In 1970, the United Nations took up a commission-recommended resolution that donor nations set a target of giving no less than 0.7% of gross national income as official development assistance, or ODA, with an initial deadline of 1975.
That deadline was later moved forward to 2015 — and the United Kingdom was one of the countries to squeak in under the wire, first achieving the target in 2013. But aid cuts in recent years have seen that target revised down in the U.K., first to 0.5% and now to 0.3% by 2027.
But now that target no longer exists. In a letter to the Sarah Champion, chair of Parliament’s International Development Committee, development minister Jenny Chapman announced an immediate change to the way the country’s aid target is set — the budget will no longer be adjusted for changes to GNI, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office need not adjust its budget in line with those numbers.
About the author
Fiona Zublin
Fiona Zublin is Devex's Deputy Managing Editor. Prior to joining the Devex team, she worked at OZY, NPR, and The Washington Post. Originally from the United States, she now lives and works in Paris.
