Britain said on Saturday it could leave one of the United Nations' agencies fighting hunger unless it improves its "patchy" performance. The threat to pull out of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) follows a review of British overseas aid ordered by the nine-month-old coalition government, which administers one of the world's biggest aid budgets.
By contrast, the Conservative-led government said it would step up support for the FAO's UN sister agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), which it said had performed strongly.
The WFP provides emergency food aid after wars or natural disasters whereas the FAO's work is more long term, helping countries improve farming practice and nutrition. The Department for International Development (DFID) said it would focus on tackling malnutrition and ensuring more people in poor countries had enough to eat at a time when soaring food prices are causing hardship for millions.
Britain's 6.5 billion pound ($10.48 billion) annual aid budget is one of the few areas that have been spared sharp public spending cuts aimed at curbing the country's record peacetime budget deficit.
But the coalition government of the Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat allies is keen to show it is getting value for money from its aid.
It spends about 4 billion pounds a year on bilateral aid and another 2.5 billion through international organisations like the FAO or the WFP and has doubts about the FAO's performance. It has been reviewing the effectiveness of both types of aid and will announce its conclusions next Tuesday.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.