Development: Making the right choices

One of the UK’s most important international commitments is to increase spending on overseas development aid. This year we will spend 0.7 percent of our gross national income on official development assistance. This sum is an internationally agreed target and Britain is among the first to achieve it. It is additional to the large amounts of money raised for development by British non-governmental organisations and charities.

Poverty reduction is at the heart of our aid programs, so it is no surprise that a sizeable proportion of our assistance is channelled to Africa. But our development assistance, large parts of it distributed through NGOs and multilateral institutions such as the UN, EU or the Asian Development Bank here in Manila, can be found all across the world. UK assistance in the Philippines has included disaster relief, social development, human rights, climate change and economic reform.  

UK overseas development assistance comes in many forms. Some of it is helping immunize women and children from preventable diseases. Other parts are helping provide children with education. A sizeable amount goes on responding to humanitarian and natural disasters, including the $500,000 assistance we have pledged to help the relief effort following Typhoon Pablo. We are helping lead the way globally in the battle against hunger, supporting conflict resolution and addressing the challenge of climate change. This is directly related to poverty alleviation, because the poorest in society have the least capacity to withstand the natural disasters and food security problems we must expect from global warming.

Financial aid is only one part of the answer though. No country has ever pulled itself out of poverty through aid alone. We need progressive public policy and the “golden thread” that I have previously written about, including access to markets, free trade, property rights and private-sector investment. This can help developing countries to trade and grow themselves out of under-developed status. 2012 was a good year in the Philippines in this regard, with sound economic management delivering robust growth and the increase in “Sin Taxes” to boost investment in health. And, while there are strong views on both sides, I believe the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill can have a profound and positive effect on development in the Philippines. One of the biggest policy challenges for the Philippines now is to ensure that the benefits of higher growth flow through to the poorest in society.

We also need to recognise that we live in a changing world. Some countries have made great strides in economic and social development and have ideas to share. We have therefore developed partnerships with countries such as China, Brazil and India to allow others to learn from and build upon their remarkable successes.

The UK is increasing its aid spending against the background of difficult conditions in the global economy. So it is no surprise that we seek always to get the best value for money.  But we believe that meeting the internationally agreed target for aid spending will help create a safer and more prosperous world for all of us. The British Government is proud to be honoring its financial commitments to the world’s poorest people as well as advocating the challenging set of development policies that can really make a difference.

(Stephen Lillie is the British Ambassador to the Philippines.)