Recommendations & Conclusions
7 items
4
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
Multilateral organisations are sometimes best placed to act and implement aid programming on sexual and reproductive health. The UK has historically been a key donor to multilateral organisations working on sexual and reproductive health. Evidence to the Committee has shown the benefits of both bilateral and multilateral funding. The FCDO …
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Multilateral organisations are sometimes best placed to act and implement aid programming on sexual and reproductive health. The UK has historically been a key donor to multilateral organisations working on sexual and reproductive health. Evidence to the Committee has shown the benefits of both bilateral and multilateral funding. The FCDO should continue to support key multilateral organisations such as the UNFPA, the Global Fund, Unitaid and UNAIDS that are uniquely placed to work with national governments, and with civil society and communities, on aspects of SRHR. As a minimum, it should meet its prior commitments to these organisations. It should also restore discretionary funding to at least the same levels as before the covid-19 pandemic. (Paragraph 18) Family planning
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO partially agrees, acknowledging the importance of multilateral organisations and outlining its current support. However, it states it cannot commit to a set level of financial contribution or restore discretionary funding to pre-pandemic levels, preferring to assess funding based on impact and value for …
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
5
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
The Committee is pleased to see the FCDO’s continuing commitment to family planning as a core part of its work on sexual and reproductive health, including the provision of safe and legal abortion services. However, the FCDO’s abrupt and sudden cuts to SRHR programmes directly led to the reduction in …
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The Committee is pleased to see the FCDO’s continuing commitment to family planning as a core part of its work on sexual and reproductive health, including the provision of safe and legal abortion services. However, the FCDO’s abrupt and sudden cuts to SRHR programmes directly led to the reduction in vital services for women and girls and damaged the UK’s work and reputation in this area. As part of its renewed commitment to SRHR programmes, the FCDO should ensure that it meets its original funding commitment made in November 2019 to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership to enable the delivery of vital healthcare services for women and girls. It should also consider restoring core funding to the UNFPA to £20 million annually. (Paragraph 27) The FCDO’s approach to sexual and reproductive health 41
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO partially agrees, stating it has returned funding to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership to 2019 levels (£60m in 2022 and 2023). However, it is unable to restore core funding to the UNFPA to pre-Covid-19 levels, though it is increasing support by £4.25m for humanitarian …
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
7
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
The FCDO’s approach papers on ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030 (EPD) and health systems strengthening (HSS) show a positive step in the right direction. However, in the absence of key targets for progress or regular updates, it has proved difficult to assess the effectiveness of …
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The FCDO’s approach papers on ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030 (EPD) and health systems strengthening (HSS) show a positive step in the right direction. However, in the absence of key targets for progress or regular updates, it has proved difficult to assess the effectiveness of the UK’s work in this area. The Committee welcomes the FCDO’s commitment to publish a future progress report on its EPD and HSS work in 2024, and to provide future updates on this work. However, more frequent updates on the FCDO’s work on EPD and HSS are needed in order to map the progress towards SDG commitments by 2030. The FCDO should publish key targets and achievements on an annual basis for its approach papers on Ending Preventable Deaths and Strengthening Health Systems.
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO will publish an Ending Preventable Deaths (EPD) narrative report in 2024 with progress, and will report against key EPD indicators through existing mechanisms like the FCDO Outcome Delivery Plan, rather than establishing a new annual reporting framework.
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
8
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
Access to clean water and the provision of adequate sanitation and hygiene reduces the risk of maternal and newborn mortality. In complementarity to its approach on SRHR spending, the FCDO should calculate and justify a minimum bilateral ODA percentage that it must spend on WASH to reach its development targets. …
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Access to clean water and the provision of adequate sanitation and hygiene reduces the risk of maternal and newborn mortality. In complementarity to its approach on SRHR spending, the FCDO should calculate and justify a minimum bilateral ODA percentage that it must spend on WASH to reach its development targets. This target should not be lower than 2% per annum. The FCDO should also ensure that WASH and SRHR programmes adopt a complementary and integrated approach.
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO partially agrees, committing to an integrated approach for WASH and SRHR and detailing its £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme. However, it rejects setting a minimum bilateral ODA percentage for WASH, citing the need for budget flexibility.
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
9
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
The involvement of trained health personnel and access to adequate health care facilities for maternal and newborn health improves health outcomes for the mother and child. The FCDO should support the strengthening of healthcare systems by prioritising investment in the development of health infrastructure, particularly WASH infrastructure. The FCDO should …
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The involvement of trained health personnel and access to adequate health care facilities for maternal and newborn health improves health outcomes for the mother and child. The FCDO should support the strengthening of healthcare systems by prioritising investment in the development of health infrastructure, particularly WASH infrastructure. The FCDO should prioritise support for training and retention of health personnel in low-and-middle-income countries. The FCDO should calculate a minimum percentage of ODA to be spent on the training of health personnel in low- and-middle-income countries. It should explain to the Committee why it has chosen this target and ensure adequate commitment of funding. (Paragraph 39) Women and girl’s health
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to support healthcare systems, training, and WASH infrastructure through existing and new programmes like WISH Dividend and the new WASH Systems programme. However, it explicitly rejects setting a minimum percentage of ODA for health personnel training, citing a preference for budget flexibility.
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
13
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
Female genital schistosomiasis is a painful and debilitating but treatable condition affecting up to 56 million women. FGS is best tackled through an integrated approach with wider SRHR programming, as well as with other areas of programming such as education, WASH and HIV and AIDS. The UK should integrate female …
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Female genital schistosomiasis is a painful and debilitating but treatable condition affecting up to 56 million women. FGS is best tackled through an integrated approach with wider SRHR programming, as well as with other areas of programming such as education, WASH and HIV and AIDS. The UK should integrate female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) care into its SRHR programming. This should include (a) improving access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, (b) increasing girls’ enrolment in education and supporting distribution of FGS medicine in schools, (c) distributing educational materials on WASH, and (d) considering integrating FGS and HIV and AIDS programming, including by discussing the integration of HIV and AIDS programming with FGS care with its multilateral partners, such as the Global Fund.
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO partially agrees, noting existing research support and integration efforts for FGS with HIV/SRHR services via UNAIDS. It commits to including FGS treatment in the forthcoming WISH Dividend program where feasible and will explore further integration into SRHR programming.
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
21
Recommendation
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to s…
Accepted in Part
People with disabilities may face additional barriers to accessing SRHR programmes and providing services to people with disabilities may often take additional resources. Consequently, organisations implementing development programmes may be disincentivised from reaching marginalised groups as programmes are often required to show that they have reached as many recipients as …
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People with disabilities may face additional barriers to accessing SRHR programmes and providing services to people with disabilities may often take additional resources. Consequently, organisations implementing development programmes may be disincentivised from reaching marginalised groups as programmes are often required to show that they have reached as many recipients as possible. The FCDO should ensure that all SRHR programmes are accessible to people with disabilities. 44 The FCDO’s approach to sexual and reproductive health FCDO’s SRHR programmes should include a dedicated budget, baselines, targets, and key performance indicators so that people with disabilities are fully integrated into aid programmes. In addition, all FCDO programming on SRHR should record disaggregated data on aid recipients, including age, sex, and disability to assess how successful they are at inclusivity.
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Government response AI summary
The FCDO partially agrees, committing to embed disability inclusion by 2030 and ensure new SRHR programmes like WISH Dividend disaggregate data, have targets, and dedicated budgets. However, they state it is not possible to disaggregate data for all SRHR programming due to complexity and data …
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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office