Call for evidence outcome

UK international development white paper: call for evidence

Published 30 November 2023

Introduction

The intertwined challenges on development, nature and climate and slow progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underline the need for an approach to international development fit for the 21st century. This approach must respond to the geopolitical context and have a long-term perspective. It must be able to adapt to the pace and scale of global change. It must address the need to drive innovation and harness resources at the scale required. It should draw on the latest evidence. It should consider all available global and multilateral partnerships. It should consider all policy levers and instruments, whether or not these relate to Official Development Assistance (ODA) and government initiatives.

This year, the UK government will publish a white paper on international development (‘the white paper’). This will set out our approach to international development to 2030 building on the 4 priorities and patient approach set out in the 2022 International Development Strategy and the objectives in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023. The Integrated Review Refresh set out our aim to reinvigorate the UK’s development offer through seven development objectives, strengthening our delivery of development, and a long-term, patient approach to partnerships. The Integrated Review Refresh 2023 also made clear the UK’s commitment to tackling climate change, environmental damage and biodiversity loss.

The world is going through rapid change, with many sources of pressure affecting the poorest countries most. Pressures include dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and debt levels rising to unsustainable levels in many countries. The global impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have increased costs of energy and of food. Geo-political competition also has economic and climate impacts, affecting trade and supply chains around the world, including those for critical minerals. Many countries, particularly those in the Global South, point to erosion of global cooperation, and erosion of trust.

The white paper will focus on how to address the linked challenges of development, nature and climate in this rapidly changing global context. It will try to learn the difficult lessons of the last few years and reflect these in a set of principles and priorities for effective development cooperation and accelerated progress. It will seek to respond to the clear concerns about development cooperation that have been expressed by the Global South. It will unpack what is needed for a patient, long-term approach, respectful partnership, mutual accountability, and for greater local ownership and control in partner countries.

The white paper will also look at the partnerships that are needed, globally, multilaterally, and in the UK. It will consider the partnerships, the financing and the issues which are most important for low-income countries. It will also consider the partnerships needed with those middle-income countries which still have very large numbers of people living in poverty. It will look at how to maximise the volume of concessional financing available for development, and how to use it best. It will look at how to mobilise greater volumes of non-concessional financing.

The white paper will consider evidence on how to accelerate progress on poverty, on climate, and the SDGs, globally, multilaterally, and in the UK. It will seek to identify game-changing ideas to achieve this, on issues including but not limited to:

• ending extreme poverty
• responding to humanitarian situations
• building resilience, nutrition and food systems
• education
• empowerment of marginalised groups
• family planning, health, and pandemic preparedness
• climate, nature, and sustainable energy
• sustainable growth
• private sector development, investment, and trade
• tackling illicit finance
• peace building and conflict prevention
• state capability, fragility and stabilisation
• global migration

It will also seek to identify how science, research, and new technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute, building on the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK will host the first major global summit on AI safety in the autumn.

The white paper will propose a clear, reinvigorated, role for the UK where the UK plays to its strengths and works in partnership with others. It will consider the roles of UK government, civil society, the private sector, and our research capability – from universities to think tanks – coming together in a renewed global effort. The white paper will not propose new spending commitments.

Background to this call for evidence

A Written Ministerial Statement, published on 18 July 2023, announced the white paper. The Prime Minister asked the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to lead work on the white paper, which will be cross-government in scope. The FCDO plans to publish it in late 2023.

This call for evidence forms part of wider engagement with stakeholders on the white paper. It will provide additional evidence alongside the evidence already collected as part of the Integrated Review and the International Development Strategy.

Questions

The white paper will consider how the UK can best reinvigorate our own approach to international development, working ‘beyond aid’ as well as through our ODA, our partnerships, and the multilateral system. Our approach will need to respond to a rapidly changing global context and the intertwined development, nature, and climate challenges. Our aims include ending poverty, fostering sustainable growth, and ensuring progress on the SDGs.

To achieve this, we will need to maximise the effectiveness of an expanded range of tools, bringing UK and international partners together in a renewed collective effort based on the best available evidence. That means being clear on what success would look like by 2030, and where, how, and with whom the UK should focus its work.

We intend to make the responses to this call for evidence publicly available alongside publishing the white paper before the end of 2023.

We welcome submissions of evidence on the questions. Send your evidence using: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/EQVOZW/. Your response to each question should be a maximum of 500 words. Include your evidence sources and provide hyperlinks to longer papers.

