Policy paper

UK–Madagascar development partnership summary, July 2023

Published 17 July 2023

Introduction

The Strategy for International Development (IDS) places development at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy. It sets out a new approach to development, anchored in patient, long-term partnerships tailored to the needs of the countries we work with, built on mutual accountability and transparency. This approach goes beyond aid and brings the combined power of the UK’s global economic, scientific, security and diplomatic strengths to our development partnerships. Our four priorities are to deliver honest, reliable investment, provide women and girls with the freedom they need to succeed, step up our life-saving humanitarian work, and take forward our work on climate change, nature and global health. The Integrated Review Refresh (IR23) reiterates that sustainable development is central to UK foreign policy and sets out how the UK will go further and faster on development to reduce poverty and reinvigorate progress towards the SDGs. This Country Development Partnership Summary details how the IDS and IR23 will be put into practice with Madagascar.

Country context

Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world not in conflict (with 75%^{[footnote 1]} of its 29 million population^{[footnote 2]} currently in poverty) and one of the few to have seen no gain in GDP per capita since independence. It also has some of the worst human development figures in the world. It is a fragile democracy, undergoing periodic political crises. By 2045, Madagascar is expected to be third in the list of African countries hosting the greatest number of poor people. Governance failings and high population growth (2.4% a year) are key factors.

Madagascar is among the most climate vulnerable countries. Climate change is producing more frequent and worsening cyclones, floods and chronic drought which together exacerbate food insecurity. The fourth largest island in the world is critical for biodiversity, home to tens of thousands of unique, endemic species of animals and plants. Yet Madagascar’s biodiversity is the most threatened in Africa – and as such Madagascar is important to achieving the global outcomes agreed at COP15. Although the illegal wildlife trade is a factor, the main threat is rapid deforestation: stopping it would have significant climate as well as biodiversity benefits.

The Government of Madagascar is formally committed to stopping deforestation and protecting biodiversity, but implementation is weak. The main challenge is finding funds to enable effective management of protected areas, with climate funding a potential game-changer. The UK is directly supporting this through several Defra programmes. Leveraging Defra’s portfolio, we maintain a strong relationship with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and are encouraging policy reforms aimed at unlocking progress on climate and nature. Madagascar is one of the top ten countries in the world in terms of its potential to deliver nature-based solutions to climate change.

Reducing the fertility rate is critical for reducing poverty and inequality, protecting the environment, and achieving national prosperity. Family planning and education enjoy a degree of high-level political support in Madagascar. The President became a Family Planning 2030 champion in 2021. The FCDO’s Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme (WISH) makes a significant contribution to achieving the Ministry of Health’s targets on modern contraception coverage.

Education is under-assisted by international development partners in Madagascar despite very poor learning outcomes. Through the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), we make a major contribution to Madagascar’s national sector plan and primary education reforms while our annual Chevening Scholarships enable about 10 students per year to pursue Master’s degrees in the UK.

Why and how: the UK’s development offer

The UK would like to see Madagascar beginning to reverse its long-term decline in development and biodiversity while avoiding renewed political and humanitarian crises. Specifically, we aim to help Madagascar:

• empower women and girls through better sexual and reproductive health and rights and improved education
• deliver a cleaner, greener planet by protecting and restoring nature and increasing climate resilience
• uphold freedom and democracy via democratic elections and peaceful transition.
• increase prosperity by encouraging trade and UK investment

Women and girls

Through WISH and its successor programme WISH Dividend we contribute to the steady increase in new users of modern contraceptives, to achieve Madagascar’s national targets. We will support the Government to increase operational family planning budgets and we will facilitate dialogue on reducing preventable maternal deaths via proposed legislative changes to allow safe medical abortion.

We actively monitor the GPE-funded primary education programme with respect to delivery and disbursement issues and implementation of broader education sector reforms, providing support where necessary. Alongside the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and others, we lobby for increased Government allocations and higher disbursement rates for the social sectors (health, education, and social assistance).

