British aid review could shortchange Burundi

A couple of years ago the British government decided to begin a review of international aid expenditures. The review was said to determine what countries had grown to the point where they didn't need as much aid. The review also was set to find what investments produced the greatest results.

There has been great concern throughout the process that some deserving countries would see a decrease in aid. Critics also worried that decisions would be made with only British national interests in mind.

One country in Africa will soon see a closure of services from Brittan's international aid agency. That is the country of Burundi who has the smallest gross domestic product in the world. Parliament is urging the review to reconsider.

From the Guardian, writer Marc Tran reviews the details.

As part of the review announced in March, DfID decided to reduce the number of bilateral aid programmes from 43 to 27. Burundi was dropped, even though DfID said it had "a compelling case for aid". In 2005, the country emerged from a 12-year civil war, fought on ethnic lines, that killed 300,000 people. The conflict left the country devastated, with the lowest recorded GDP per capita in the world, at $150 in 2008. Burundi ranks 166th of 169 countries in the UN's human development index. With 81% of the population living below the poverty line, it is unlikely to meet most millennium development goal targets, not least those on poverty, maternal and under-five mortality, and deforestation. Recent attacks, including the massacre of 36 people at a bar near the capital, Bujumbura, have fuelled fears of a return to civil war.

DfID had doubts about bilateral aid to Burundi in 2009, when a director said the programme was "structurally inefficient, with a small spend, overly-wide scope, and a staff-to-spend ratio which does not reflect economies of scale". DfID said in its bilateral aid review of Burundi that a "large scale-up would have been required to show a significant impact and therefore demonstrate value for money. Achieving this in the short term would have been difficult given capacity constraints in country".

Although its bilateral programme will close next year, DfID said it would continue to support Burundi's integration into the east African community. This will be done through TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), an initiative created by DfID with joint funding from Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. The scheme aims to reduce transport times and costs, eliminate trade barriers, and integrate small markets.
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However, a House of Commons International Development Committee report on Burundi took issue with DfID on all three points. Noting that the UK had bilateral programmes with all the countries in the eastern Africa and great lakes region – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan – MPs said a decision to discontinue bilateral aid to just one of the seven not only sends the wrong signals to that country, but also removes DfID's expertise where it is valued at a critical time.

DFID issues a new report on cash transfer programs

Governments around the world are implementing a new strategy to fight poverty called "cash transfer" programs. They are called cash transfer because they give a small amount of money to families below the poverty line. The money is small enough that they will not be able to live on that money alone and will still need to find work. Still, the money is more than welcome to poor families who can then use it to supplement other incomes and have more money for food and medicine.

The most famous of the cash transfer programs is based in Brazil called "Bolsa Familia." The Brazilian government has an added feature to their cash transfer program because families have to meet certain conditions before receiving the money. The conditions range from keeping good attendance in school, or going for medical checkups regularly. Many governments around the world have borrowed from Bolsa Familia to set up their own cash transfer programs.

Cash Transfer programs are beginning to catch the attention of rich donor nations for their development aid contributions. The UK’s Department for International Development has just released a study on the effectiveness of cash transfer programs. OXFAM's Duncan Green relayed the summary of the report in his blog, From Poverty to Power.

“Over the past 15 years, a ‘quiet revolution’ has seen governments in the developing world invest in increasingly large-scale cash transfer programmes. These are now estimated to reach between 0.75 and 1 billion people. While this expansion began in middle-income countries (MICs), governments in low-income countries (LICs) have also started to develop cash transfer programmes.

This rapid spread has been driven by a range of forces. Firstly, there is growing recognition that while global economic integration brings poor households opportunities, it also brings increased exposure to stresses (e.g. volatile food and fuel prices) and shocks, which can push many into poverty. In this context, transfers are seen to play a role in reducing transitory poverty.

Secondly, there is growing evidence that transfers can help people escape chronic, often inter-generational poverty; in part by leveraging gains in non-income, human development outcomes.

