Thank you for contacting me about the UK’s role in reducing global poverty.
The UK is regularly labelled as an international development superpower, one at the forefront of efforts to improve the lot of ordinary people around the world. Indeed, the UK played an instrumental role in establishing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs are at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a historic global agreement to eradicate extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and leave no one behind.
Achieving the 17 SDGs will demand an enormous amount of collective political will and, if satisfied, will ensure an end to poverty and set the world on a path of peace, prosperity and opportunity for all on a healthy planet. To this end, the Foreign Secretary and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Ministers meet regularly with Cabinet and Ministerial colleagues to discuss the delivery of the Government's SDG agenda. I welcome that the Integrated Review Refresh, published in March 2023, reaffirmed the Government’s ongoing commitment to achieving the SDGs by 2030. These goals were also embedded into the FCDO's International Development Strategy, published in May 2022, and the UK’s foreign aid priorities for 2022/23 and beyond are closely aligned with their fulfilment.
Of course, no country can defeat poverty without economic growth: that requires a strong private sector creating jobs, providing services and generating tax receipts. I therefore fully support that His Majesty’s Government’s (HMG) approach to international development aims to deepen cooperation with businesses, sovereign wealth funds, private investors, international organisations and civil society to achieve better outcomes for people in low- and middle-income countries. Doing so is proven to greatly enhance progress toward tackling issues such as poverty and climate change, while maximising value for British taxpayers’ money.
Improving education globally is another key aspect of the UK’s approach to international development. Improving education systems in developing countries supports young people to get good jobs and lift themselves and their
countries out of poverty. It also reduces the incentive to seek a better life in another country- which directly impacts the UK.
We are the biggest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the largest fund in the world dedicated to improving education in developing countries. The UK occupies a prominent position in the GPE, and co-hosted (with Kenya) its 2021 Replenishment Summit, whereupon $4 billion was raised. The UK is also a founding donor to Education Cannot Wait; the only global fund solely dedicated to education in emergencies. On the ground, from 2015 to 2020, ECW helped support the education of 15.6 million children (of which 8.1 million were girls).
The UK is also committing a further £217 million for three major education projects across Commonwealth countries, as announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in June 2022. The funding will help improve the quality of education and ensure girls and vulnerable children can access and remain in school.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.