How UK aid cuts are hitting Africa and the climate particularly hard
TThere is widespread concern among MPs, charities and humanitarian organizations about the severity of the 40 per cent cut to the UK’s aid budget; The scope of this cut was announced by foreign secretary Yvette Cooper.
Addressing parliament, Cooper said women and girls, as well as conflict-affected and fragile states, would be prioritized, leading to significant cuts elsewhere. One MP called it a “moral disaster”.
Much of the frustration relates to dramatic cuts to countries in Africa, with bilateral aid between the UK and countries on the continent falling by 56 per cent in 2028/9 compared to 2024/5.
Long-standing bilateral aid programs for developing countries that are not classified as fragile and conflict-affected but still have difficulty attracting other types of investment are planned to be severely cut, if not eliminated entirely.
Countries so affected include Kenya (received £80 million in aid in 2024/2025), South Africa (£11 million), Uganda (£44 million), Sierra Leone (£30 million) and Malawi (£50 million).
Development Minister Jenny Chapman said these figures did not include money for Africa from multilateral institutions, including £2bn from the UK for the World Bank’s International Development Association, which finances projects in 75 of the world’s poorest countries, and £650m for the African Development Bank’s Africa Development Fund.
But while the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) did not share details of the value of cuts to specific country programmes, the Equalities Impact Assessment published alongside Cooper’s statement said:scandalously lacking in detail” by Labor MP Sarah Champion, chair of the parliament’s International Development Select Committee.
The impact assessment detailed that the UK would likely halt all overseas aid programs for global health in Sierra Leone and Malawi.
In Malawi alone, this is expected to result in approximately 250,000 adolescents losing access to modern family planning methods, with a further 20,000 children potentially dropping out of school due to the end of school feeding programmes.
FCDO also changed general aid categories as well as regional country groupings; this makes it difficult to compare the latest aid allocations with previous reports on UK aid.
But the Equalities Impact Assessment finds that aid cuts to the UK will be so severe that even areas the UK says it prioritizes (such as multilateral development organizations within the UN) will experience major cuts; Multilateral humanitarian organizations and health organizations will see their aid cut by 25 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, UK aid – classed as “climate finance” – to which the UK is obliged to contribute under the landmark Paris Agreement – is expected to fall from £11.6bn over the five years to 2026 to £6bn over the next three years. a drop of almost 15 percent.
Catherine Pettengell, chief executive of Climate Action Network UK, said: Independent He said these cuts were “really bad” and would result in £23.2bn over five years as the next package, given that UK climate finance had previously doubled every five years.
The cuts in climate aid come despite the UN warning at the end of last year that the money needed for developing countries to adapt to the climate crisis was 12 to 14 times what is available.
“Compliance is not a cost, it is a lifeline” UN chief Antonio Guterres said at the time:. “Closing the adaptation gap is the way to protect lives, achieve climate justice, and build a safer, more sustainable world. Let’s not waste another minute.”
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
