Coalition Government reiterates UK commitment to fight global poverty

Since forming a new Coalition Government in May 2010, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are shifting the political rhetoric of the election campaign to a governing agenda and new policies. Elvira Kanichay, Bond Policy Coordinator, looks at DFID's new ministerial team and possible changes to international development policies.

Since the election, the Coalition Government has ringfenced the aid budget and reiterated their strong commitment to international development issues.

Yet, what are emerging political differences to the previous Government on development and what are the expected changes in the fight against global poverty in a new political landscape?

Commitment to DFID and the international development budget

The new Government has recommitted to the existence of DFID as an independent department and Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, is a member of all cabinet meetings and the newly established National Security Council.

The Queen's Speech on 25 May included a commitment of the new Government to spend 0.7% of GNI from 2013 although no reference was made to enshrine this into law as was committed to in the Coalition Agreement. During International Development Questions in July, Andrew Mitchell confirmed his commitment to the legislation yet was not clear about the process and contents of such a law.

In the budget announcement on 22 June, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, confirmed the protection of DFID's budget, a decision that has been warmly welcomed by the UK NGO community. Whilst the financial and institutional context of UK international development policy has not changed, DFID's policies have already been shifted to reflect the new Government's focus on cost efficiency, value for money and greater transparency.

A new DFID leadership

Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, is joined by fellow Conservative MPs Alan Duncan as Minister of State and Stephen O'Brien as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. All three bring with them specific expertise on international development issues:

• Andrew Mitchell served as the Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2005 and led the project Umubano in Rwanda and Sierra Leone since 2007, a Conservative Party Social Action Project
• Alan Duncan also served as Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for International Development (from 2004-2005) and has taken a keen interest in international affairs during his parliamentary career
• Stephen O'Brien has in recent years been very active campaigning against poverty, for instance as chair of the All Parties Parliamentary Group on Malaria and on Tanzania as well as vice-chair of the All Parties Parliamentary Group on Debt, Aid and Trade

Except for the political level, DFID's organisational structure has not changed since the election. However, new priorities are currently being shaped to replace some of DFID's previous policies.

A new strategic framework for DFID's work can be expected as DFID White Papers, as agreed under the previous Government, no longer fully reflect DFID priorities.

New priorities for DFID

In early keynote speeches and articles, Andrew Mitchell has highlighted his key priorities for the months ahead and how he intends to change DFID's way of working and policies.

In a major speech in June, he outlined his priorities for tackling global poverty based on the Coalition Government agreement and previous Conservative positions:

• Fighting global poverty is a moral imperative and in the UK's national interest
• Promoting policy coherence across Whitehall
• UK aid needs to be well spent and effectively implemented with a focus on results, outputs and outcomes instead of inputs
• Key themes of DFID's new political direction are transparency, accountability, responsibility, fairness and empowerment
• Implementing a UK Aid Transparency Guarantee which includes publishing all information about DFID programmes and projects and independent impact evaluations

• Establishing an Independent Aid Watchdog to monitor the effectiveness of UK aid

Many of these initiatives and policy priorities follow a trend towards greater transparency and effective aid that UK NGOs have been calling for over a number of years. NGOs are keen to engage with the new leadership on these issues, sharing expertise on how to best implement the new priorities on the ground and define the details of new political initiatives.

The effectiveness of international aid has been an ongoing issue resulting in the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action. A new High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness is coming up in South Korea in 2011. The Government's renewed focus on this area is to be welcomed yet there are some concerns about too narrowly focusing on measurable short term outputs to prove the value for money of aid spending rather then long term development impact.

Bond engagement

Bond has been leading sector-wide discussions on analysis and engagement with the new Government. A Bond Advocacy Leaders Forum discussed how the international development sector should adapt to new realities and what changes we need to make in our collective campaigning and our policy positions to bring about change.

Bond is also supporting members and Bond groups to establish a dialogue with relevant departments to ensure that our collective priorities, as outlined in the Vote Global Manifesto, are reflected in the Government's agenda for development.

Read how the Coalition agreement compares to the Vote Global Manifesto. We will keep members regularly informed of Government updates and changes in DFID.

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How to engage with the new Parliament

Through individual MPs

There are many ways of engaging with the new Parliament. The first route in is through building a relationship with individual MPs who take an interest in your issues. NGOs can then channel Parliamentary questions though individual MPs and encourage them to table questions on their issues in Parliament.

Through All Parties Parliamentary Groups

Another route of influencing is working with All Parties Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) related to international development issues.

The advantage of APPGs is that they already represent interested groups of MPs from all parties and often have events and newsletters that NGOs can contribute to or jointly organise. Some APPGs are coordinated and funded by NGOs.

Through the International Development Committee

The International Development Select Committee scrutinises DFID's work and holds inquiries into different aspects of it such as aid effectiveness and DFID's programmes in different countries.

NGOs are invited to give written and oral evidence to this committee reflecting DFID's performance and policies.

Through Bond

To learn more about how to influence the new Government and Parliament, attend the Bond UK corridors of power course.

To engage in Bond advocacy with decision makers: advocacy@bond.org.uk