The news was part of Mitchells announcement on the future of the United Kingdoms global aid programme over the next four years.
According to forecasts from the UKs Department for International Development (DFID), the aid programme in Zimbabwe is set to increase to over $150 million (95 million) by 2014/15. Mitchell also made clear that Britain stands ready to offer more help if the Inclusive Government implements the reforms promised in the Global Political Agreement and holds credible elections.
Ambassador Mark Canning said: This is great news for ordinary Zimbabweans. We have a proven track record of delivering benefits to Zimbabwe and now we will be able to do even more. We will, for example, be able to improve food security for an additional 500,000 people; support 420,000 children to complete five years of primary school; create jobs for 125,000 people (two thirds of whom will be women) and help provide one million people with access to clean drinking water. Amidst so much political propaganda around the issue of so-called sanctions, this demonstrates yet again that the United Kingdom is firmly committed to supporting Zimbabwe and improving the lives of the most disadvantaged.
Over the next four years the UKs development programme in Zimbabwe will focus on health, particularly maternal and child health, on education, on increasing access to safe water and sanitation and on continuing to build livelihoods for the most vulnerable.
Mitchells announcement was part of a major shake-up of the UKs aid programme, designed to ensure that UK aid was focused more tightly on the countries where British assistance can have a significant long-term impact on poverty. The UKs contributions to multilateral development organisations were also scrutinised.
By 2016, DFID will have bilateral programmes in the following countries only Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
DFIDs bilateral programmes in the following countries will come to an end Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cambodia, China, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Kosovo, Lesotho, Moldova, Niger, Russia, Serbia and Vietnam.
Following the review, the following four organisations have been rated as providing poor value for money and will no longer receive DFID core funding the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UN-HABITAT and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The following organisations will be placed in special measures the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the development programmes of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and UNESCO.
For more information on the UKs new aid priorities, please go to: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/barmar .
Post published in: News