DfID Plans Closure of Cambodia Office

A U.K. Department for International Development-funded community-led sanitation project in the Moha Sang Commune, in Cambodia's Kampong Speu Province. The agency is shutting down its Phnom Penh office by the end of January 2011. Photo by Rick Erlebach / DfID Cambodia

The U.K. Department for International Development plans to shut down its office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Jan. 31.

The move follows a global review of U.K. aid, which calls on DfID to “focus money globally to areas with greater concentrations of poor people and fewer funders,” according to Natalie Acton, DfID’s deputy director for Asia.

The closure of the office does not signal the conclusion of U.K. aid to Cambodia, said the U.K.’s ambassador to the country, Andrew Mace, noting that several development programs will continue through DfID’s partners and non-governmental organizations.

Acton said information on DfID’s new offices and funding priorities will be announced once the review is completed, The Phnom Penh Post reports.