CANBERRA — The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development witnessed a decline in disbursements between 2017-2018 and had fewer implementers supporting the aid program, analysis by Devex shows.
A total of £8.6 billion ($11.13 billion) was disbursed in 2018 — a 7% decline from 2017 which recorded a peak of £9.2 billion in disbursements for the year. The number of DFID implementing partners also steadily declined, from 2,496 partners in 2014 to 1,259 partners in 2018. With a report last year showing a decrease in DFID contracts awarded to small- and medium-sized enterprises, these statistics signal an increasing reliance on select partners to support the delivery of the U.K. aid program.
Implementers of DFID’s programs include academic institutions; foreign aid or government entities; multilateral and supranational organizations; NGOs and CSOs; private sector organizations; and U.K. government entities.