MPs raise DFID aid question-marks
Thursday, 10 January 2008 12:01 AM
More needs to be done to identify how effectively UK government aid is contributing to the fight against poverty, MPs believe.
A report from the Commons' public accounts committee says the government does not know enough about the way its multi-billion yearly expenditure is being spent.
It says the Department for International Development (DfID) does not know how much of its budget goes to the rural poor, despite three-quarters of the world's 1.1 billion living extreme poverty living in rural areas.
The report also criticises DfID for not having a "clear picture" of service delivery costs in rural areas or knowing about the effect of its aid on agricultural development or rates of urbanisation.
"[DfID] must rapidly improve its understanding of the complex relationship between aid and developments in rural poverty and use that as the basis for action on a wide range of fronts," committee chairman Edward Leigh said.
He called for the department to concentrate on ensuring the sustainability of benefits to the rural poor after projects are completed and suggested its staff should be "spending less time at their desks and more actually out in the remote areas where the rural poor live".
The UK government has set its own targets to meet its contribution to the United Nations' millennium development goal of halving global poverty by 2015.
But the report concludes: "Despite the predominantly rural focus of its country programmes, DfID has reduced its capacity to understand the specific problems and needs of the rural poor."
A DfID spokesperson said rural poverty "cannot be tackled in isolation".
"As the committee acknowledges in its report, DfID is working hard to address the effects of climate change, and is supporting developing countries in the implementation of policies which encourage investment and growth.
"DfID is also using its increasing influence to press for poor people to benefit more from international trade, including trade in agricultural products, for example through the current round of World Trade Organisation talks."
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