Where does our aid money go?

There have been a number of articles recently questioning the UK’s continued commitment to international aid. And at a time when many are facing the impact of cuts, it’s only fair that people are asking some very understandable questions – where does our money go? Is it worth spending 0.7% of national income on aid? What will it really achieve?

Today, we at the grassroots anti-poverty movement, ONE, are releasing a report – the first of its kind – looking at exactly what the UK taxpayer could expect to see delivered for less than a penny in a pound of national income spent on development. And there are some truly great results.

If the Chancellor keeps his promise of spending 0.7% of national income by 2013, in the next 4 years UK aid will:

• Vaccinate over 80 million children against life-threatening diseases, saving 1.4 million lives. That’s one and a half times the population of Birmingham.
• Give 77.6 million people access to the basics needed to set up their own business, such as bank accounts and credit, helping them to lift themselves out of poverty.
• Support 44.9 million more people to vote in freer and fairer elections. Stronger, more stable countries are of course one of the first lines of defence for those of us in the UK too.
• And we’ll provide 633,000 people with life-saving treatment for HIV, helping us on the road to seeing an AIDS free generation arrive in 2015, with mother to child transmission brought to an end.

Andrew Mitchell’s right in that supporting those who have a less fortunate start in life than us is absolutely in our British DNA. We’re all feeling the pinch at home, but record breaking levels of giving to last year’s Comic Relief show that our ability to relate to those trying to make ends meet on just a dollar a day still remains second to none.

In their 2010 election manifestos, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats stepped up to join Labour in promising to deliver just 0.7% of national income to help those in the poorest of countries. But the Government hasn’t yet confirmed when they will enshrine this in law.

With the UK Budget just around the corner on Wednesday, this is an important moment for those who would be able to leave poverty behind. We hope George Osborne will reaffirm his commitment to deliver on UK aid in the Budget, and set us on a proud course to be the first G8 country to meet the 0.7% goal.

You can see the full report here, and show your support for making these incredible results a reality by sharing them with others at #bigdifference on Twitter.