Department for International Development

The Department for International Development (DFID) is a United Kingdom government department, the function of which is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty".

Ministers

The Department is headed by Cabinet Minister and Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn. The only other minister is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Gareth Thomas.

Permanent Secretary

The current Permanent Secretary (since 2002) at DFID is Suma Chakrabarti.

History

Its predecessor, the Overseas Development Administration (ODA), was under the supervision of the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which led, on at least one occasion, to allegations of a connection between the granting of aid and the achievement of either foreign policy goals or British companies winning export orders. A scandal erupted concerning the UK funding of a hydroelectric dam on the Pergau River in Malaysia, near the Thai border. Building work began in 1991 with money from the UK foreign aid budget. Concurrently, the Malaysian government bought around £1 billion worth of arms from the UK. The suggested linkage of arms deals to aid became the subject of a UK government inquiry from March 1994. In November 1994, after an application for Judicial Review brought by the World Development Movement, the High Court held that the then Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd had acted ultra vires (outside of his power and therefore illegally) by allocating £234 million towards the funding of the dam, on the grounds that it was not of economic or humanitarian benefit to the Malaysian people. [http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0045540.html In 2002 the administration of the UK's aid budget was removed from the Foreign Secretary's remit with the establishment of DfID.

Mission

The main piece of legislation governing DFID's work is the International Development Act, which came into force on 17 June 2002, replacing the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act (1980). The Act makes poverty reduction the focus of DFID's work, and effectively outlaws tied aid. ^*

As well as responding to disasters and emergencies, DFID works to support the United Nations’ eight ‘Millennium Development Goals’, namely to:

halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger
ensure that all children receive primary education
promote sexual equality and give women a stronger voice
reduce child death rates
improve the health of mothers
combat HIV & AIDS, malaria and other diseases
make sure the environment is protected
build a global partnership for those working in development.

- all with a 2015 deadline.

DFID Programmes

Imfundo Partnership for IT in Education

External links

Departments of the United Kingdom Government | Foreign relations of the United Kingdom | International development agencies