More wasteful DfID spending exposed

Even by its own scant performance assessment, one in four of DfID’s main overseas programmes are failing as reported in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph. Meanwhile some of the funded projects are so absurd that they rival the cronyistic “awareness” spending that we’ve revealed at IPN. One programme, for example, spent £190,991 on “strengthening the voices of older people” in Ukraine.

New Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell continues to make cuts in wasteful or self-serving projects, but is tied to the commitment of increasing DfID’s budget irrespective of these factors. The government recognises that there are unaccountable and opaque projects within DfID’s budget, but is still throwing (extra) billions in their direction. These revelations are a stark reminder that this unscrutinised spending can not only wasteful, but can actually harm development.