Finally, there is recognition that in situations of chronic food insecurity (e.g. Ethiopia), institutionalised transfer programmes are more efficient and effective than repeated annual emergency food aid.

There is convincing evidence from a number of countries that cash transfers can reduce inequality and the depth or severity of poverty. There is an increasing volume of research into how cash transfers might support ‘graduation’ from poverty for those of working age. Evidence from Bangladesh and Ethiopia suggests that transfers are unlikely to achieve graduation without complementary interventions (e.g. skills training or agricultural extension) to promote livelihoods.

There is robust evidence from numerous countries that cash transfers have leveraged sizeable gains in access to health and education services…. Cash transfers also have a proven role in supporting specific vulnerable groups (people living with HIV and AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children).

UK reviews international aid spending and finds some winners

Brittan has just completed a review of their international aid payments. The review focused on which recipients of UK money are the most effective in easing social ills. The UK government say the results of this study will alter the amount the subjects receive. The organizations and countries with the best results will get more money. Some organizations who didn't fare so well might have aid completely removed.

From the Guardian, writer Annie Kelly gives us the results.

In terms of multilateral aid, Unicef, the Global Fund and the World Food Programme performed well against a set of measurement criteria and are likely to receive funding increases.

In contrast, organisations, including UN Habitat and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will lose future DfID funding after they failed to prove they were delivering significant change on the ground.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is criticised for its patchy track record and warned that future support is contingent on better performance.

According to many in the development world, this is no great surprise. However, Oxfam has warned that as the world faces its second food crisis in three years, the government must not abandon the agency.

"It's perfectly valid to acknowledge problems with the agency," says Kathleen Spencer Chapman, head of UK government relations at Oxfam GB, "but DfID must prioritise working with them to make sure these are maintained and that withdrawal is not the easy option."

Regarding bilateral aid, Mitchell had already warned that the UK would no longer pour aid money into better off countries such as China and Russia

In the review on Tuesday, 14 more countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Gambia and Angola, joined them, cutting the numbers of countries receiving UK aid from 49 to 27. More controversially, the poorer Niger, Burundi and Lesotho were also on the list.

After sustained criticism, India will retain its £280m aid budget. Another major beneficiary of the streamlined aid budget is Ethiopia, which will become the UK's biggest aid recipient by 2014, making . Kenya and Rwanda will also see hikes in UK aid.

Fragile states will receive 30% of the overall UK aid budget, a total of around £3.8m by 2014. Pakistan, Nigeria, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen will see the biggest percentage increase.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/01/winners-losers-uk-aid-review-reaction

India might refuse development aid from the UK

The UK government is about to debate the practice of sending aid to the booming economy of India. The UK has already stopped sending aid to Russia and China as they strike off middle income countries as recipients. Despite the boom, India still has a majority of its population still in poverty. Even though India has a great need they might say "no thanks" to UK aid to show some independence after being a part of the old British empire.

From the Guardian, writer Madeleine Bunting examines the upcoming debate.

For a group of Conservatives, India is a prime example for their "charity begins and ends at home" approach. When Mitchell came into office, he made great fanfare about cutting aid programmes to China and Russia; allegedly, some in his department wanted to add India to that list but No 10 prevailed. India is still regarded by the UK public as a poor country, despite its recent economic growth and global power.

And the truth is, that perception is absolutely accurate. A third of the world's poor live in India – more than all those designated as poor living in sub-Saharan Africa. Shockingly, half of all Indian children are malnourished. This poverty is concentrated in just four Indian states, which account for one-fifth of the world's poor. So if aid is about relieving poverty, UK aid to India is entirely justified.

Some hopeful observers point to a new determination on the part of India's ruling elite to tackle poverty. Sonia Gandhi recently chaired a two-day seminar with the US economist Joseph Stiglitz on how to provide universal "social policy coverage" – basic services in health and education. It was a point made by Gordon Brown in his book Beyond the Crash, when he wrote about the new statutory rights to food and to primary education.

