UK's trade development programme failed to prioritise poor – aid watchdog
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Version 0 of 1. The UK aid watchdog has accused the British government of having failed to put the needs of poor people at the heart of a flagship trade development programme and said "serious questions" remain about why the programme was allowed to continue for so long. In a damning report published on Friday, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the Department for International Development's multimillion-pound TradeMark Southern Africa (TMSA) programme operated on assumptions rather than evidence and failed to prioritise the needs of poor and vulnerable communities. "We've never seen a programme as bad as this," said Icai commissioner Diana Good. "But DfID is not as engaged with their programmes as they should be. If DfID does not get into the field more, how are they going to know what is going on?" On Wednesday, development secretary Justine Greening announced that DfID was closing down the programme citing "serious concerns" about financial oversight and a £80,000 transfer to the Zimbabwe government, in contravention of British government policy. Greening did not, however, directly address the watchdog's outstanding recommendation that the department must do more to ensure that its aid projects to boost trade in developing countries are helping – and not hurting – poor people. "This programme did not take into account the impact on the poor," said Diana Good. "This relates to any and all future programming … and is a bigger issue for them." Greening and DfID permanent secretary Mark Lowcock have been called to appear before MPs on the international development select committee next week to respond to Icai's report and "give an account of DfID's actions". The watchdog said DfID failed to apply its own research and guidance on how trade can impact on the poor. While trade growth can in the long term be transformational, it must be acknowledged that it "produces winners and losers" in the short and medium term, it said. "Factory workers in Malawi may be laid off as a result of down-sizing in uncompetitive sectors; consumers in Mozambique may become more vulnerable to food price fluctuations; women living in close proximity to southern Africa's major transport corridors may find themselves at greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and small traders may find that it is harder to sell their products in the face of cheaper bulk imports," said the report. In Greening's statement on Wednesday she attributed weaknesses in the programme to its design and implementation, between 2007 and 2010. Icai commissioners said serious questions remain, however, about how it was possible that the five-year programme, due to end in 2014, was allowed to continue for so long. "For me the question is why was such a poorly conceived programme allowed to go on and in fact be presented as a flagship programme," said Good, who also questioned the time taken by DfID to act on the watchdog's concerns. Icai first alerted DfID to its concerns in May. Good said this was not the first time Icai has found something that DfID is unaware of and questioned whether the department's increased dependency on contractors was hampering its oversight of projects on the ground. Icai commissioner Graham Ward added that the watchdog would be watching closely to see how DfID implements promises made by Greening on Wednesday regarding increased control over, and more frequent reviews of, its projects. The watchdog's report found a range of "major deficiencies" in the TMSA programme including misreported results, wasteful spending, "excessive expenses" and insufficient consultation with civil society groups. "The programme was significantly under-performing in our view, jeopardising the prospects for achieving meaningful impact for the poor of the region," it said. Instead of measuring results on the ground, the programme calculated the supposed impacts of its work based on background sources, said the watchdog. In one case, Icai found TMSA had said 83% of its targets had been met whereas this figure was only 21% in its detailed project reports. The coalition government has made trade a key plank of its international development and aid strategy. Trade, along with tax and transparency, was a main theme of David Cameron's pitch to the G8 this year. In a July 2013 speech, Greening argued that global trade can help end the need for foreign aid. DfID's global trade development assistance is substantial and growing, accounting for approximately 12% of the department's total spending. By 2011, DfID's global spending on trade development was £820m a year, up from an average of £216m in the 2002-05 period. In parallel to shutting down the TMSA programme in southern Africa, Greening said DfID is "exploring alternative, more effective mechanisms to support the important steps being taken in the region to drive trade and regional integration". Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |