Africa to be hit hard as UK foreign aid cuts revealed

The government has revealed details of its plans to reduce foreign aid, with the support of children’s education and health in Africa facing the largest discounts.

In February, the government said it would provide 40 % external aid spending – from 0.5 % of the total national income to 0.3 % – to increase defense spending to 2.5 % after pressure from the United States.

The report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the evaluation of influence indicates that the largest cuts this year will come in Africa, with less spending on women’s health and water sanitation with increased risk, as she says, from disease and death.

Bond, a network of relief institutions in the United Kingdom, said women and children in the most marginalized societies will pay the highest price.

But the government said that spending on multilateral relief bodies – money granted to international organizations such as the World Bank – will be protected, including the GAVI vaccine alliance, and said that the UK will also continue to play a major humanitarian role in hot points such as Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.

“Every pound must work more seriously for taxpayers in the United Kingdom and the people we help them all over the world, and these numbers show how we started doing this through focus and clear priorities,” said Baroneh Chapman, Minister of Development.

The government said that the discounts follow a “review of aid strategy” by the minister, which focused on “defining priorities and efficiency and protecting planned humanitarian support and live contracts while ensuring the official exit from programming when necessary.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that bilateral support – aid that goes directly to the recipient country – for some countries will decrease, and the multilateral organizations face that the performance is weak and will face future financing discounts. It has not yet announced the countries that will be affected.

The move criticized the president of the ICRC, Sarah Bag, who said that the discounts “will come at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.”

Bond said it was clear that the government was “financing” for education, sex and countries that suffer from humanitarian crises such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, and it is surprising that the occupied Palestinian territories and Sudan, which the government said will be protected.

“It is worrying that the director of the bond policy will decline,” bilateral funding for Africa, sex, education and health will decrease, “said Rabinovich’s bond policy manager, Jada Rabinovich.

“The most marginalized societies in the world, especially those who suffer from conflict, women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political options.

“While the United States softened all gender programming, the United Kingdom should rise, not retreat.”

UNICEF, the United Nations Agency for Children, said the cuts “will have a devastating and unequal impact on children and women” and described this step as “short -sighted.”

“We urge the government to adopt a new strategic approach that puts weak children at the heart of its aid programs and policies …

“At least 25 % of aid should be directed to the child -focused initiatives, ensuring priority to the health of children, nutrition, education and protection.”

External aid has been severely scrutinized in recent years, with the Minister of Cabinet Acceptance of the public no longer supports spending on it.

One of the organizations that escaped from the discounts was the World Bank. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Fund for the lowest income in the world, will receive 1.98 billion pounds from the United Kingdom over the next three years, which helps the organization to benefit 1.9 billion people.

Work governments under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are committed to increasing the external aid budget to 0.7 % of national income.

The goal was reached in 2013 during the conservative Democratic Coalition government of David Cameron, before it was dedicated to law in 2015.

However, aid spending was reduced to 0.5 % of national income in 2021 under conservatives, blame for Covid’s economic pressures.