Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Department for International Development—Letter from
Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
I am writing to respond to three issues raised
during my appearance before the International Development Select
Committee on 17 June, as part of your inquiry into the World Food
Programme.
DRC ROAD BUILDING
PROGRAMME
You enquired about DFID support for a road-building
programme in DRC. In late December 2005 the DRC Minister for Infrastructure
and Public Works unilaterally decided to make staff changes within
the coordination and project preparation unit within the Ministry
of Infrastructure and Public Works, in breach of agreed donorMinistry
procedures. As a result, all participating donors protested and
DFID put a freeze on preparation of the project. After considerable
dialogue, the issue was resolved and DFID successfully reengaged
in April 2006.
Hence there was a temporary suspension, rather
than a permanent decision not to go ahead with the project. These
issues have been resolved and Pro-Routes is a strong programme
which will transform the sector in DRC, building long term capacity
within the Government to manage the national road network.
This programme is now set to launch. DFID will
contribute £76 million to the total package of £100
million, the remainder coming from the World Bank. This initial
funding will reopen 3,000 km of the national priority network
over the next five years. We expect the programme to attract financing
from other donors once it has launched.
DARFUR AND
SOUTH SUDAN
Secondly, Robert Smith asked about the proportion
of DFID's budget spent on food security in Darfur and South Sudan.
In 2007-08 the proportion spent was 8%. In 2007-08 DFID Sudan
spent £123 million overall (not including £5 million
for Chad) of which £9.7 million was spent on food security
in Darfur and South Sudan. This food security spend was split
between the Common Humanitarian Fund and DFID Sudan's NGO bilateral
programme.
In addition I would like to take this opportunity
to provide an update on another issue raised at the evidence session:
progress on the international partnership for agriculture and
food.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP
FOR AGRICULTURE
AND FOOD
At the Rome Food Summit earlier this month,
Douglas Alexander announced our plans for a Global Partnership
in agriculture and food, with the overall goal of accelerating
progress towards the achievement of MDG-1 (growth and hunger).
We are working closely with the French and others in developing
these ideas further. Such a partnership would include donors,
international institutions, NGOs, the private sector, and most
importantly developing countries themselves, and would aim to
significantly increase investment in the sector, double agricultural
production in participating countries, and thereby greatly improve
food security (particularly for women and children) within 10
years.
UN REFORM
Finally, I would also like to record that we
are making good progress in revitalising the UN development system.
Key to this are the performance frameworks we are agreeing with
five agencies for UK (and partner) funding that ensures that we
can leverage changes that will make them more efficient and effective;
better able to meet the needs of the poorest countries and the
"bottom billion" people that live in them. Resolving
the conflict of interest between UNDP's management of the system
and its own operations (the firewall) is a key objective of these
frameworks.
The eight "One UN pilots", which we
are championing and financially supporting (in a number of cases),
are already showing that closer working can lead to better results
and efficiency savings. In June the Government and UN launched
a revised "One UN" plan in Vietnam which now includes
the majority of UN agencies in country. Other countries (Malawi,
Papua New Guinea and Bhutan) beyond the pilots have also developed
closer "delivering as one" UN programmes. We expect
the approach to be further rolled-out in the next two years and
to support this we are working with Spain and others to adapt
an existing Spanish fund into a central fund to better support
more "delivering as one" UN team operations in developing
countries, a direct incentive for improved UN performance on the
ground.
The atmosphere in New York on UN reform is much
more positive, the success of the pilot countries has validated
the approach and put pressure on the system and agency HQs to
change. We are hopeful for example that a new gender entity that
will consolidate the existing gender architecture and improve
the UN's capacity to deliver its commitments to gender equality
and women's empowerment will be successfully negotiated in the
forthcoming UN General Assembly.
Gareth Thomas
25 June 2008
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