Response to the Department for International Development’s Bilateral Aid Review

01/03/2011 18:28:00

In response to the Department for International Development’s (DFID) Bilateral Aid Review,
VSO Chief Executive Officer Marg Mayne said:

“We understand that DFID needs to focus its resources and to change its funding allocation as countries develop. VSO will also focus the majority of our programming resources on fragile states and least developed countries, and grow our country programmes where we identify that we can best make a contribution to development. In many of the wealthier countries, like China, VSO’s programmes are focusing on supporting local people to develop their own national volunteering programmes which work to address poverty within their own countries."

“VSO believes that for the moment there is still a role for its unique programmes in some of the poorer countries that DFID is withdrawing from. While we understand the Government’s wish to increase its focus on states pertinent to the UK’s security interests, DFID’s main purpose must remain to reduce global poverty. In this context, we will look closely at the details of DFID’s bilateral programmes when they are announced in April.”

Editor's notes

VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Since 1958 more than 44,000 volunteers have worked in more than 120 countries. Today there are over 1600 international volunteers working in 42 countries around the world.