Rt Hon Priti Patel took over the Department for International Development (DfiD) as a Minister, 6 months back, giving 'international aid and development' a complete new direction. During her recent visit abroad, the Minister clarified that UK wants the aid and development money it gives to poor countries to mainly focus on trade, creating jobs, investment, education and skills and not just the “traditional” aid programmes of handouts to alleviate immediate crises.
In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Patel insisted that the new focus for UK aid is not simply about moving away from traditional humanitarian aid. But she insisted that UK is clearly focused on helping countries move away from aid-dependency towards becoming modern middle-income trading nations such as the Ethiopian economy. Top of her discussion agenda included humanitarian issues- leadership matters, global security, child labour and trafficking threats, education and skill supports, as she promised to make 2017 'a year of multilayered reform and transparency'.
Creating a job, a livelihood, educating or training them for it, she said, is the best way to alleviate poverty. Spending aid and development money on helping countries to create factories where international investors could create jobs is fundamentally in Britain’s interest, Patel added. She last month was the first in DfiD history to encourage private investments and export growth in poor countries, hoping they would become Britain's trade partners in the future.Calling her recent trip to visit Lebanon as a 'humbling experience' the Minister insisted that a foreign aid consisting of just money cannot suffice in today's day and time.
While she remained aware of the horror and shocks children have suffered in regions like Syria, Patel elaborated that Britain is not just offering shelter and security, but giving something long-lasting to these displaced children. There are generations that are lost, she said. “We have a duty to ensure that we invest in these children”- and education is one of the best ways to do so.
She told Asian Voice, “The UK operates in the most fragile countries because these are the places where the poorest are dying from starvation, drought and disease; these are the places where conflict and economic failure drive mass migration; and these are the countries where it is in the UK’s direct national interest to keep them stable and secure.
“In the last three years DfiD has overhauled its approach to fraud, meaning our robust systems are better at preventing and detecting fraud, and better at getting taxpayers’ money back. We expect all international agencies to have the same zero tolerance approach to fraud that we have if they are to receive taxpayers' money.
“It is time for the global aid community to be honest about the challenges it faces to increase the transparency and accountability of the international aid system.”
While the departnent has lost £3.2mn to fraud over the past 5 years, sitting in her Whitehall office, Priti told Asian Voice that the department has now recovered two thirds of that amount, explaining that the National Audit Office has zero tolerance approach towards fraud, and acknowledges the comprehensive and strengthened measures DfiD has in place to tackle and eliminate it.
While British MPs recently requested Priti to tackle Trump's anti-abortion steps, Patel told Asian Voice, that US is a global leader when it comes to development; and family planning essentially remains a country's own responsibility.
Speaking about India, which is close to Priti's heart, she added that the special bond with PM Narendra Modi and the country of her origin, is here to stay. Reiterating what she had said during her visit last time, Patel told AV, “The two countries are on a new threshold to push forward the economic and trade agenda and enhance the economic partnership...”. India does not receive any financial aid from the UK any longer.
UK's support for Indian economy can be determined in two folds now- funds and equity investments, especially in innovative businesses, promising more people to help access skills, set up businesses and help the poor by UK investing in private sectors.
