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UK Development Policy

The UK is in an influential and important position to influence development outcomes across the world.  It remains the only country to meet both the targets to spend 0.7 percent of its national income on overseas aid and 2 percent on defence. It is also the largest “multilateral” aid donor—providing over a third more in aid through the multilateral system than the United States.  

The UK has taken up several ideas developed or supported by CGD fellows. Recently, this includes the use of disaster risk insurance and cash transfers in humanitarian relief; committing to an improved trade for development regime after Brexit; pushing for humanitarian reform; using the CDI to assess policy coherence; and using development impact bonds and advanced market commitments.

Featured Work

British Union Jack flag flying in front of the Bank of England in the City of London financial center
September 1, 2021
Blog Post
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office One...
Rachael Calleja and Mikaela Gavas
A minnow in a pond. Adobe Stock
September 27, 2021
Blog Post
Turning the UK from a Development Superpower to a...
Ranil Dissanayake
The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office headquarters.
July 21, 2021
Blog Post
Why the UK Treasury’s Obsession with Targets Is Damaging...
Euan Ritchie

More on UK Development Policy

Contact

Catarina Afonso dos Santos
csantos@cgdev.org

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Related UK Development Policy Content

November 12, 2021
Blog Post
Exploring the UK’s Preference for the World Bank’s IDA Fund
Sam Hughes and Ian Mitchell
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November 11, 2021
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Staffing Shortages in the UK’s Care Sector: A Sign of...
Claire Kumar and Helen Dempster
British currency laid out on a surface
October 29, 2021
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UK Aid: How Secure is the Pathway Back to 0.7 Percent?
Sam Hughes and Ranil Dissanayake
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October 25, 2021
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Why Global Leadership is Key to International Development
Rachael Calleja, Mikaela Gavas and Samuel Pleeck
An image of the London skyline
October 12, 2021
Publication
Accounting Anomalies and Arbitrary Targets are Conspiring...
Euan Ritchie
An image of the IMF building.
October 12, 2021
Blog Post
The UK’s Planned Use of SDRs Will Take Resources Away...
Euan Ritchie
Graph showing spending on higher education
October 7, 2021
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Basic Education Worst Hit by The UK’s 2020 Aid Cuts
Susannah Hares and Jack Rossiter
A minnow in a pond. Adobe Stock
September 27, 2021
Blog Post
Turning the UK from a Development Superpower to a...
Ranil Dissanayake

Pages

Direct to long-term impacts of COVID-19
March 18, 2020
Blog Post
UK Response to COVID-19: Urgent Need for An Inclusive...
Kalipso Chalkidou and Francis Ruiz
June 28, 2016
Blog Post
Brexit: Threats and Opportunities for Global Development
Owen Barder

There is much uncertainty now about how the UK will respond to Thursday’s referendum result calling for Britain to leave the European Union. The effects on developing countries—and development cooperation—will depend in part on what is agreed in the coming months and years. But here is some speculation about the possible threats that Brexit implies, and a (rather shorter) list of the possible opportunities.

April 15, 2021
Event
In Conversation with Rory Stewart
Charles Kenny
February 24, 2015
Blog Post
The Can and Can’t of Cat Bonds
Theodore Talbot and Owen Barder
var testAB;
December 5, 2013
Blog Post
Is Aid a Waste of Money?
Owen Barder

At a recent book launch, I was on a p

An image of shipping containers to depict global trade
October 15, 2020
Blog Post
Post-Brexit Trade for Development: An Unfulfilled Promise
L. Alan Winters, Max Mendez-Parra and Ian Mitchell
July 28, 2020
Blog Post
Post-Brexit Resources for Global Britain
Ian Mitchell and Sam Hughes
August 27, 2014
Blog Post
12 Principles for Payment by Results (PbR) in the Real World
Owen Barder et al.

Development agencies are increasingly interested in making aid more transparent, stakeholder-led, and effective by expanding the use of payment by results (PbR) — rewarding those implementing projects on the basis of results delivered instead of paying for inputs. For payment by results to work, you have to get a lot of things right. It has to be for the right kind of programme targeting the right results, properly measured and rewarded in the right way. These issues, and more, are laid out in Stefan Dercon and Paul Clist’s 12 principles for payment by results (PDF).

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