Select committee: International Development Committee
Recommendation 9
Eighth Report - Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts
Published 26 Jan 2021
Paragraph 62
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
International Development Committee Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Livelihoods in developing countries have been devastated by the pandemic. Workers in economically precarious sectors, such as agriculture, are especially vulnerable to the economic shock and instability caused by covid-19. We believe that protecting these jobs is central to enabling people to lift themselves out of poverty. We request that the FCDO write to us on a quarterly basis, outlining how the Government’s economic and trade interventions which form part of the Strategic Framework for ODA will strengthen the economic resilience of low-income groups in developing countries. We ask the Government to fund long-term, multi-year programmes, designed to foster employment opportunities, and ask the FCDO to work closely with recipient countries, aid partners and local NGOs in identifying those activities which have the greatest, long-term beneficial impact on the livelihoods of vulnerable people, and to allocate resources accordingly to support such activities.
From: International Development Committee, Eighth Report - Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts (HC 1186), paragraph 62, 26 January 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 April 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government agrees on the need for a strategic approach and for efficient aid spending, but states there are "no plans for a separate covid-19 strategy" and "no immediate plans to publish a global health strategy".
- On ODA, it describes the move from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI as a "temporary decision" and says it "will return to the 0.7% target when the fiscal situation allows".
- On debt, the UK "will work with G7 and G20 partners to take a coordinated view on a further extension of the DSSI"; it is "willing to cancel debts where required in order to restore debt sustainability".
- On sexual and reproductive health, it does not ringfence contraception funding, saying ringfencing "could provide unnecessary limitations of choice for women and decrease integration between services".
- On nutrition commitments, the Department is "undertaking an internal review" and "will update as soon as is feasible"; it agrees that cash transfers can help different groups respond to secondary impacts.