Watch: What next for UK aid?

After the tumultuous changes of 2020, questions abound in the United Kingdom’s development community over the future of the country’s aid policy. With details yet to emerge on where aid cuts announced last year will fall, what new government development legislation will look like, and the integrated review which will supposedly underpin all of the country’s upcoming international policies, there is much uncertainty — making planning for the future difficult. These defining questions are set to be answered in 2021. And if that didn’t make this year important enough, the U.K. is also grappling with Brexit and hosting the hugely significant G-7 and COP 26 summits. To talk through the future of U.K. aid, Devex welcomed Simon Maxwell, seasoned development analyst and commentator, and Harpinder Collacott, executive director of Development Initiatives, an organization working on using data to inform poverty reduction work. Highlights from this event include: • The lack of government transparency on how reductions to the aid budget have been implemented — and the challenge that creates for the sector. • Where those budget cuts appear to be falling, and where the U.K. is expected to focus its remaining budget and development work. • The U.K.’s strengths as an international actor and how these can be deployed. • The need for clearer objectives and a strategy around development policy. • What any new development legislation should contain. • The difficulty of balancing aid objectives with respecting human rights. • The challenge to the U.K.’s continued support for open societies Speakers: Simon Maxwell, development analyst and commentator Harpinder Collacott, Executive Director of Development Initiatives Moderator: William Worley, U.K. Correspondent, Devex. Have follow-up questions? Send them to webinars@devex.com.