Climate and nature

Having worked as COP26 Presidency with the Government of Madagascar to encourage adoption of its climate commitments (Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plan), the UK supports their implementation by pushing for better coordination and planning. We also advocate for adoption and implementation of a costed National Bio-Diversity Strategy and Action Plan. In concert with the World Bank and USAID, we are working to support more rapid national progress on the carbon market, encouraging a clearer regulatory framework that will permit more private investment.

Defra’s new Bio-Diverse Landscapes programme works in and around nine Protected Areas on community-based forest conservation. This is complimented by several Darwin Initiative-funded projects which support nature conservation as well as by Defra’s programmes to support better management of Madagascar’s coastal and territorial waters. The Embassy will amplify lessons and results and advocate on policy issues that arise.

Humanitarian, resilience, and disaster preparedness

We are focused on strengthening Madagascar’s ability to prepare for and cope with the impact of regular tropical cyclones and recurring drought. UK-funded START Network members act in anticipation of forecasted extreme weather events to support affected communities. The UK-supported Africa Risk Capacity financing mechanism provides insurance pay-outs to the Government to enable rapid response to natural disasters. Working alongside our UN and African Development Bank (AfDB) partners, we want to ensure the Government can use these funds well, at pace, and transparently. UK scientists are modelling the actual effect of climate change on cyclone strengths and frequency in the sub-region and will support national institutions to set up more accurate and decentralised community early warning systems.

Freedom and democracy

In coordination with like-minded diplomatic missions, we are engaging with the Madagascar government, the opposition parties, and the national electoral commission to increase the chances of a peaceful, fair presidential electoral process in late 2023 and avoid a political crisis. In parallel we are funding Civil Society Organisations working with young voters to increase substantive policy debate.

Prosperity

The new British Chamber of Commerce is supporting companies investing in Madagascar to navigate the regulatory framework for doing business. A small UK Trade Partnerships programme helps companies to export more textiles to the UK and is much appreciated by the government and private sector alike. We are lobbying for ratification of the new UK – Eastern and Southern Africa Economic Partnership Agreement by both Madagascar and Comoros, and for Madagascar to ratify the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.

Who we work with

The UK is not a major bilateral donor in Madagascar, compared to France, Germany, the U.S and EU. Also, UK-Madagascar trade is low (£54 million in the past year), reflecting the challenging business climate, small private sector, and lack of close ties to the UK. Our role is nevertheless welcomed by the Malagasy (who view the UK fondly as the first country to recognise Madagascar, in 1817) and by the other development partners, especially in niche areas of human development and the environment. We work closely with the larger bilateral partners in Madagascar as well as with the UN, World Bank, IMF and AfDB with no major differences of approach.

The World Bank accounts for the largest proportion of UK core contributions to multilaterals, closely followed by the IMF, then the Global Fund for AIDS TB and Malaria, the African Development Fund and GAVI. The World Bank and African Development Bank are critical partners on human development, water and clean energy infrastructure, protected areas management and climate finance. As a major shareholder, we engage to ensure programmes are realistic on risks and clear on results.

Key programmes

The UK’s bilateral ODA offer depends principally on regional centrally managed programmes, amounting to £10.7 million in 2021 to 2022^{[footnote 3]}.

Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) (FCDO) and the Bio-Diverse Landscapes Fund (BLF) (Defra) are the 2 largest centrally managed programmes at approximately £2.2 million and £1.4 million per year respectively.

Women and girls

WISH

Sexual and reproductive health services are a strategic investment for achieving economic growth (in GDP per capita), relieving pressure on basic services, and addressing extreme poverty, malnutrition, and deforestation.

The Global Partnership for Education

This partnership is of great importance in an under-funded sector on which the national Sustainable Development Goal indicators are in decline.

The Global Financing Facility

This programme, managed through the World Bank, contributes to Ministry of Health efforts to improve Maternal Neo-Natal and Child Health in Madagascar.

