International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell will deliver a speech on the future of the UK’s international development work.

The UK will set out a new vision to enhance global prosperity and reduce poverty by building partnerships with other countries.

In his first major address, International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell will assert that the future of development depends on our working as partners with countries, as opposed to their relying on aid budgets.

Using the full global reach of the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, the United Kingdom will collaborate with other nations to advance mutually beneficial goals, such as security and economic development while recognising the need to combat poverty and climate change jointly. 

In addition, the Minister will assert that the international financial system must be fundamentally reformed so that countries can access the funds necessary to advance their development and combat climate change in the face of global challenges.

He will announce a new brand, UK International Development

He is anticipated to state: “Putting partnership at the centre of the United Kingdom’s offer demonstrates that international development is not fundamentally about charity, subsidies, or dependency. It involves listening to our partners and collaborating to achieve our shared goals. The new brand will be on all new UK development programmes today.”

The Minister will set out how to use the UK’s strengths; he will champion and take forward the seven priorities the Prime Minister set out in the Integrated Review Refresh:

  • Reforming the global financial system
  • Making global tax systems fairer
  • Delivering clean, green infrastructure and investment
  • Improving global food security
  • Making a case for ‘open science’
  • Preventing the next global health crisis
  • Putting women and girls at the heart of all development

The Minister will assert he is placing women at the centre of all policy decisions.

He will announce a new initiative to enrol 6 million more girls in school by increasing education expenditure in low- and lower-middle-income countries and expanding teacher training and in-class support to improve access for disadvantaged children. To link the British public to the UK’s development work, the Minister will also announce that later this year, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will tender a new international youth volunteering programme akin to the former International Citizen Service.

The Minister will also make clear Britain is firmly behind the ambition set out by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, last year to enable countries around the globe to tackle climate change and the reversal of development progress over recent years.

The UK is pressing for concrete progress on multilateral development bank reform, relying on a UK-initiated review to unlock hundreds of billions in financing for developing countries and help bridge the global climate and nature finance gaps. 

Britain is supplying technical assistance so countries can access global climate funds. 

The UK government are promoting innovations in insurance, paying out the first drought insurance support for Somalia. We ensure that some of our humanitarian aid is used to build future resilience to climate-related impacts.

Since taking up the International Development Minister role six months ago, Minister Mitchell has driven work to tackle hunger as well as malnutrition in some of the poorest countries. During his visit to Somalia last year, he witnessed children suffering from severe malnutrition and the effects of the country’s drought.

In his speech, he is anticipated to say, “It is utterly abhorrent that in the 21st century and our world of plenty, children are starving to death.”

The Minister will announce a food security event in London later this year to demonstrate the breadth of the UK’s work to tackle hunger and malnutrition, bringing together the expertise and skills of the academic, medical, research, philanthropic and NGO community.