Amid a disastrous year for aid, the U.K.’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, is proposing a summit of Western donors to discuss its future.
“There has been a need for a deeper and more meaningful conversation about Western development [aid] for many, many years,” he told members of the House of Lords in April, responding to a question about the impact of aid cuts. He argued that many of the international aid structures set up 60 years ago were in need of reform, citing the growth of non-Western donors such as China and the Persian Gulf States and the apparent inefficiencies of a large and unwieldy United Nations.
“I want to have a conference that brings together the Western community on development and aid and how we spend that aid, because the time is now right for leadership and it’s also right [to be] sharper and smarter about the way we spend our money,” he said.