Business as usual won’t cut it, says International Development Secretary
Melanie May | 27 February 2018 | News
Speaking at yesterday’s (26 February) annual Bond Conference, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said that the recent sexual exploitation scandal had resulted because of a failure by the sector to put the beneficiaries of aid first, and that much change was needed.
In her speech at the Bond Conference, Mordaunt said:
“We failed to put the beneficiaries of aid first. The result was the grotesque fact of aid workers sexually exploiting the most vulnerable people, and threatening whistle-blowers if they protested.”
She suggested that fundraising pressures, competition, and protecting charities’ reputations may have led to the problem of people not speaking out about sexual misconduct and called for the sector to put the needs of the beneficiaries of aid first, to live up to the values of the nation, and have a ‘to be list’ as well as a ‘to do list’ in order to right the current wrongs plaguing the sector.
Making these changes, Mordaunt said, would improve performance, enable others to help, and gain the public’s support, who, she said “continue to give but…on many fronts they want us to raise our game: on what you do, on what I fund, and what together we can achieve.”
In addition, Mordaunt drew attention to the Global Goals and said that the sector was also failing on delivering these. She announced that she will shortly bring forward a new development offer focused on delivering the Goals that will require significant changes in the way charities work, and will also see funding stop for organisations that do not deliver.
She said:
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“It will require us to change where we work and who we work with, and greater cooperation between DFID and our armed forces.
“It will depend on the private sector.
“It will require more sharing of data and working together.
“It will compel us to leave no one behind.
“It will make UK aid work harder – delivering for the world’s poor, but also for the UK’s security and prosperity, upon which UK aid depends.
“It will require me to stop funding organisation that do not deliver our objectives, contribute to the Goals, or live up to our standards.”
Bond, the international development network for UK charities, recently published a letter from 22 charities in which they committed to better action on safeguarding, including Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, UNICEF UK, Save the Children UK, WaterAid, and VSO.
Picture: Penny Mordaunt MP, Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, 25 November 2017. By Russell Watkins/Department for International Development
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.