Today’s newspapers (Daily Mail, Telegraph) include coverage of claims that the world’s most corrupt countries should not receive international aid.
These are valid concerns and we recognise the difficulties involved in working in the most fragile and dangerous parts of the world. Our work in these countries means we can tackle problems at source and help make the UK safer.
DFID has a zero tolerance approach to corruption – full stop. We must be clear that giving aid to a country with high levels of corruption is not the same as giving aid to that country’s government.
Where we do not have sufficient confidence in a partner government’s public finance system, our support is channelled through trusted international partners to save babies’ lives, prevent famine and get children into school, and DFID has tough measures in place to protect taxpayer’s money – especially in the most challenging environments we work in.
Our rigorous controls and safeguards ensure that UK aid spending delivers value for money for the taxpayer and achieves results on the ground. By working in the most fragile and dangerous parts of the world, DFID’s work makes us safer in the UK by tackling problems at source which would otherwise arrive on our doorstep.
We are also helping reform and address the underlying causes of poor governance in many countries.