DfID/FCO merger: Making the best of a bad job? With Andrew Mitchell MP - CSFI
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 Published On Sep 29, 2020

The DfID/FCO merger: Making the best of a bad job? With Andrew Mitchell, MP, Dirk Willem te Velde (ODI), and Romilly Greenhill (the ONE Campaign)

Why you should watch: The Conservative government announced in June that it would merge the Department for International Development into the FCO, to create a new FCDO. Since (as far as most development specialists were concerned) DfID was actually one of the more effective government departments, and since the UK's aid effort is generally considered one of its major international strengths, there was a fair bit of head-scratching about this. Would a merger increase Britain's 'soft power', or would it lead to the commercialization (or even 'weaponization') of aid? One of those who was strongly opposed was the former Aid Secretary, Andrew Mitchell - who found a lot of support from the NGO sector and from academics. But the merger (or 'takeover') went through at the beginning of September, and there is now no chance of reversing it. So, what can be achieved with the new structure? And how can we monitor what the new Whitehall behemoth is up to? Listen to Mr Mitchell and two leading lights from the aid community.

Moderator: Andrew Hilton (Director, CSFI)

Panellists:

Andrew Mitchell is the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield. He is the son of a former Tory MP, and served as Secretary of State for Development from 2010 to 2012. Prior to going into politics he was a military peacekeeper in Cyprus and a banker with Lazards. He has worked in West Africa and Rwanda, where he was involved with Project Umubano.

Dirk Willem te Velde is the Director of the International Economic Development Group at the Overseas Development Institute in London, where he leads the Aid for Trade project.

Romilly Greenhill is the UK Director of the ONE Campaign, which advocates globally for an end to poverty, and which counts among its Board members luminaries like Aliko Dangote, Mo Ibrahim and Bono.

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Produced/Edited by Alex Treptow

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