The UK government has announced the details of its planned 40% reduction in foreign aid, with major cuts set to affect children’s education and women’s health programs across Africa.
These reductions are among the most significant in the new aid budget, which also includes slashed funding for initiatives tackling corruption, supporting media freedom, promoting trade, and ensuring economic security. Several climate-related programs have also been eliminated entirely.
According to the government’s own assessment, the cuts to education funding this year are expected to impact countries such as Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
The broader effect of the cuts will fall most heavily on Africa and the Middle East.
The decision to reduce aid is part of a larger effort to increase the UK’s defence spending to 2.5% of its gross domestic product, a move made under pressure from the United States.
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Foreign Secretary David Cameron had previously stated that the aid budget would be reduced from 0.5% to 0.3% of national income.
While multilateral aid to global bodies like the World Bank and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will be protected for now, direct bilateral aid to individual countries, especially in Africa, will face sharp reductions.
The Foreign Office said that some underperforming multilateral organisations may still face future funding cuts and acknowledged that certain unnamed countries would see their aid drop.
Despite the overall reductions, funding for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s arm for low-income countries, will remain untouched.
The UK has committed £1.98 billion to the IDA over a three-year period.
The UK’s retreat comes at a time when U.S. support for global gender-focused programming has also been significantly reduced.
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Image Credit: BBC News Pidgin