Climate and nature

The Bio-Diverse Landscapes Fund

A contracted consortium of NGOs manages nine Protected Areas. Together they are testing and evaluating improved models of community-led conservation and sustainable livelihoods in and around dry and humid forests.

The Blue Planet Fund

This new programme will provide targeted technical assistance to the Government of Madagascar as part of the Oceans Partnership and a Social Capital Challenge Fund for Small Island Developing States, including Comoros.

The Blue Forests Programme

Defra funds the NGO Blue Ventures to protect mangroves along the west and north coasts. This has included an innovative blue carbon pilot.

The Darwin Initiative

This initiative funds a wide range of conservation projects, both scientific and policy focused, in Madagascar and Comoros.

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund

Projects being considered for funding are increasingly focused on tackling the international up-stream demand for Madagascar’s endangered species in addition to on-the-ground protection.

The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

With World Bank facilitation, this fund is establishing the Government of Madagascar’s first at-scale forest protection programmes (REDD+).

Humanitarian preparedness and resilience

The Africa Regional Humanitarian Response Fund

This fund, dedicated to smaller posts, enables the UK to contribute to national crisis response and to improving preparedness.

African Risk Capacity

This is a strategic investment in subsidised disaster risk insurance premiums for vulnerable countries. Madagascar has taken out sovereign policies for cyclones and drought and received recent pay-outs.

Climate and Resilience programme (CLARE)/Resilience and Preparedness to Tropical Cyclones across Southern Africa (REPRESA)

This is a new action research programme on climate-adjusted cyclone forecasting and early warning mechanisms which will support the Government’s national crisis management offices and local communities to better prepare.

The Data and Evidence to End Extreme Poverty (DEEP) programme

This programme will generate learning on what works to increase household resilience and reduce extreme poverty in the arid south of Madagascar, through university/NGO operational research partnerships.

The Anti-Microbial Resistance project (UN One Health)

This project supports the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Water and Environment to assess and reduce anti-microbial resistance in humans and livestock.

Prosperity

United Kingdom Trade Partnership (UKTP)

This programme is working with companies in the textiles sector to increase their exports and profit-margins.

Support to the IMF Programme (SIMF)

This enables AFTRAC South to provide tailored capacity building support and an embedded advisor to Madagascar’s Ministry of Finance.

Financial Sector Deepening Africa (HiFi) and the Mobile for Development Strategic Partnership

These programmes work towards greater financial inclusion via digitalised banking and the expansion of mobile money.

Financial information

Initial allocations have been set internally to deliver the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy (May 2022) and the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, based on the FCDO’s Spending Review 2021 settlement.

The department’s spending plans for the period from 2022 to 2023 until 2024 to 2025 have been revisited to ensure His Majesty’s Government continues to spend around 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA. This was in the context of the significant and unexpected costs incurred to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, and others seeking asylum. The Government provided additional resources of £1 billion in 2022 to 2023 and £1.5 billion in 2023 to 2024 to help meet these unanticipated costs. The Government remains committed to returning ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI when the fiscal situation allows, in line with the approach confirmed by the House of Commons in July 2021.

The country development partnership summaries include the breakdown of programme budgets allocated to individual countries for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. These allocations are indicative and subject to revision as, by its nature, the department’s work is dynamic. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

It should be noted that these figures do not reflect the full range of UK ODA spending in these individual countries as they do not include spend delivered via core contributions to multilateral organisations, or regional programmes delivered by the FCDO’s central departments. Other UK Government departments also spend a large amount of ODA overseas. Details of ODA spent by other UK government departments can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts and the Statistics for International Development.

FCDO ODA allocation (International Programme Funds only)

Allocated ODA budget for financial year 2023 to 2024	Indicative ODA budget for financial year 2024 to 2025
£120,000	£120,000

1. New Institut National des Statistique (INSTAT)/WB figures to be released in 2023. ↩

2. Worldometer/UN ↩

3. FCDO only – Defra’s annual ODA Management Information is not available ↩