Five Years of the Coalition for Global Prosperity - What next for the UK?
Five years ago, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, The Rt Hon David Cameron MP, launched the Coalition for Global Prosperity with a simple message - the UK is a force for good in the world. Since that launch in 2018, the world has changed dramatically but our mission has remained the same - to promote the incredible work done by UK International Development to policy makers and Parliamentarians and ensure the UK remains a stable and positive force around the globe.
In those last five years, we have had to confront changes in government at home, the UK finding a new role for itself outside of the European Union, a global pandemic and war returning to the European continent. At this time of renewed global uncertainty, there has also been an increased focus on what the UK’s role should be on the world stage. Whether it be through building coalitions of like minded states, leading support for Ukraine and offering humanitarian aid, the UK is finding a renewed focus in its new position outside of the EU but whilst maintaining a close relationship with Europe and partners around the world. This return of focus and attention to international affairs could not come at a more important time.
It is this focus that the Coalition works to build upon throughout by working with Parliamentarians to demonstrate this incredible leadership in action around the world. A key element of our work is to work with NGOs who deliver UK backed projects and host Members of Parliament see development for themselves.
The Coalition for Global Prosperity works with delivering NGO’s and host Governments to demonstrate the incredible work of these life-saving partnerships from reproductive health, to water sanitation and agriculture. By showing a mix of longer term development projects and shorter term humanitarian projects, we are able to provide a better view of what international development really is to those who have never encountered it before.
By seeing this work, policy makers are able to speak with those delivering projects, the local communities as well as Government figures from the host countries. This gives more colour and detail to the UK’s partnerships than any briefing note or presentation would ever be able to make. So far we have carried out visits to Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Jordan and Lebanon with more planned in the coming months.
But this work is only one part of demonstrating what the UK can do. The other aspect of our work focuses on thought leadership. In our latest publication “Sinews of Prosperity”, we brought together Members of Parliament and thought leaders from the United States to write about the importance of the Transatlantic relationship and its renewed importance in the current geopolitical climate.
To support this work looking around the Transatlantic relationship and perceptions of the UK more widely, the Coalition for Global Prosperity have conducted polling to look into public attitudes towards foreign policy. First, using a sample of 1300 adults across the United States we polled adults from a representative mix of gender, age, race and political backgrounds. We first asked about the optimism they felt about the future of their country. The next questions looked at how dependable they saw other G7 allies on the world stage. The UK was ranked against Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy on areas of how reliable they felt each country was and which country they see as most committed to standing up for democratic values.
The second phase of the polling focused on three African nations - Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa - where we polled a representative sample of gender and age group. Again, we began with asking about optimism about the future of their country. In this poll, we then asked respondents how much attention they felt the UK, US and China pay to the priorities and interests of their country and the wider region. Following this, we then asked how much importance they felt the UK, US and China placed on the relationship with their country. Respondents were then asked whether they believed the United Kingdom or China shared the values of their country more before asking which country they saw as being more committed to standing up for democratic values out of the G7 and China.
There were three clear conclusions - In the soft power contest in areas of significant geopolitical competition, the UK is winning. Despite this soft power strength, the UK is neglecting its relationships in key African countries to the benefit of China. The UK remains the most trusted partner in foreign policy according to the US public.
This work is crucial to ensure that advocacy organisations can effectively speak with policy makers in a way that will resonate with them but also resonate with their electorate. It is crucial that Members of Parliament and their constituents are able to speak about Foreign Policy, specifically international development, during election campaigns or throughout the Parliamentary cycle.
As well as this work, in a first for CGP, we hosted a full day conference looking at the UK’s role on the world stage in February, looking to the future as well as what we could learn from the past. The Global Britain Summit brought together Members of Parliament, Government, think tanks, diplomats and the armed forces to see how the UK and its allies could work together to tackle climate change, the war in Ukraine and strengthen the international institutions.
There is no knowing what the next five years will hold. The battle of ideas will continue to dominate international forums and the world must adjust to emerging powers and growing economies in the global south. One thing we do know is that the United Kingdom can, and should, remain a leading force for good in the world by advocating the values that bind us such as the rule of law, defending human rights and protecting the democratic process. As the UK and many other democracies approach an election year, it will be more important than ever that we do not allow key international issues to drop down the agenda. We must ensure that support for Ukraine, international development projects and climate resilience all continue to receive attention and most importantly, action.
This article was first published in The Diplomat.
