DFID announces diversion of plans to increase funds to Afghanistan by 40%

The announcement from Andrew Mitchell, the Secretary of State for International Development, on Sunday that Britain will increase aid to Afghanistan by 40% has been widely discussed in the media. This is, after all, something which directly affects British troops, with Mitchell emphasising the positive impact that he believes the proposed increase in aid will have on the efforts to pull troops out of Afghanistan.

The amount pledged to stabilisation efforts in the country adds up to £700m over the next four years… quite a substantial sum then. Amid calls from various charities that the money must not be used to support military objectives, it is difficult to ignore the ongoing debate that has been circling the development world over the past few years, that more aid needs to be directed towards fragile states. Ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan is clearly a country in need of development assistance and an extra £700m has the potential to create huge positive changes in the country.

What must be remembered though, is that financial assistance cannot bring such change, especially in such an insecure environment, without effective measures in place to ensure transparency and accountability in delivering that aid. Without mechanisms to track the money at each stage of the implementation chain, from when it is disbursed by DFID to the moment it reaches the ground in Afghanistan, it will be extremely difficult to assess whether this money has been put to its intended use.

We often use an example from Afghanistan when illustrating the problems created by the current lack of transparency and accountability in the aid process; this is the story, used as evidence to suppport our Show Me the Money report, of how $150m in aid went up in smoke.

The needs of Afghanistan are not in doubt, but progress is most difficult to achieve in the countries which need aid most – the fragile states where extreme poverty is the norm, institutions are weak, corruption is a problem and insecurity is a permanent hazard. British taxpayers and the people of Afghanistan have a right to see where these additional resources are going, what they are going to be used for and what outcomes are expected and achieved.

Increasing aid to Afghanistan means less aid elsewhere, since the additional resources will be taken from DFID programmes in other countries. This makes it doubly important to ensure that in future, increased aid to Afghanistan delivers real benefits to Afghan women, men and children living in poverty, and ensures good value for money to UK taxpayers.

DFID has already taken bold steps to increase its transparency by promoting a UKAid Transparency Guarantee and by supporting the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), both of which we warmly welcome. The challenge ahead is to implement these initiatives in practice, demonstrating clearly the tangible results of increased aid spending in Afghanistan – unless this is done, there is a real risk that this increased aid will also go up in smoke.