THREAD: The UK has played a leadership role in global development for decades #globalbritain

Thanks to the internationally respected Department for International Development, which pioneered the aid quality standards by which others now abide, governments around the world take the UK’s development policy seriously. #globalbritain

The first resolution on The Common Aid Effort was adopted in 1961 at a meeting in Church House, London, opened by Selwyn Lloyd, Chancellor of the Exchequer and chaired by Sir Frank Lee, Permanent Secretary of the Treasury. #globalbritain

The UK was among the first countries in 1970 to agree to a peer review of its aid programme to ensure quality and a focus on poverty. #globalbritain

The country also played a prominent role in defining Official Development Assistance (ODA) and writing the rules that today govern cUS$150 billion of aid spending annually. #globalbritain

Today the guardian of these rules, the Development Assistance Committee, is chaired by UK diplomat Susannah Moorehead. #globalbritain

The UK co-chaired the group that created the first draft of the Sustainable Development Goals – the UN’s blueprint for ending poverty that all of the world’s governments signed up to. #globalbritain

The UK also spearheaded anti-corruption policies through hosting the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit, and through launching the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. @EITIorg #globalbritain

From the start of 2015 until the end of 2017, support from the Department for International Development (DFID) helped immunise an estimated 37.4 million children, saving 610,000 lives – a population larger than the size of Sheffield.

The UK was the first and is currently the only G7 country to reach the UN’s target for spending 0.7% of GNI in aid – spurring more ambition from Germany France and Ireland. #globalbritain

In the words of Lord Hannay of Chiswick, former UK ambassador to the UN, “Our Official Development Assistance remains needed and appreciated in a wide range of developing countries whose future prosperity will contribute to our own.” #globalbritain