1. This section considers what sectors UK aid supports within developing countries. DFID uses input sector codes to track its expenditure to sectors. An explanation on input sector codes is provided in Section 2. It is important that readers be aware that demonstrating the exact areas on which aid is being spent is not a simple and exact exercise and a certain amount of judgement is involved. Increasingly projects are multi-dimensional and address interrelated policy areas. In addition more innovative types of aid instruments are being introduced. Together these make attributing expenditure to specific topics difficult.
2. Figure 11 shows the split of DFID’s bilateral programme between sectors for 2005/06 to 2009/10. In 2009/10 22 per cent of DFID’s bilateral programme was classified under the ‘economic’ sector (£865m). This was followed by the ‘government & civil society’ (18% or £716m) and the ‘health’ (17% or £683m) sectors. ‘Humanitarian Assistance’ received the next largest amount with 11 per cent (£437m), followed by ‘education’ with 10 per cent (£395m).
3. The sector seeing the greatest increase in support in 2009/10 was ‘economic’, which increased by £338m (or 64%). This increase is mainly due to a few new large projects which were either wholly or partly allocated to this sector; most notably the Global Trade Liquidity Programme (£230m).
4. There was also a large increase in the amount of DFID bilateral assistance that was “Non-Sector Allocable”, which increased by £212m (from £60m in 2008/09 to £272m in 2009/10). This increase is partly down to the recoding of Programme Partnership Agreements (£129m in 2009/10) which were recoded from the ‘government & civil society’ sector to ‘non-sector allocable’.
5. Figure 12 shows how the DFID bilateral programme is broken down by sector and region. From this figure we can see that compared to the rest of the world, more funding was allocated to the basic services sectors in Africa and Asia (i.e. Health, Education, Water & Sanitation and Social services).
6. In 2009/10, ‘Health’ was the largest sector in Africa (£327m) and Asia (£247m), accounting for 20 and 23 per cent of DFID bilateral assistance in each region. In Europe, the Americas and Pacific, ‘Government & Civil Society’ was the largest sector, accounting for £25m (or 29%) of the DFID bilateral assistance in that region. In Africa and Asia the ‘Government & Civil Society’ sector accounted for the second largest share.
7. In Africa support to basic services decreased by a total of £65m (or 9 per cent) between 2008/09 and 2009/10: ‘social services’ is down by £29m; ‘education’ by £26m and ‘health’ by £24m (only ‘water & sanitation increased’ by £14m). This is due to a number of projects in these sectors either closing or seeing a reduction in spend: including the Education Fast Track Initiative; the Productive Safety Nets project in Ethiopia; the HIV/AIDS Multi Sector Programme in South Africa.
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