The UK aid agenda
On this pageA key priority for Bond is to ensure that the UK government fulfills its promises on the quantity and quality of aid and achieves the UN aid target of 0.7% Gross National Income by 2013.
Bond and our member organisations have been campaigning for this target to be reached for many years and it was a key ask of the Make Poverty History Campaign in 2005.
The current coalition government has repeatedly emphasised their political commitment to international development and according to current spending figures is on track to meet this target by 2013.
Legislation on 0.7 being postponed
Bond has repeatedly stressed that a key ask of UK international development NGOs to the UK government is to enshrine in law the target of providing 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) in law. This is to ensure that the commitment to this spending level, which is shared across all major parties in the UK, becomes legally binding from 2013 and the UK fulfills its responsibilities to the world's poor.
In their 2010 Election Manifesto, the Conservative Party stated that they would legislate in the first session of the new parliament. This was reiterated in the Queen’s speech in May 2010 and in DFID’s current Business Plan.
Yet, the legislation has been postponed and though the commitment to reach the 0.7% target by 2013 was reaffirmed in the Queen’s speech in May 2012, there was no reference to enshrining this target in law. Read Bond Chief Executive Ben Jackson's response to this.
Over the coming months, Bond will continue to work closely with member organisations in building political and public support for UK aid and enshrining the 0.7% target in law.
Working closely with the UK Aid Network and through the Bond Policy and Lobbying Group, Bond is planning joint advocacy efforts, developing joint messaging on aid and 0.7% and coordinating dialogue with Parliament and other key figures in this discussion. If you want to get engaged in this work please contact advocacy@bond.org.uk.
The state of UK aid
UK ODA fell from 0.57% in 2010 to 0.56% in 2011. Despite GNI-related reductions in the aid budgets for 2012/13-2014/15 and delays to legislation on 0.7%, the budget remains in place to reach 0.7% by 2013.
UK aid – how much and who manages it?
In 2011, 88.9% of the UK’s ODA was managed by DFID. The other main ministries that deliver the UK’s ODA include the Foreign and Defense Ministries (together 3.5% in 2011), the Department for Energy and Climate Change (1.7%) and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (the Government’s development finance body). Please see the DFID International Development Statistics for more details
The way DFID aid is spent is based on the OECD’s rules on ODA, which prevent military and other forms of aid not targeted on development from counting towards official aid figures.
DFID aid programme – how and where is the money spent?
There is an increasing trend to spend UK aid through multilateral organisations. In 2010/2011, bilateral aid accounted for 55% of the total DFID programme, while multilateral aid was 42% of the total DFID programme.
In addition, an increasing share of DFID’s bilateral programme is delivered through multilateral organisations, with 34% of bilateral aid delivered in this way in 2010/11. This represents a 123% rise since 2008/09. Overall, in 2010/11, 55.7% of DFID’s programmes were delivered through multilaterals.
Following the Bilateral Aid Review in 2011, DFID has reduced the number of countries with significant bilateral programmes from 43 to 27 countries with a strong focus on fragile states (eg. Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan), whose share of total UK ODA will increase from 22% in 2010/11 to 30% in 2014/15.
Bond monitoring UK aid quantity and quality
Bond, together with the UK Aid Network, monitors UK aid in regard to its quantity and quality.
There is regular dialogue with the relevant departments in DFID as well with parliamentarians on improving the effectiveness and impact of UK aid. If you want to get engaged in these discussions please contact advocacy@bond.org.uk.