But there is a long way to go, and the sharp inequalities in India present a stark dilemma for those in charge of aid budgets. As many developing economies grow, more and more of the world's poorest are in middle-income countries. As Sumner has pointed out in his argument on the new bottom billion, 72% of the world's poorest are in middle-income countries.

Increasingly, much of the world's poverty is a result of inequality, rather than the conventional model of countries caught in a poverty trap, and the role of aid in helping to spring the trap. That presents a real challenge to state aid agencies: how do they justify taking their taxpayers' money to send aid to countries where a hugely wealthy elite is benefiting from an economic boom and failing to meet the challenge of distributing wealth? Aren't India's poor their responsibility?

Overnight Links for December 16th

The UK is giving some emergency humanitarian assistance to Somalia. 1.5 million people have been displaced due to ongoing violence, so the emergency aid will provide food, water and shelter for those people. This Shabelle Media Network article from All Africa gives us the details. 

80 million children work in Africa and experts warn that that number could increase. From Africa News, writer Rubakana Eddy explains how most of thee children are victims of exploitation.

From the Inter Press Service more details on Israel's mass deportation of African migrants. Writer Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani find that some observers are likening it to building a new wall against another people.

Finally, Reuters Alert Net is providing an audio newscast of world headlines that we will begin embedding into our overnight links post.

UK plans on giving more aid to failed states, less to poor states

A controversy is developing in Brittan over the allocation of foreign aid. Prime Minister David Cameron plans on targeting aid to failed states, those who are usually in the middle of a war such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Meanwhile, aid would be decreased to countries that have stable states but may have high poverty such as Nigeria and Kenya.

From the Guardian, writer Nicholas Watt gives us both sides of the development aid debate.

Patrick Watt, Save the Children's director of development, said last night: "What is the real driver of aid allocation? Is it poverty, is it need and the ability to use money effectively or is it the agenda of the National Security Council? We do need to have a balanced approach to aid allocation that reflects the principles of the 2002 International Development Act which stipulates that all aid should be for poverty reduction."

An Oxfam policy adviser also expressed concerns about aid being delivered through "military structures" that could risk civilian aid workers.

The row broke out after the government decided, in the strategic defence and security review, to double by 2014 the £1.9bn that is spent on what are known as "fragile and conflicted states". This echoes the thinking of Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, who told the Guardian in January: "We would build on what [the Department for International Development] is today and make it even more successful and perhaps wire it in a little bit better into the Whitehall constellation."

It is understood that the government is planning to narrow the list of priority fragile countries, which currently includes Nigeria and Kenya, to just five. They are expected to be Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Iraq.

British government to survey the effectiveness of the big development banks

The British government is going to begin a review of the big multi-national banks that they give money to. The government says the results of the review could change the amount of money they give to big banks like the World Bank, African Development Bank and others.

The UK aid survey will be looking at how effective each organization is in spurring development and fighting poverty. The UK warns that some banks could have their funding stopped entirely if the review shows that they are doing a poor job.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Matt Falloon tells us more about the goals for the review.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, which has promised to spend 0.7 percent of national income on overseas aid by 2013, is faced with a record budget deficit and is eager to ensure taxpayers' money is being spent wisely.

"Organisations that demonstrate value for money and the greatest impact on poverty could receive a cash boost," the international development ministry said in a statement.

"Those that fail to meet the tough criteria could have their funding reduced or stopped altogether."

Britain gives less than half of its aid budget to multilaterals and donated about 3 billion pounds ($4.33 billion) to such bodies last year.

The coalition has pledged to protect aid funding from the big spending cuts required to reduce a deficit running close to 11 percent of national output, but it is unclear whether the level of funding to multilaterals could be cut within that.

The review, which starts straight away, will judge whether the institutions are effectively delivering value for money and in tune with Britain's international poverty reduction aims.

