At 11 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Jan. 31, the United Kingdom quietly marked the second anniversary of its departure from the European Union and 13 months since the end of a transition period intended to ease the impact.
That split created a rift between two of the largest development funders in the world, changing the way NGOs in the U.K. operate, seek funding, and attempt to influence policy. But the changes wrought by Brexit are just starting to become clear for the battered U.K. aid sector.
For development organizations, there’s a lot of money at stake. In 2020, the EU institutions committed around $19.4 billion in official development assistance, according to grant-equivalent figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — equal to around a quarter of the aid committed by EU member states. The U.K. spent around $18.6 billion.