Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Reducing Maternal and Newborn Deaths in Kenya.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The 'Reducing Maternal and Newborn Deaths in Kenya' programme was a ten-year, £64.6 million intervention which ended in March 2023. The most recent Review in June 2021 found the programme to be effective in scaling up service delivery and scored it an A. The programme resulted in increased skilled birth attendance rate, reductions in still birth rate and helped reduce maternal deaths from 362 to 355 per 100,000 live births.
It also highlighted lessons learnt, including the need to scale up training in emergency obstetric and newborn care, and the importance of staff retention and establishment of supportive governance structures.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Girls Education Project Phase Three.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Girls Education Project 3 (GEP3) was designed to improve education quality and access in six Nigerian states with high numbers of out-of-school girls. Between 2012 and 2022, the project supported 1.5 million additional girls to access schooling. It increased enrolment of girls, and improved education system governance and planning. GEP3 improved education quality by training over 64,000 teachers.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Supporting peace and stability in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to spending UK aid in support of sustainable peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). From 2014-2022 the UK funded the "Supporting Peace & Stability in Eastern DRC" programme. In line with the UK's commitment to aid transparency, the programme's completion report is available, open source, on DevTracker, published in July 2022. The report makes a full assessment of the programme's results and effectiveness. While delivering stabilisation programming in DRC is challenging, the report notes the programme contributed to "reducing conflict at community level and better equipped international and national partners to address DRC's myriad conflicts over the long-term".
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Private Enterprise Programme in Zambia Grant.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
FCDO development programmes are managed in accordance with FCDO's Programme Operating Framework. Annual Reviews for FCDO programmes are carried out by FCDO staff and published on the DevTracker website. For the year 2020-2021 the Private Enterprise Programme in Zambia Phase II scored an 'A+' which means that its performance moderately exceeded expectations. The 2021-2022 Annual Review is also available on DevTracker and the 2022-2023 review will be published in due course.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Public Financial Management and Accountability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The objective of the Public Financial Management and Accountability programme was to support the more effective use of public resources to better enable pro-poor service delivery and more accountable government. In 2020 and 2021 the Public Financial Management and Accountability programme supported improvements to local level government service delivery in South Kivu and North Kivu, support to Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential monitoring unit to improve tracking of education and health reform. For further details the full annual reviews for 2020 and 2021 can be found on Devtracker.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use (£140 million, 2015-23) is flagship UK forest programme. It aims to catalyse private investment into sustainable businesses, creating jobs, supporting growth and protecting and restoring forests.
To date, the programme has mobilised over £1 billion of private investment across 4 million hectares of land, benefiting over 250,000 people, mainly small farmers and poor rural communities in remote forest regions of developing countries.
Working in this way ensures that the impact of UK funding is amplified, through mobilising a greater level of private investment, generating enhanced benefits for poor people, the climate and nature.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of funding for the Global Health Clinical Trials Initiative.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Global Health Research Team in FCDO undertake annual performance assessments of the Joint Global Health Trials scheme during the annual review process. The reviews consistently rated the programme as having met or exceeded expectations. An independent review of the programme was conducted in 2019 and concluded it is delivering on its original aim and is filling an important gap in the research landscape.
The scheme has funded an ambitious portfolio of trials in global health which are delivering results to influence and change policy. To date, the scheme has made more than 120 awards. All programme assessments are published on DevTracker on the FCDO external website.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience Grant.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience (SHEAR) programme ended in 2021. The programme's final review concluded that the programme exceeded expectations, having developed new and improved climate science and strengthened the evidence base in relation to emergency responses. The programme improved disaster resilience and humanitarian responses by advancing the monitoring, assessment and prediction of natural hazards and risks across 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Learning from SHEAR continues to be applied in our responses and planning for hazards including our emergency response to Tropical Cyclone Freddy in early 2023.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Harnessing Non-State Actors for Better Health for the Poor funding.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
In August 2022, FCDO published a Project Completion Review of the Harnessing Non-State Actors for Better Health for the Poor that provides our assessment of the effectiveness of the programme. The Review was based on routine programme monitoring reports and findings from an independent qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the programme. Overall, the programme reached around two million poor people, resulting in averting an estimated 9268 maternal and child deaths, and lessons learnt throughout the programme were used by implementors to strengthen their programme approaches in collaboration with partners.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Grant.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
FCDO provided a range of grants for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2020-21 under a number of different programmes. FCDO programmes undergo a formal review of progress and effectiveness at regular intervals, and upon completion, using an agreed results framework, and are monitored and reviewed throughout their lifetime. Annual and Project Closure Reviews are published here: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/.
FCDO engages systematically with multilateral partners, such as UNHCR, as members of their governing bodies, and through regular bilateral engagement. This provides us with the opportunity to monitor and scrutinise the organisation's strategic performance, and matters relating to effectiveness can be raised through these channels.