Might representation of the UK's international aid be overly positive?

Abstract

The UK Government reneging on its long-standing commitment to spending 0·7% of gross national income on international aid is being lamented as a stain on the country's proud record on international aid. Originally based on a 1970 UN General Assembly resolution,1UN General AssemblyInternational development strategy for the 2nd United Nations Development Decade.https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/201726?ln=enDate: Oct 24, 1970Date accessed: December 16, 2020Google Scholar the UK first reached the 0·7% spending target in 2013, and enshrined it in law in 2015.2UK ParliamentInternational Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015.www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/12/pdfs/ukpga_20150012_en.pdfDate: March 26, 2015Date accessed: December 16, 2020Google Scholar In 2019, the UK's official development assistance spend was £15·2 million, representing a 4·4% increase on 2018, and probably the highest spend we will see for several years. Of this amount, more than two thirds was classified as bilateral aid, a term used to describe money given directly from one government to another. My country, Pakistan, received more country-specific official development assistance (£305 million) for the past 5 years than any other country.3UK ForeignCommonwealth & Development OfficeNational statistics—statistics on international development: final UK aid spend 2019.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-aid-spend-2019/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-aid-spend-2019Date: Oct 16, 2020Date accessed: November 27, 2020Google Scholar Before we lose too much sleep over concerns about reversing the aid-driven progress made by low-income and middle-income countries, I would argue for an examination of some truths about international aid. First, the term bilateral aid implies that funds have been going directly to recipient countries. In reality, most UK aid is spent via international organisations, UK charities, and for-profit private contractors.4Dodwell A Provost C Shutt C Re-imagining UK aid: what a progressive strategy could look like.https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/resources/re-imagining_uk_aid_webpages.pdfDate: July, 2017Date accessed: November 27, 2020Google Scholar The London-based firm Adam Smith International won £450 million worth of contracts from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) between 2011 and 2017,5Provost C The privatisation of UK aid: how Adam Smith International is profiting from the aid budget. Global Justice Now, London2016Google Scholar which was approximately double the amount of bilateral aid spent on programmes tackling HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases for some years during that period.5Provost C The privatisation of UK aid: how Adam Smith International is profiting from the aid budget. Global Justice Now, London2016Google Scholar A halt in funding from DfID in 2017 only occurred because Adam Smith International was found to have attempted to falsify evidence submitted to a parliamentary inquiry scrutinising the use of contractors.4Dodwell A Provost C Shutt C Re-imagining UK aid: what a progressive strategy could look like.https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/resources/re-imagining_uk_aid_webpages.pdfDate: July, 2017Date accessed: November 27, 2020Google Scholar Second, evidence abounds that domestic health and development priorities, and also expertise, are side-lined6Khan MS Meghani A Liverani M Roychowdhury I Parkhurst J How do external donors influence national health policy processes? Experiences of domestic policy actors in Cambodia and Pakistan.Health Policy Plan. 2018; 33: 215-223Crossref PubMed Scopus (40) Google Scholar if there are large external funding inflows. Redefining the political priorities of the recipient countries has been described as the core goal of international development, and is evidenced by the fact that many low-income and middle-income countries·each with different political, cultural, and health-system contexts·have introduced similar health policies, aligned with donor priorities, around the same time.7Katerini T Storeng KT Palmer J Daire J Kloster MO Behind the scenes: international NGOs' influence on reproductive health policy in Malawi and South Sudan.Glob Public Health. 2019; 14: 555-569Crossref PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar A salient example of such influence is the push for a greater role for the private sector, including delivery of health care and education by private organisations. The focus on supporting privatisation was so strong that the UK's own aid watchdog, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, warned in 2014 that “DfID needs to recognise that the private sector is not a developmental panacea”.8Provost C Aid watchdog lambasts UK focus on ‘miracle’ private sector.https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/may/15/uk-watchdog-aid-private-sector-developmentDate: May 15, 2014Date accessed: November 27, 2020Google Scholar Therefore, the energy being directed towards lamenting a decrease in the amount of aid might instead be channelled towards ensuring that aid is based on principles of social justice, the need to redistribute economic and political power, and self-determination. MK receives grants from the Health Systems Research Initiative, which is jointly funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, & Development Office, the Medical Research Council, and Wellcome, unrelated to this Correspondence.