Follow up from Save the Children UK to the International Development Committee’s Inquiry on Extreme Poverty

Save the Children welcomes the publication of the Government’s new International Development Strategy (IDS) and its recognition of the link between poverty and climate change, including as drivers of conflict. We were pleased to see prioritisation of girls’ and women’s rights and look forward to further detail once the new Women and Girls’ Strategy is finalised. The Strategy must set out how the UK Government will deliver on its commitments to girls’ education and continue the holistic approach outlined in the previous Gender Equality Strategy. The Government’s commitments to ensure that all ODA aligns to the Paris Agreement by 2023, and do no harm to nature, are steps in the right direction. The approach to OneHealth and promised efforts to build transparent and accountable institutions to uphold human rights are also welcome.

We are, however, concerned that that the new strategy represents a step back from the UK’s historical leadership on ODA to tackle extreme poverty and inequality, including its commitment to Leave no One Behind. The strategy makes no explicit link between ODA and ending extreme poverty, or addressing inequality by reaching the furthest behind first. There is also no commitment to the data disaggregation necessary to do so. The UK has inclusion strategies that support efforts to reach marginalised communities, like the FCDO disability inclusion and rights strategy 2022 to 2030. However, it is still missing an overarching strategy anchored in the pledge to Leave No One Behind, and the policy coherence that would support.

The IDS relies on the assumption that economic growth in low and middle-income countries can reduce extreme poverty, and the inequalities it deepens. However, it does not recognise that it is the right kind of growth that is important - growth that is green, inclusive, pro-poor and purposefully geared to contribute to social development within planetary boundaries.  Human rights, health, nutrition, education and safety are all critical to vibrant economies that work for everyone, including children most affected by inequality and discrimination. These are vital components of a successful economic development strategy, but the new IDS neglects them in favour of a focus on trade and investment as policy levers. Trade and investment are of course important, but they must be geared explicitly to contribute to poverty reduction rather than assumed to do so by default. They must be integrated into long-term poverty reduction strategies, alongside measures to increase investment in social protection and other safety nets that protect children from poverty - particularly during shocks and periods of emergency - and build the foundations for human development. The omission of a focus on reducing malnutrition, despite commitments by the UK Government to fully integrate this work across its portfolio, is of particular concern. Good nutrition is a fundamental component of human capital and a necessary precursor for individual and societal poverty reduction.

The new strategy also represents a drastic shift toward bilateral partnerships at a time when the value of multilateralism is again startlingly clear. The 95% cut to UK funding for the UN Development Programme – the UN’s poverty reduction agency – is a worrying step in this direction.  The shift in geographical focus, away from Africa and countries home to the largest number of people living in poverty will have real consequences for children, their communities and the UK’s ability to effectively address extreme poverty. Civil society has a critical role to play in working alongside governments to end extreme poverty, particularly through our commitment to addressing inequalities within and between countries. Defined space for this collaboration, beyond that outlined in the IDS, and a commitment to building capacity of civil society partners in developing countries is necessary. In parts, the new IDS reads more like a strategy for trade and economic development than an international development strategy aimed at ending extreme poverty and inequality.