Kyoto Agreement must agree stringent emission reduction targets or increase the risk of more severe climate change impacts.
Download or read book British Foreign and Defence Policy Since 1945 written by Robert Self and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06-23 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign policy has dominated successive governments' time in office and cast a consistently long shadow over British politics in the period since 1945. Robert Self provides a readable and incisive assessment of the key issues and events from the retreat from empire through the cold war period to Humanitarian Intervention and the debacle in Iraq.
Download or read book Aid in Transition written by Theocharis N. Grigoriadis and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the one of the first to address aid effectiveness as a political and comparative economics question. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of its republics to market structures and more representative forms of government, the European Commission has recognized the necessity of a closer economic cooperation with Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the three largest economies of the former Soviet Union. This book suggests that the foreign aid of the European Union provided a set of reform incentives to post-Soviet planners. It created the grounds for the institutional and social transformation of the bureaucracy at both central and regional levels by integrating it into the aid allocation process. In Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the observed subordination of NGOs to the developmental priorities of the bureaucracy occurred at the expense of diversity and political openness. Nevertheless, this reality led to the emergence of transnational sovereignty partnerships that reduced poverty for the general population and motivated both bureaucrats and entrepreneurs to cooperate. Empirical models alone are not sufficient to delineate all the aspects of principal-agent relationships in post-Soviet bureaucracies. This is why formal modeling and analysis of qualitative data are extremely useful. Evaluation reports indicate the problems and challenges faced by aid bureaucrats and suggest that the weakly institutionalized environments of Ukraine and Central Asia/Kazakhstan are less conducive to aid effectiveness than the heavily bureaucratized environment of Russia. The proposed incentives system for the allocation of foreign aid links EU foreign policy with bureaucratic decision-making and reflects the choice sets of the donor and the recipient. Multilevel definitions of aid effectiveness are provided in the course of the book chapters.