UNICEF staff and airport workers unload medical supplies in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Tuesday as part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the region.Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters
Canada’s International Development Minister says there should be a greater link between trade and foreign aid, plus more incentives for private investors to play a role in funding international development programs.
Randeep Sarai, the Secretary of State for International Development, told a global conference in London on Tuesday, “We need to first stop treating trade and development as two separate things. We don’t need to be shy about it.”
“Since we’ve pushed in that trajectory, the recipient countries actually were saying: ‘Why did it take you so long? This is what we’ve been waiting for.’”
Mr. Sarai was among dozens of representatives from governments, charities and businesses who participated in the Global Partnerships Conference, a two-day meeting co-hosted by Britain and South Africa on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The conference highlighted the shift many Western governments have made in their approach to foreign aid as public funding for direct assistance dries up. Governments are hoping to fill the gap by relying on partnerships with charities, private investors and organizations within recipient countries.
In a sign of that shift, the conference was co-hosted by British International Investment, the global financial development arm of the U.K. government, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based charity.
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Official development assistance (ODA) has fallen dramatically in the United States, Canada, Japan and across Europe as spending on defence ramps up.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has calculated that Western countries cut ODA by 23.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025 − the largest contraction on record and the second consecutive year of decline. The OECD, which represents 38 industrialized countries, expects ODA to drop another 6 per cent this year.
Canada is cutting $2.7-billion in foreign aid over the next four years, and the British government is lowering its spending from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the meeting that, given the increased volatility in the world and the financial strain facing governments, “bold new approaches” are needed.
“We need to be honest that as well as keeping up with changing times, we need to address some of the deficiencies in some of the traditional ways we’ve done development in the past: the external blueprints, the paternalism, the policies that increased dependency rather than building resilience,” she said.
She added that Britain was moving from “donor to investor” and “putting partnership and the focus on local needs at the centre of what we do.”
During a panel discussion, Mr. Sarai said governments need to incentivize more private investment in foreign aid projects. “How can we get the trillions of dollars that are out there, that are sitting on the sidelines, mobilized?”
Randeep Sarai, Canada's Secretary of State for International Development, speaks in the House of Commons on April 20.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The conference’s emphasis on private investment was met with caution from many non-governmental organizations.
Representatives from 82 NGOs, including Oxfam, World Vision and the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a joint statement that they welcomed the increased involvement of financial players and other businesses.
“Private finance can play an important and complementary role, but it cannot be a substitute for ODA, especially when responding to conflict, humanitarian crises including in the hardest to reach places, and supporting those facing extreme poverty,” the statement said.
Jessica Salter, a spokesperson for London-based Bond, which represents 300 organizations, said NGOs are concerned that the private sector will be seen as a silver bullet. “The NGOs know it’s not that simple. It can’t be a complete substitute for ODA,” she said in an interview.
She pointed to the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, which the World Health Organization has called an emergency of international concern. “Look at what’s happening with the Ebola crisis, and the U.K. government has cut funding to its pandemic preparedness fund, and we know that there’s going to be impacts,” she said.
During the conference, several speakers spoke about the need to reform multilateral aid organizations and mobilize domestic resources − both government and private − in recipient countries.
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Éléonore Caroit, France’s Minister Responsible for Francophonie, International Partnerships and French Nationals Abroad, acknowledged that there has been a backlash against foreign aid in the U.S. and other countries, which led to the funding cuts.
“Sometimes there’s a misperception of how much we’re investing in development and the actions that this is leading to, and it is our responsibility to have the right approach and narrative,” she said.
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, chief executive of the African Center for Economic Transformation, a non-profit based in Ghana’s capital, Accra, warned that the global financial system also needs reform.
“We have a global financial system that is not working, and the reason the global financial system is not working is because it’s outdated,” she told the conference.
She cited global tax structures that allow large corporations to avoid paying local taxes and international trade measures that hamper exports from African countries. “These are the challenges that are playing out as a result of the system just not being fit for today,” she said.