The Government’s foreign aid bosses have been told they must make “significant” improvements to their fight against corruption overseas.
The words come from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) watchdog, which said that at least one programme supported by British funds even appeared to have “increased the opportunities for corruption”.
The Department for International Development, which administers most UK aid overseas, was given an amber rating for its anti-corruption effort, a grade that means it is performing relatively poorly and significant improvements must be made.
Graham Ward, chief commissioner at the ICAI, said they had seen “very little evidence that the work DFID is doing to combat corruption is successfully addressing the impact of corruption as experienced by the poor.”
“Indeed, there is little indication that DFID has sought to address the forms of corruption that most directly affect the poor – so-called ‘petty corruption’,” he added.
“This is a gap in DFID’s programming that needs to be filled.”
The ICAI’s report examined the situation in Nepal, where it said there was a “growing acceptance” of corruption and DFID was criticised for supporting at least one programme that appeared to have “increased the opportunities for corruption in society”.
Poor people were having to pay bribes or forge documents to get funds through a programme backed by British aid, and political sensitivities were also blamed for restricting the government department’s willingness to tackle corruption.
ICAI said the situation was “highly problematic”, calling on the Government to make more detailed plans to tackle corruption and run more programmes targeting the issue.
Lead commissioner Mark Foster said: “The UK should take an ambitious stance with respect to tackling corruption around the world as experienced by the poor.”
Labour said the report was “damning” and that International Development Secretary Justine Greening had been “asleep at the wheel”.
But a DFID spokeswoman said: “We have anti-corruption and counter-fraud plans for each country that we give bilateral aid to.
“While these plans are tailored to the individual needs of each country, they are based on a common principle that tackles the root causes of corruption by building strong institutions and requiring good governance.”
Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-aid-programmes-not-tackling-corruption-073424365.html
UK Aid Programmes 'Not Tackling Corruption'
No comments:
Post a Comment