Development partnership for India extended until 2013

A development partnership for India will continue into the year 2013. The Asian Development Bank and the UK's Department for International Development will continue to give grants to India to help in poverty fighting projects.

From The Hindu Business Line we read more about the money involved and what it's intended for.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UK Department for International Development have entered into a new five-year strategic partnership to fight poverty in India.

The British government would provide a grant of £14 million for the partnership.

In a statement today, ADB said the five-year partnership would run from 2009 to 2013 and would be supported by £14 million funding from the UK government.
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DFID has provided $50.58 million in grant co-financing since the collaboration began in 2001. DFID India’s head Michael Anderson said the partnership would directly benefit the poor by building roads, improving irrigation and developing cities in the poorest Indian states.

UK aid money to Nigeria sees sharp increase in a decade

The UK's assistance to Nigeria has skyrocketed in the past 10 years. Starting at 15 million pounds in 1999, it is now at 120 million in 2009. The figures are according to the Department for International Development.

From the Daily Champion story that we found at All Africa, we read more about the funding levels.

It said the aid would rise to 140 million pounds in 2010, adding that the gesture was in recognition of Nigeria's poverty reduction challenge and reform efforts.

It said the DFID was delighted to be participating in the launch of a joint country partnership strategy with other agencies as it would ensure that international assistance was focused on the right priorities.

It stated that the initiative would also allow development partners to co-ordinate more effectively with the National Planning Commission to avoid duplication of efforts and increase the impact of the assistance.

The assistance, the statement said, would ensure that Nigeria utilised its own resources more efficiently and effectively to achieve the MDGs.

Tory party conference: Conservatives would cancel British aid to China

from the Telegraph

By Andrew Pierce

Britain'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 trade surplus last year of £175 billion, and put a man in space last week.

"Many British taxpayers would be astonished to learn that we are still giving aid to China – and that last year, under Labour, China received in aid for the British taxpayer £38.6 million.

"Out aid budget is the fruit of hard work of the British people. It must be spent wisely. And that means it must be targeted on the countries and peoples who need it most. No money for China, more money for the very poorest people in the world."

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Britain gives Pakistan £1bn to fight extremism

from the Times Online

Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

Britain 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 the extra money will on improving schools in the border areas, in an attempt to tackle poor levels of literacy, particularly among girls, which lag far behind Pakistan’s already low rate of about 50 per cent. There are hopes that such programmes will help the Pakistani government counter the influence of the radical madrassas which have become seedbeds of Islamic militancy.

“You can’t have any real successful efforts to counter radicalism without education,” said Robert Templer, director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group. “It’s desperately needed. If this area isn’t dealt with, it's going to be a festering problem for decades to come.”

It is the first time that significant funding will be channelled towards Baluchistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with a big increase also going to North West Frontier Province, all areas which serve as a base for militants linked to the Taleban and al-Qaeda. Thousands of Pakistani troops are currently engaged in fighting the insurgents responsible for cross-border attacks on Nato forces.

Development work in these areas, considered unsafe for Western aid workers, is likely to pose a significant challenge. Regional hostility to outsiders has increased since US missile attacks on the suspected militants inside Pakistani borders. Most of the money will be channelled through central and local government, DfiD said, while acknowledging that corruption would be a problem.

“We have been committed to helping Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against poverty for many years,” Mr Alexander said. “Our aim is to continue to help improve poor people’s lives in key areas, making sure they have access to better healthcare, schools and employment opportunities.”

Link to full article. May expire in future.

UK minister offers help in poverty reduction

from The Jakarta Post

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Britain'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. We will just follow and support the strategy," he said.

Malik is the first British-born Muslim to serve in the country's government after being appointed minister of international development by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on July 29 last year.

He is responsible for the work of the British Department of International Development in Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, including its poverty eradication programs.

"Half of Indonesians earn less than $2 a day, that's quite a big challenge for any country," he said.

"The UK government is committed to achieving the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which include halving extreme poverty by 2015. If more religious groups in the world show such commitment, we will certainly see a more rapid movement to achieve the goal."

