Nick Clegg, Andrew Mitchell Unveil DfID Aid Priorities

Women will be front and center of the U.K.’s contribution to international development under a new foreign aid plan unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell.

This emphasis on women will focus primarily on family planning and girls’ education, Clegg said according to a statement from the U.K. Department for International Development. It is part of the DfID Structural Reform Plan which outlines key steps that the department would undertake to achieve the U.K. coalition government’s aim of delivering better and more effective aid.

Under the plan, DfID will focus on six themes, namely:

- The role of women, which covers the creation of new programs aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment and getting more girls into secondary and primary schools.- Value for money, including the development of more cash-on-delivery and results-based aid contracts.- Wealth creation, which covers developing new projects on microfinance, investment and property rights.- Conflict and stabilization, including the revision of DfID’s approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan.- Climate change, including helping poor countries engage in international climate change negotiations.- International commitments, including honoring the U.K.’s commitment to spend 0.7 percent of its national income for foreign aid starting in 2013.

As reported by Devex, Mitchell has announced that the U.K. will aim to increase access to family planning services in the developing world as part of its contribution to the global effort to improve maternal health.