Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department plans to increase the levels of funding for (a) large and (b) small and medium non governmental organisations.

NGOs of all sizes are key policy and delivery partners for DFID and we are committed to working with the sector to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19. In country we estimate that around a quarter of existing DFID programmes are implemented directly through NGOs partners. Many NGOs will also receive funding as part of DFID’s significant investment in the multilateral response to COVID-19.

The Chancellor has set out the risk that the UK economy will face a significant recession this year. All government departments are working through how their plans will need to change in the light of this. DFID is no exception. The Government’s 0.7% GNI target is directly linked to the performance of the UK economy and we need to prepare for this by prioritising our lifesaving aid. No decision has been taken yet, but we are considering the full range of our work.

However, we expect NGOs will in many cases receive additional funding through new centrally-managed programmes and funding mechanisms: including through the Rapid Response Facility, a COVID-19 themed UK Aid Direct round, DFID’s new partnership with Unilever, the START Fund, and a possible contribution to a Disasters and Emergency Committee appeal.