A new United Kingdom development blueprint has been praised for a renewed focus on tackling poverty after years of policy chaos, but criticized for lacking the resources to deliver on its ambitious aims.
Aid experts and organizations breathed a sigh of relief after the strategy ditched talk of using aid to challenge China and pursue U.K. strategic power, following the return of Andrew Mitchell as development minister a year ago.
But its shift to using the financial heft of London firms to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals — downplaying the role of government aid budgets — was branded unrealistic and its commitment to least-developed countries, or LDCs, was described as weak.