Policy paper

The UK’s modern development approach, July 2026

Published 16 July 2026

The context and why we are changing

A fundamental part of our moral purpose is to stand up against global disease and hunger and to support those trapped in crises caused by conflict or climate change.

We also know that preventing conflict, instability and crisis, displacement and migration, supporting growth and building global partnerships are all the right things to do. But they are also directly in the UK national interest: instabilities and crises across the world have a direct impact on the UK.

We are modernising our approach and sharpening our focus on priorities that align with partner needs, UK public interest, and where we can drive real change.

We are making 4 fundamental shifts, donor to investor, service delivery to system support, grants to expertise and international interventions to local leadership, that change the way the UK does development. Our development objectives are focused on impact, using the full breadth of the UK’s strengths to drive sustainable growth and progress more than Official Development Assistance (ODA) alone ever could.

As part of our new approach, we remain committed to advancing the rights, safety and opportunities of women and girls worldwide and recognise that women’s and girls’ rights are essential to global stability, prosperity and sustainable development.

The 4 shifts

To adapt to the shifting context, we are making 4 essential shifts that will change the way the UK delivers development outcomes. This reset brings existing reforms together into a single, coherent approach across our network. These shifts are inextricably linked, and are not mutually exclusive.

Donor to investor

We are moving away from being seen as a ‘giver’ of aid and positioning the UK as an investment partner.

We are taking the perspective of an investor – agile, focused on high returns – and working with partners to unlock growth across all sectors, jobs, and trade through innovative finance and private sector investment. This is about moving beyond aid and maximising the potential of a ‘whole-of-UK offer’ to help countries build long-term, self-sustaining economies. 

Investment into emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) remains far below what is needed to support growth, resilience, and sustainable development, despite deep global pools of capital. As part of this shift, we are working to tackle barriers to investment in developing economies through the EMDE Investor Taskforce, which brings leading UK institutional investors together, alongside government.

The FCDO’s Community of Expertise for finance facilitates peer-to-peer engagement between EMDE financial services stakeholders in 26 countries and UK public, private and academic institutions, such as the Bank of England, to build the capacity of key market regulators and authorities.

Service delivery to system support

This shift focuses on helping countries strengthen their own systems, so they can mobilise domestic resources, and deliver essential services – such as education, health, and economic services – ultimately enabling them to thrive without foreign aid.

There will be exceptions (for example, humanitarian crises) where governments are unable or unwilling to deliver services, and direct external support is needed.

This is a transition from problem solving to enabling others to solve problems. Done well it supports exponential improvements in services, growth and accountability to communities, so that partners make the most of their own systems, in their own contexts.

Where possible and appropriate we are moving away from directly funding frontline services and instead focus on strengthening the systems behind those services – including policies, people, processes, resources and infrastructure. Where needed, this should include supporting systems to be responsive to shocks.

Grants to expertise

Our approach is not just about the funding we provide, but about working alongside partners with deep technical and institutional expertise.

Our technical experts remain at the forefront of delivery, building bridges with their peers in partner countries to solve critical development challenges across a range of areas such as climate, migration, health and economic development.

We are also drawing on expertise from across both the public and private sectors, including world-class universities, the City of London, and leading institutions in education, health, climate and tech sectors. 

FCDO Communities of Expertise will act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for Posts and their partners to access UK thought leaders, research and peer-to-peer expertise partnerships.

The FCDO’s ‘Smart Technical Assistance’, launched in April 2025 provides guidance on how our approach should strengthen, rather than replace, the expertise and capability of local partners.

International interventions to local leadership

This means giving local partners^{[footnote 1]} the agency and quality funding to design and deliver sustainable development approaches that meet local needs.

Where feasible, local government, local NGOs and civil society should be prioritised as responders in crisis contexts, working as locally as possible and internationally as necessary, and should be closely involved in both the design and delivery of responses.

Supporting locally led development and a “whole of society” approach to partnerships with local actors is central to FCDO’s modern approach to development and leads to more effective and accountable responses.

We have improved how our Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) enables local leadership, including through a new PrOF principle entitled on “Locally led” which sets out our principles of partnership.

We have simplified due diligence requirements for grants under £250,000, and introduced due diligence passporting with Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative assessments.

Partnerships

Stakeholders increasingly expect more equal partnership with the UK. Modern partnerships, led by our partner countries, remain critical to the UK’s modern approach.

The FCDO’s overseas network will have the flexibility and autonomy to deliver development interventions that our partners want and need.

We need a systematic and coherent approach to build trust and credibility and to shift toward genuine, equitable partnership. This moves beyond short-term transactions, to foster long-term co-operation based on ideas of mutuality.

The ambition for partnership will vary by context and by partner and should take into consideration the political economy of partners. In fragile or conflict-affected states (FCAS), deep government-to-government partnerships may not be feasible.

In some cases, it may be more appropriate to focus on partnerships with regional or local government, civil society, or other influential non-government actors. All contexts should seek to engage the whole of society where possible.

We will also continue to work closely with a range of philanthropic partners across shared priorities as part of a modern, partnerships-led approach to development. Philanthropies bring agility, innovation, and resources that complement and expand the work of governments and other development actors, alongside multilateral efforts.

How we will spend ODA

To fund a necessary increase in defence spending, the government has taken the decision in the current fiscal circumstances to reduce our ODA budget.

With less money, we must make choices and focus on greater impact: every pound must deliver for the UK taxpayer and the people we support.

Our new approach to development utilises a whole of UK approach so we will use our convening power and diplomacy to maximise our impact in priority areas. Our spend will largely focus on:

• Humanitarian: supporting those in most severe humanitarian need in conflict and disasters including by: preventing crises, ensuring greater resilience, and working through local systems and actors where it is effective to do so
• Health: getting behind country priorities to build resilient and sustainable health systems which deliver equitable health outcomes, harnesses human capital, and strengthen UK and global health security
• Climate and nature: promote green and resilient growth; support people to build resilience and adapt to climate impacts; and halt and reverse nature loss.
• Underpinning all of this is our commitment to sustainable and inclusive long-term economic development

The UK plans to spend approximately £1.4 billion each year in the places with the highest humanitarian need over the next 3 years, in addition to our planned commitment to the UN and Red Cross for humanitarian work.

That includes fully protecting funds for Ukraine, Palestine and Sudan – the worst humanitarian crisis of the twenty-first century.

Over the next 3 years, the UK will spend around £6 billion of ODA as International Climate Finance (ICF). We will balance support between mitigation and adaptation and maintain a focus on nature.

By using different instruments and levers, we will aim to deliver an additional £6.7 billion of UK backed climate and nature positive investments and to mobilise billions more in private finance. 

We are also committed to ensuring women and girls are central to development decisions. We have fully protected central programme spending on:

• preventing violence against women and girls
• women, peace and security
• preventing sexual violence in conflict

We are strengthening our approach to mainstreaming gender equality across the FCDO’s work and have raised our ambitions, committing that at least 90% of FCDO bilateral ODA programmes will contribute to gender equality by 2030. 

We will be prioritising multilaterals in our budget, while driving reform of the global development architecture to strengthen its most important parts, helping lower-income countries sustain their progress and become more self-sufficient.

We are backing the most effective and efficient multilateral institutions that can multiply our investment. We will also use our shareholder role and seat at the table to press for innovation and reform, championing a more effective global financial system. 

Internally, we are changing our approach to programme design and approval to take a more holistic portfolio view of how we use all our levers – programme, diplomacy, partnerships – together to deliver ministers’ and partners’ priorities.

1. FCDO uses OECD definition of ‘local actor’ ↩