James Barbour

Blog Action Day: Russia and development

Today is Blog Action Day.  Almost 10,000 blogs have signed up to discuss the same topic on the same day – poverty.

One of the goals for this blog is to expand on this Embassy, who we are and what we do. So for today's post I want to talk a little about what DFID, the UK’s Department for International Development, is up to in Russia.

One of the basic premises on which we, as a government, engage with Russia is that, in whatever we want to achieve internationally, Russia - as a G8 and P5 colleague - is an important partner. This includes international development.

As a government our primary objective, through DFID, is to achieve long-term poverty reduction, in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals.  But we can't achieve this on our own.  We need the rest of the international community, including Russia, on board.  Which is why this Embassy has a Development Secretary, my friend and colleague Tom Kelly.

Tom has been in Russia for about a year, working closely with both the Russian government and the World Bank here in Russia .  He's working on a programme of support with the World Bank that will help the Russian Government in several key areas:

- providing technical capacity so Russia can learn how other G8 countries manage their aid programmes;

- better co-ordinating our aid in sectors and regions that both the UK and Russia have prioritised (health and education, and Central Asia);

- building stronger partnerships for more and better aid in Russia, working with the World Bank, NGOs and the Russian academic community.

It’s early days, but Tom’s work has four practical outputs which, if achieved, will help to strengthen and channel Russia’s role as a development partner .  These are key areas where the Russian Government have asked for support. 

1.  Aid statistics reporting.   Russia plans to double its aid spending.  But like any big donor, it wants to be able to record and report its aid accurately.  We are helping Russia to develop an aid reporting system that benefits from the experience of established donors such as the OECD donor group (of which the UK is part) . In other words, we all need to know what each other is doing, and to speak the same language.

2.  Monitoring and evaluation. Like us, Russia wants to track the impact of its aid –  so it knows that its aid is being well spent, and in areas where support is needed.

3.  Communications. Like in the UK, Russia wants to be able to tell its politicians and its public why and how aid is being provided, so that the case for a Russian aid programme is understood and supported.

4.  Courses in international development. Russia has some strong, world-class academic institutions. We want to build awareness of aid in Russia, using these institutions and linking them with similar people elsewhere in the world. All the established donor countries agree that policy advice and guidance on development, from a range of sources - Government, civil society, academic - is vital in developing sound aid policy and programmes.  We want to help Russia do this, too.    

We know Russia takes development seriously. The Prime Minister and President Medvedev talked about development when they met earlier this year. David Miliband and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, include development on the agenda of their discussions.

This is good.

If you’re trying to achieve a goal as important and as tough as poverty elimination, working with Russia isn’t optional, it’s vital.

Posted at 07:10 15 October 2008 by James Barbour  |  Comments[3]