LONDON ¨C Women, young and disabled people risk being left out as Britain shifts aid spending to boost its own trade, experts said on Tuesday, with worries over Brexit already hitting the economy.
A parliamentary watchdog and aid agencies criticized plans by Britain¡¯s foreign aid agency, the Department for International Development (DFID), to focus on ¡°trade as an engine for poverty reduction,¡± announced in January. ¡°A strategy heavily weighted towards trade alone can actively disadvantage the most marginalized groups,¡± said Stephen Twigg, chairman of the International Development Committee (IDC), which scrutinizes DFID¡¯s spending and strategies.
¡°Girls and women, disabled and young people will lose out unless DFID undertakes to protect them,¡± he said in a statement, reinforcing the warning issued in a report by the committee that the poorest and most vulnerable could be disadvantaged under the new ¡®aid for trade¡¯ approach.
DFID rejected the criticism and said that its development strategy does benefit those most in need of aid.
¡°DFID is delivering inclusive growth that spreads benefits across society, raising incomes, expanding life chances and leading to lower poverty rates for the most vulnerable,¡± a spokesman said in a statement.
¡°This is how we can transform the poorest parts of the world, help countries stand on their own two feet and, ultimately, end reliance on aid.¡±
Aid critics were bolstered this year by revelations that Oxfam staff paid for sex with prostitutes in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Ahead of Britain¡¯s March 2019 exit from the European Union, aid minister Penny Mordaunt has pledged that a ¡°bold new Brexit-ready¡± development plan will boost U.K. trade and investment with developing countries.
Confidence about Britain¡¯s economic prospects is waning amid uncertainty over its departure from the European Union, as a transitional trade agreement has yet to be finalized.
The Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD) said aid should be allocated according to its impact on the poor.
¡°Benefits to U.K. business or U.K. trade must never trump this poverty focus,¡± Graham Gordon, the charity¡¯s head of public policy, said in an emailed statement.
While economic development could reduce poverty, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a London-based think tank, said Britain should not use a ¡°one-size-fits-all¡± formula.
¡°It is vital that the most marginalized and vulnerable are not left behind,¡± said Stephen Gelb, an ODI researcher.
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