He said he was encouraged by the participation of Muslim groups in fighting poverty.

Din said Muhammadiyah would expand its collaboration with the British government in various fields, including education, economic empowerment, public health services and culture.

"We have had an MOU with the British government for the past three years, and we will continue this ongoing cooperation," he said.

Malik said issues like maternal healthcare are also fundamental, considering that Indonesia's maternal mortality rate is among the highest in Southeast Asia, and his government expects to see more cooperation on such issues.

Malik, a Sunni Muslim, also expressed his views on the Islamic sect Ahmadiyah, which the Indonesian government has banned from carrying out religious activities.

He said that in the UK, people believed in freedom of expression and religion, and everyone was welcomed to carry out their activities, as long as they did not preach violence.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

MPs fear corruption risk from poorly monitored aid

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 forms of aid.

"Parliament must be able to come to an informed view on the balance of risk and reward. The countries who receive this financial support often do not have the monitoring systems to check that the funds have gone where they should. And when UK funds are paid directly to developing countries' national systems, the risks of leakage and corruption are often particularly high.

"DFID must give more attention to building accountability within developing countries and to supporting the parliamentary and audit bodies in those countries who can challenge the use of public resources by the ruling party."

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, said that budget support was used only if the conditions were right. "It helps developing countries manage their economies and public finances and can deliver significant benefits for poor people, including health, education and water."

The PAC report said that the financial risks of putting funds through weak national systems were often high. "Estimates of leakage and corruption in the use of developing nations' budgets are many times higher than would be acceptable in UK domestic expenditure."

The PAC said there was "insufficient evidence" to come to a balanced judgment on whether budget support was the right approach in the 13 recipient countries. It added that DFID should give its best estimate of the level of corruption, waste and inefficiency, and set out its plans for ensuring the money was well spent.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

UK gives Ghana 42.5 million pounds for health sector

from Afriquenligne

Ghana and the United Kingdom on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which the UK is committing 42.5 million 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 tackling the off-track Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child mortality.

"This money will enable the Ghanaian Government to address these issues and reduce poverty levels even further," Hammond said.

The money would be used to assist the Ministry of Health in tackling priorities as set out in its programme of work (2007 – 2011), which aims "to ensure a healthy and productive population that reproduces itself safely".

It aims to make progress against four strategic objectives: promote healthy life styles and environment; increase coverage of health, reproduction and nutrition interventions; strengthen the capacity of the health system and improved governance and sustainable financing.

"By providing support in this way, DFID is assisting the Government to meet its obligations including its recently announced support for pregnant women," Hammond said.

The UK Government currently provides around 80 million pounds sterling annually to Ghana to implement its Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II).

UK offers Ethiopia 133 million pounds to fight poverty

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 of DFID, told a news conference.

DFID has spent some 2.7 billion birr on programmes in Ethiopia over the past four years, Ackroyd said.

Britain prepares £1bn-a-year package to aid Zimbabwe

from ZW News


Focus on reducing inflation and steadying the exchange rate

Patrick Wintour, political editor

Britain 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 will need to be updated. A separate aid package was drawn up in 2007 by the Southern African Development Community, but that too was rejected because of the conditions attached. Mugabe has instead been looking for loans from Iran, China and Libya to finance his massive deficits.

Models examined by the Department for International Development suggest that if the currency can be corrected, it will be possible for the economy to be turned around relatively quickly. IMF work suggests hyperinflation can be brought under control in a year, allowing output to rise relatively rapidly. Price and exchange rate liberalisation is seen as a condition of progress by the IMF. But British government sources said the £1bn-a-year package, possibly assembled at a donor conference, might need to last many years. Britain, the former colonial power, is anxious not to be seen at the helm of the aid package, and is stressing that the initiative will eventually be an international one. Any attempt to be seen to be bribing the Zimbabwean people to reject Mugabe is likely to be used as a propaganda tool by Zanu PF, requiring Britain to walk a tightrope.

