Aid agencies and DFID defend UK aid following media attack

Aid agencies and DFID defend UK aid following media attack

In March 2015 Parliament passed a Bill to make the Government’s pledge to spend 0.7% of national income on international aid binding by law. It was the culmination of a successful campaign spearheaded by a broad coalition of aid agencies, including Islamic Relief, with cross-party support.

Barely a year later a Sunday newspaper has made a stinging attack on British aid and launched a petition calling for the new law to be revoked – provoking a robust response from the Department for International Development and aid agencies.

“We and our supporters campaigned for this new law for good reasons,” says Imran Madden, Islamic Relief’s UK Director. “We will stand up and defend it if the petition that has been launched provokes a new parliamentary debate.

“We believe it’s a good law because we know the hugely positive role that British aid plays in supporting the vulnerable around the world and lifting people out of poverty. UK Government aid channelled through Islamic Relief in the past three years has helped protect people against the ravages of drought and floods in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya and West Africa and enabled Syrian refugee children in Jordan to get an education.

“We also believe it is right that as one of the world’s richest nations, our country should play a leading role in the global fight against poverty – and an important part of that is keeping government promises on aid spending. Protection under the law for the aid budget helps ensure that those promises really are kept, rather than being eroded by media or political pressure.”

In a statement on its website, the Department for International Development highlights five claims in media reports that it says are incorrect, and counters them with the true picture. “A number of recent newspaper articles have reported claims that misrepresent or inaccurately portray projects supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), or focus on projects that are no longer funded,” the statement says.

“UK aid is spent where it is most needed and is subject to rigorous internal and external checks and scrutiny at all stages. The government has realigned the UK’s aid strategy, cutting wasteful programmes and making sure spending is firmly in the UK’s national interest.”

Ben Jackson, Chief Executive of the Bond network of over 450 international NGOs – whose members include Islamic Relief – says: “The Mail on Sunday’s hotch-potch of unfounded allegations around aid spending misses out the fact that the UK’s development programmes account for only 7p in every £10 of the UK’s national income and that they work. The number of children in the world’s poorest places who die before the age of five has shrunk by almost half. And this spending has the backing of the British public who are often assumed to be hostile to development aid.

“We are a more generous nation than some people think, with a recent nationwide Euro Barometer survey showing that 86% of the UK public agree that helping people in developing countries is important, up from 82% last year.”