Department for International Development
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid.
Department overview
1997
- Ministry of Overseas Development
- Overseas Development Administration
2 September 2020[1]
United Kingdom
22 Whitehall, London, England
East Kilbride, Scotland
£13.4bn
The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". DFID was headed by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development. The position was last held by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who assumed office on 13 February 2020 and served until the department was dissolved on 2 September 2020. In a 2010 report by the Development Assistance Committee, the department was described as "an international development leader in times of global crisis".[2] The UK aid logo is often used to publicly acknowledge DFID's development programmes are funded by UK taxpayers.
The DFID's main programme areas of work were Education, Health, Social Services, Water Supply and Sanitation, Government and Civil Society, Economic Sector (including Infrastructure, Production Sectors and Developing Planning), Environment Protection, Research, and Humanitarian Assistance.
In June 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the DFID was to be merged with the Foreign Office to create the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[3]
The department was scrutinized by the International Development Committee.
The main piece of legislation governing the department's work was the International Development Act 2002,[4] which came into force on 17 June 2002, replacing the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980. The Act made poverty reduction the focus of the department's work, and effectively outlawed tied aid.[5]
As well as responding to disasters and emergencies, the department worked to support the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goalswith a 2015 deadline, namely to:
The DFID was the largest bilateral donor of development-focused research. New science, technologies and ideas were crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, but global research investments were insufficient to match needs and do not focus on the priorities of the poor. Many technological and policy innovations required an international scale of research effort. For example, the DFID was a major donor to the International LUBILOSA programme, which developed a biological pesticide for locust control in support of small-holder farmers in the Sahel.
DFID Research commissioned research to help fill this gap, aiming to ensure tangible outcomes on the livelihoods of the poor worldwide. They also sought to influence the international and UK research agendas, putting poverty reduction and the needs of the poor at the forefront of global research efforts.
DFID Research managed long-term research initiatives that cut across individual countries or regions, and only funded activities if there was clear opportunities and mechanisms for the research to have a significant impact on poverty.
Research was funded through a range of mechanisms, including Research Programme Consortia, jointly with other funders of development research, with UK Research Councils and with multilateral agencies (such as the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Health Organisation).[42] Information on both DFID current research programmes and completed research can be found on the (R4D) portal Research4Development.[43] From November 2012 all new DFID-funded research was subjected to its DFID Research Open and Enhanced Access Policy.[44][45] International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell declared that this will ensure "that these findings get into the hands of those inh the developing world who stand to gain most from putting them into practical use".[46]
The DFID launched its first Research Strategy in April 2008.[47] This emphasised the DFID's commitment to funding high quality research that aims to find solutions and ways of reducing global poverty. The new strategy identified six priorities:
The strategy also highlighted three important cross-cutting areas, where the DFID would invest more funding: