UK assessment predicted aid cuts would hurt gender equality programs

The United Kingdom government knew before the majority of its aid cuts were implemented that the policy would harm girls' education and gender equality, and also cause harm to people “furthest behind,” newly released documents have shown.

Despite the aid cuts, which have seen numerous schooling programs close, the U.K. government has claimed girls’ education was a priority, and there has been an extensive campaign highlighting its work in the field.

But an Equalities Assessment, written by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials and dated March 25, 2021, shows the government was warned about the harm that would be caused by the policy before it was completed.

“The proposed scale of reductions to specific gender interventions, including Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) will impact girls’ education and wider efforts to advance gender equality,” said the document.

According to the report, the cuts would “reduce services available to women and girls who are subject to sexual violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH), and our ability to progress safeguarding objectives and championing of a survivor-centred approach.”

The assessment predicted VAWG bilateral programming would be cut from £23.7 million to £6 million ($31.9 million to $8.1 million), and SRHR bilateral programming and central programming would be cut by 70% and 80% respectively, alongside reduced funding for women’s rights organizations. Eight months on, the extent of the damage caused by the aid cuts on VAWG programming remains unclear.

The assessment was obtained by the International Planned Parenthood Federation during a legal hearing Tuesday, which saw the NGO’s attempt to bring a judicial review against the government over the aid cuts fail.

IPPF was among the SRHR-focused organizations to be particularly badly hit by the funding cuts, losing £69.4 million worth of funding for three programs. The loss of the largest of these programs is predicted by IPPF to cause 7.5 million additional unintended pregnancies, 2.7 million unsafe abortions, and 22,000 maternal deaths over the next year.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wrote Tuesday “women and girls” aid funding cuts would be reversed, but FCDO gave Devex no further details on what this would cover, how much it would be, when it would happen, or if further cuts to other projects would be made as a result.

An analysis of 42 country plans conducted by FCDO for the assessment showed the aid cuts would likely cause a "significant reduction in the number and size of targeted programme activities aimed at reaching those furthest behind — including women, girls and people with disabilities." The Department for International Development worked for years to improve the conditions of these marginalized groups before it was controversially merged into FCDO in 2020.

The assessment warned that the aid cuts “may impact FCDO ambition on disability inclusive development. Of the 8 centrally managed programmes, 6 will be reduced and 1 is proposed to close.”

The document also showed that the government knew fighting extreme poverty would be impeded by the aid cuts. "There will be an estimated 60% reduction in bilateral spend for social protection programmes, which seek to reduce poverty and are a key tool in mitigating COVID 19 social and economic shocks for the poorest and most marginalised," said the assessment, without specifying figures.

The government has insisted the aid cuts were made as a result of economic pressures caused by the pandemic, and it remains a significant international donor of official development assistance, spending more than £10 billion on aid this year.

The Equalities Assessment on the aid cuts “isn’t the type of impact assessment we’d normally think about for international development projects — and isn’t the same as a risk assessment. It still leaves the question about what impact the aid cuts are having on people’s lives unanswered,” said Abigael Baldoumas, policy and advocacy manager for aid at Bond, the network for British NGOs.

Despite the extensive fallout of reducing the aid budget, the government has not provided a clear answer on the effects of the policy — although an FCDO official told members of Parliament in April that no impact assessment had been carried out before the U.K. aid budget to Yemen was cut.

At an International Development Committee hearing on Tuesday, FCDO Permanent Under Secretary Philip Barton avoided answering questions on the effect of the cuts, and if impact assessments had been carried out before they were implemented. Work publicly analyzing the impact of the cuts has been left to NGOs, including a study which predicted the policy would mean 700,000 fewer girls get an education. 

The assessment also found that “programmes which have been marked as having a significant or principal focus on gender equality are not disproportionately likely to be discontinued” — a line which was repeated by former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab when he was asked about the impact of the aid cuts.

While the assessment admitted “it is not possible to fully mitigate against these impacts,” it also suggested ways FCDO could “maximise the positive use of ODA.” These included the use of targeted interventions and advocating and influencing for equalities and inclusion.

When asked for comment, an FCDO spokesperson said: “The Government has set out clear criteria” for its return to previous aid spending targets and called the U.K. “a world-leading aid donor.”

Update, Nov. 22, 2021: This article was updated to include a response from FCDO.