Partnerships

International development efforts face considerable challenges. Seventy million people have fallen back into poverty after the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN has reported the first fall in human development on record. Many in the Global South are growing frustrated with the slow progress on climate action and on development progress. Evolving global challenges and continuing volatility are also affecting progress.

The progress that is needed will not be achieved by the UK acting alone. It is vital that we work with a wide range of partners, including: civil society in the UK and internationally, the private sector, academia, partner governments, multilateral and international organisations, and local communities and citizens. We recognise the need to engage much more seriously with the expertise and experience in the Global South, not only in government, but also and in civil society and in the communities involved. We recognise that we must take a long-term, principled approach. An approach based on solidarity, patience, and mutual respect. An approach that listens, learns, and builds trust.

Question 1

• How do partnerships need to change to restore the credibility of international development and the multilateral system and regain the trust of Global South?
• What role should the UK play in this and what specifically should we do differently?
• What should we do to ensure we are listening better to those most in need?

Big ideas and innovations

A reinvigorated approach requires new ideas and new ways of working. Advances in science can point to new solutions to old problems. New technologies from digital to artificial intelligence offer new opportunities, as well as additional challenges. The much more diverse range of countries, institutions and actors involved in global development cooperation offer new perspectives and experience. The sources of finance potentially available for global development cooperation, go far beyond official development assistance. Additional sources include the large volume of remittances sent around the world each year, and the many sources of private investment capital and the profits from business.

Question 2

• What are the specific innovative proposals that can accelerate progress in international development?
• What initiatives, policies, partnerships, or technologies could result in accelerated progress?
• Are there big ideas on which the UK is particularly well placed to play a role?

Question 3

• What new ideas for development cooperation would make the biggest impact in, or for, low income countries?
• What are the best ideas to accelerate progress for middle income countries which still have large numbers of poor people?

Levers: ODA and ‘beyond aid’

Official Development Assistance (ODA) remains a vital element in international development. It is essential for action to reduce poverty, address climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss, particularly where there is no market alternative to concessional financing. But the scale and pace of action required means that concessional ODA financing, and a ‘traditional’ development policy agenda, will be insufficient. We want to consider how science and technology, private finance and the private sector, trade and investment, and diplomatic effort can contribute. We want to consider the policies and regulation, in those broader areas, that will enable progress.

Question 4

• How can Official Development Assistance (ODA) be most effectively targeted and built upon?
• How can non-ODA financing be mobilised to ensure ambitious, innovative, and transformational international development?

Question 5

• How should scientific and technological expertise, private finance and the private sector, trade and investment, civil society networks and diplomacy be engaged to support global development action and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Climate and development

There is a clear need to accelerate and scale up support for action in the face of climate change. This includes work on adaptation and resilience, but also mitigation and sustainable growth in relation to countries’ development pathways. While development and climate action must be coherent, challenges, limits and barriers remain. Green and clean energy transitions pose considerable challenges for many developing countries. The drive for economic growth and an end to poverty does not necessarily align with environmental concerns or protecting biodiversity. For sustainable development, we must find ways through the tensions and trade-offs.

Question 6

• How can progress on tackling ending poverty, economic growth, and the challenges of climate change be best brought together, in the context of Agenda 2030 (including building resilience, adaptation, and sustainable growth)?
• How can the opportunities be maximised? How can the limits and trade-offs be managed?

Multilateral and bilateral action

The scale of the challenge and the need for global coherence both point to the importance of multilateral action. The pandemic also pointed to the potential of multilateral financing and action, as well as its limits. The ability of the existing multilateral architecture to deal with global issues in a fair and inclusive way is increasingly questioned by its members. But there are many issues which still require effective multilateral action. At the same time there are aspects of development and climate action for which bilateral partnerships will be most effective, albeit as part of a broader global effort.

Question 7

• What are the top priorities for strengthening multilateral effectiveness in international development?
• What are the issues and challenges most suited to bilateral cooperation (considering all levers)?

Call for evidence

The FCDO invites submissions of evidence as part of the process to develop the white paper.

To submit your evidence, respond to the questions using our online form: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/EQVOZW/ by 11:59pm on 16 September 2023.

There is a limit of 500 words for responses to each question. We encourage you to identify evidence sources and provide hyperlinks to longer papers, and respond early.

We plan to make submissions to this call for evidence publicly available to view on the GOV.UK website.

Further information

We hope to make as many responses as possible to this call for evidence publicly available, to maximise transparency and inform public debate.

You will be able to choose to opt-in to include your name and organisational affiliation when responding to the call for evidence.

You can withdraw consent for including this information by contacting the FCDO at DevelopmentWhitePaper@fcdo.gov.uk.