Two Things
We would like to hear your views on Labour’s record on international development. Please write a comment with…
- 1 thing you like that Labour has done on international development
- 1thing you want Labour to do better…
28 Comments
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1 thing I like: Well lots of things, obviously! But I would say the way aid is being used to build up national health & national education services, rather than tokenistic little projects. That’s the long term solution that’s needed.
1 thing we could do better: Make trade fair. Given that it has the power to lift millions out of poverty, I’d like to have seen us throw more political capital into changing EU policy for the better.
1 thing I like: the creation of DfID as a free-standing Department back in 1997 showed from the outset that Labour’s commitment to international development was much more than mere tokenism
1 thing we could do better: involve NGO’s on the ground more to improve co-ordination; at the moment there appears that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing leading to missed opportunities or duplication.
1 thing I like: Labour’s commitment to healthcare around the world. Notably in helping to train around 78,000 health professionals and its support for the International Health Partnership (IHP)- all of which has helped bring improved health services to those in the most need.
1 thing we could do better: To try and push international development even further up the political agenda in order to help as many people around the world as possible.
1 thing I like: Labour’s action on debt relief is something that I truly admire. Allowing the poorest countries to concentrate on development, rather than servicing interest payments on loans, has so much potential.
1 thing we could do better: We need to push even harder for a fair international trade regime. It’s a tough fight, but the values it requires are those that are fundamental to the Labour movement: fairness and justice, regardless of wealth.
1 thing I like: Forging a commitment from 98 countries to increase aid by £50 billion per year
1 thing we could do better: ensure that all aid is used effectively and given to the most in need.
1 thing I like: The emphasis on security in the recent white paper.
1 thing we could do better: Greater emphasis on entrepreneurialism and small scale private sector activity in development solutions
1 thing I like: The focus on the importance of security to development and recognition that development is an inherently political process.
1 thing we could do better: Concentrate on developing accountability mechanisms within developing countries.
1 thing I like: Everything so far!
1 thing we could do better: Remember the British Overseas Territories, and the British Indian Ocean Territory in particular. DfID money could be used to fund a resettlement of the Chagos Islands.
1 thing I like: Created and devoted substantial resources towards DfID.
1 thing we could do better: DfID closing the office in Cambodia.
1 thing I like: Creation of DfID and positioning the Uk as leader on international development, specifically commitment to vaccine research (e.g. for HIV) which doesn’t have short term results but will make a real long term difference.
1 thing we could do better: Introduce financial transaction tax.
1 thing I like: Labour’s commitment to eleviating poverty in Africa and support for developing nations.
1 thing we could do better: Encouraging stronger civic commitments for international development. Encourage the USA’s increased participation.
1 thing I like: De-linking aid from arms sales etc.
1 thing we could do better: Tobin tax!
1 thing I like: Puting the issue into the mainstream- the mobilization around the Jubilee 2000 and Drop the Debt 2005 campaigns.
1 thing we could do better: Promote the good work even more.
1 thing I like: Creation of DfID; maintaining a focus on violence against women.
1 thing we could do better: Incorporate more clear strategies in delivering the MDG’s
1 thing I like: debt reduction/cancellation.
1 thing we could do better: Use aid as a political message: against oppression/conflict, for gender equality and against climate change.
1 thing I like: Work on eradicating Polio.
1 thing we could do better: More involvement in the humanitarian crisis in the Congo.
1 thing I like: DfID is leading in development around the world.
1 thing we could do better: Not enough focus on children in development.
1 thing I like: Gleneagles G7 summit helping to make poverty history.
1 thing we could do better: Fight for an international tax on financial transactions to help pay for international development.
1 thing I like: Global leadership- particularly at a time when domestic pressures could take over the agenda.
1 thing we could do better: Extend focus on Maternal health to include newborn and child health
1 think I like: leading the world in cancelling Third World debt.
1 thing we can do better: Do more to engage and involve faith communities in eradicating extreme poverty by 2015.
1 thing I like: A seven year old girl with AIDS in South Africa said “Thank you Britain” to me. That’s enough.
1 thing we could do better: Meet the 0.7%.
1 thing I like: Bought the international development agenda into the ‘mainstream’.
1 thing we could do better: More work on trade laws- e.g. removing barriers to trade that hold back exports of developing countries, like CAD.
1 thing I like: Encouraging medical link and global health by enabling junior doctors to work abroad in the framework of their professional development.
1 thing we could do better: Allow exchange of medical skills by promoting global health in postgraduate training.
1 thing I like: Reducing spending on pro-privatisation consultants regarding developing countries’ water supplies.
1 thing we could do better: Take action on trade justice as demanded by, for instance, Make Poverty History.
1 thing I like: Raised the promenance of the department profile of development issues.
1 thing we could do better: Move closer towards 0.7% (aid as % of GNI).
1 thing I like: When Gordon Brown was Chancellor, he very quietly cancelled the debt owed by Mozambique (an example) to the UK. Sometimes the right thing to do is straightforward, and you just have to go and do it.
1thing we could do better: campaign to end taxpayer subsidies to the arms trade, through the Defence Security Organisation. British made (and subsidised) weapons are fuelling conflict and supporting regimes with terrible human rights records, such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and even Zimbabwe.
Things I like – work on poverty relief; concentration on health and education; making international development central to the national political debate.
Things I don’t like – the CDC and the whole company structure which I think is immoral.
One Thing I like: Gordon standing firm with Mugabe
One thing we could do better: Convince better the UN and other agencies of the need to link the MDGs in international strategies. They’re so interlinked that the failure to progress one of them (like sanitation) is impacting negatively on the progress of others (child and maternal health).