Response to the International Development Strategy

Author: Ryan Henson, Chief Executive

At last, we have an International Development Strategy for the year 2022, not 2002, one that responds to the world as it is, not the world of years gone by. 

Twenty years ago, the UK enjoyed year after year of economic growth, Russia was a member of the G8, and everyone believed China was on a path of integration and reform. Fast forward to today and although the UK has the fastest growing economy in the G7, a cost-of-living crisis threatens household incomes, Covid’s legacy will be with us for years to come, interest rates are rising, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and China has become increasingly belligerent and ambitious.

To put it another way, Francis Fukuyama’s End of History has been replaced by a far more dangerous and uncertain world, and it is right that the UK’s approach to international development has been updated accordingly.   

The new International Development Strategy asserts that the FCDO will substantially rebalance its ODA investments from multilateral towards bilateral channels. By 2025 the FCDO intends to spend three-quarters of its aid budget allocated at the 2021 Spending Review, bilaterally. This is to be expected following the UK’s departure from the EU, and should provide greater oversight and scrutiny of taxpayer’s money. 

Another big shift in the Strategy is an increasing focus on using British Investment Partnerships to deliver ‘honest, reliable investment’ for low and middle-income countries providing them with an alternative form of investment, thus reducing their dependence on ‘malign actors’. This leveraging of British expertise can both serve those most in need, and help make the world freer, fairer, and less vulnerable to authoritarian states. 

The Strategy is also right to state that ‘trade helps countries to grow their economies, raise incomes, create jobs and lift themselves out of poverty.’ The Foreign Secretary should be applauded for having the courage to pursue a proven approach to poverty alleviation, when she will be heavily criticised by those ideologically opposed to free markets and free trade. 

There are now four clear priorities for international development: Honest and reliable investment; freedom for women and girls; life-saving humanitarian assistance; and a focus on climate change, nature, and global health programmes. This disciplined approach should mean the UK can provide effective, integrated support, without over-promising and under-delivering. 

Finally, it was always wrong for international development to be treated as an optional add-on to the UK’s foreign policy offering, or worse – something entirely separate. This new Strategy makes clear that international development will now be ‘a central part of a coherent UK foreign policy’ and that ‘defence, diplomacy, and development activities’ should be mutually supportive. Amen.

Honest, realistic, and unapologetically pro-freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, this is a forward-looking International Development Strategy fit for the challenges we face.