Britain currently provides £40m a year, largely through the UN, and is likely to double its aid package fairly quickly. But the international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, has been kept informed of the programmes being developed, and has also asked for an emergency humanitarian package to be prepared in the event of riots or violence breaking out in protest at Zanu PF failing to accept the result of the election. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said contingency plans were also under way in the event of a doomsday scenario to help the 10,000 former British nationals living in the country. Officials said the task of righting the Zimbabwean economy will be complicated by the 4 million exiles, including many professionals living abroad, since it is hard to know how quickly they will be willing to return, and if they did return quickly whether they would overwhelm the rudimentary public services.

Apart from focusing on reducing inflation, and steadying the exchange rate and balance of payments, the package will be directed at basic health and education services, infrastructure and justice. The bulk of British aid currently goes on HIV and Aids. Miliband said: "The rehabilitation will be on a scale not seen by almost any country for a long time". It is thought the Zimbabwean economy has shrunk by more than a third since 1999, a decline worse than in major African civil wars. Nearly 80% of the population live below the poverty line and inflation is running officially at 100,586%. DfID points out economic collapse has meant that 80% of the population are without jobs and almost 60% are living on less than 50p a day. A baby girl born in Zimbabwe today has a life expectancy of 34, the lowest in the world. The economic crisis is largely blamed on the seizure of white-owned commercial farms that began in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based economy. Commercial production of maize has dropped 86% between 2000 and 2005. An agreement on land tenure and property rights is seen by DfID officials as one of the biggest long term problems facing the agricultural sector.

Britain urges World Bank reform to fight poverty

from Reuters

By Katrina Manson

MAKENI, 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 said we wanted to make poverty history. Unless the Bank tackles international climate change, we will make poverty the future," he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called last month for an overhaul of international institutions created after World War Two, including the World Bank, to counter financial crises, tackle climate change and recognise emerging powers like India.

"We want a stronger focus on poverty reduction, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and the gender issues of poverty. I have seen myself today the female face of poverty," Alexander said after visiting a packed clinic near Makeni in Sierra Leone.

He administered polio vaccine to a baby and medicine to its mother -- a gesture of help in an area where health workers said there are just two doctors for 321,000 people.

"The clinic is so tight (crowded) we have to use the ground for deliveries. It is not hygienic," said Nabinta Koroma, a maternal child health worker, pointing to the filthy tiled floor covered in urine from a crowd of children waiting for checkups.

Britain sent troops to shore up Sierra Leone's capital Freetown against a rebel threat in 2000, and then helped rebuild its security forces after a decade-long war fuelled by gems dug from the mud of its rich eastern diamond fields.

British aid is now turning more to development projects than security in a bid to help the country's poor, Alexander said.

Britain is pumping 50 million pounds ($98 million) into the country's health system over 10 years, and on Friday Alexander pledged a further 32 million pounds to improve its water supply.

"I have seen with my own eyes that wider support is necessary," he said after visiting Freetown's Nabella slum, where over 12,000 people living in huts of wood and corrugated iron depend on a single, intermittent stand-pipe for water.

With a rubbish-filled river running through it, and little sign of proper latrines or sanitation, health workers said one of the main problems in Nabella was water contamination.

"I only have to visit a corner if I want to find a toilet," one woman resident told the British minister as people washed their clothes in the river and children and pigs played in the dirt nearby.

UK Increases Aid to Ghana

from All Africa

Accra 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, the health problems caused by poor sanitation and the importance of getting more children into school. This extra money will enable the Ghanaian Government to target these issues and reduce poverty levels even further".

During his visit the Secretary of State also spoke with the UK development staff in DFID Ghana about their work, visited the Nima cluster of schools and a rights-based women group known as Women's Club working in Nima.

The UK Government currently provides around $140 million annually to Ghana to implements its Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS); this includes a ten year commitment of $220 million to the education sector. DFID is also working to strengthen citizens' calls for better services, good governance and the protection of basic rights.

It does this through the Civil Society Rights and Voice Initiative (RAVI) which is a DFID grant fund of $9m for civil society groups and Community Based Organisations (CBOs). To date 22 NGOs and over 60 CBOs, including the Nima Mothers' Club, have received grants.

UK commitment to the education sector is ensuring that more children are going to school. Today in Ghana 8 out of 10 children are attending basic schools with roughly equal numbers of girls as boys enrolling. Support to civil society groups and grass roots organisations such as Mothers' Club in Nima is ensuring that the voices of the weakest are being heard. This is having a positive effect on sanitation and maternal and child mortality in the area.

MYANMAR: UK announces doubling of aid

from IRIN

BANGKOK - 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 financial year but it is not yet clear whether this sum has been officially earmarked. Earlier the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) had pledged 18 million euros for Myanmar and Burmese refugees in Thailand in December 2007.

"The scale of humanitarian crisis afflicting the Burmese people is, quite simply, staggering," Douglas Alexander, the UK's secretary of state for international development, said during a recent visit to Bangkok.

Challenging environment

Myanmar is a highly challenging environment for international humanitarian work, according to most observers. They say the military regime is highly suspicious of foreign aid workers, and domestic civil society groups, and seeks to tightly control their activities.

However, Alexander said DFID's partners, including UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), were already successfully delivering aid to Myanmar's needy, without channelling assistance through the government.

"There are very clear and established mechanisms which we use in a range of environments in which we are not able to work with the government, and those are fully implemented in Myanmar," he said.

"Notwithstanding the difficulties of the operating environment, it is important that what efforts can be made are made to address the appalling circumstances [facing] too large a proportion of the Burmese population," he said.

According to the UN, around one-third of Myanmar's people survive on less than US$1 a day, half of all children fail to complete primary school, and HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria claim hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

In ethnic minority border areas, where the army is still battling armed ethnic minority insurgents, many civilians have been displaced by fighting and conflict, and are living in desperate poverty, the UN and aid groups along the border say.

Myanmar's economic conditions, political repression and conflict have also pushed an estimated 1.5 million people into neighbouring Thailand, where around 140,000 are living in refugee camps, while the rest toil as poorly paid labourers, vulnerable to official harassment and exploitation, UN agencies say.

How the money will be spent

Alexander, who travelled to the Thai-Myanmar border to visit refugee camps, clinics and other facilities assisting the Burmese in Thailand, said he could not yet say precisely how the increased British humanitarian funding would be spent.

"We have not yet reached a judgement as to the balance of funding between in-country support and cross-border support," he said. "There are urgent pressing humanitarian needs for people both who have crossed the border people... and those suffering [inside]."

"We'll take quite a careful look at where we can secure the maximum return for our investment," he said.

Burma Campaign UK, an activist group, has been calling on DFID to provide greater support for Thailand-based groups that seek to aid people living in the sensitive but highly porous Myanmar border areas, where the military regime restricts aid agencies in-country from working.

Alexander said one of the purposes of his trip was to assess "the ability of the organisations working on the border to scale up their capacity" to address humanitarian needs in the otherwise off-limits border zones.

£75m loo aid 'a lifesaver'

from The Times Mirror

By 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 which campaigners will try to spotlight a crisis hitting 2.6 billion people - more than a third of the world's population. Meanwhile 2008 is UN International Year of Sanitation.

Ethiopia has been chosen for aid by Britain because it is one of the worst places in the world for sanitation, with fewer than one in three having access to a proper toilet and most walking three miles to a well or tap.

New latrines should mean school-age girls who are now relied on to collect water can attend lessons instead.

A baby is 500 times more likely to die of diarrhoea in Ethiopia than in the UK.

The move comes as 220 MPs backed the End Water Poverty campaign led by groups such as Water Aid.

TV presenter Adam Hart-Davis, for the charity, said: "Sanitation has saved more lives than anything else in history. A toilet is a lifesaver"