International Relations Division

Director: Anthony Smith

Tel: 020 7023 1260

IRD's role is to help build international partnerships that will help reduce poverty. We have a leading role in improving the development effectiveness, impact and value for money of the EU and the UN, as well as in coordinating DFID's interests in G8, G20 and cross-cutting UN Summits. We also coordinate DFID's relationships with other donors and major foundations. The effectiveness of our work depends on excellent collaboration with policy leads across DFID and colleagues in the rest of Whitehall, whose priorities determine our choices about areas of focus.

Maintaining international support for the MDGs is a core issue for us and agreeing an Agenda for Action at the September 2010 UN MDG Summit will help determine future priorities for the EU, UN agencies and G20 in particular, and will also shape the content of our relationships with other countries and development institutions. IRD will continue work to encourage other donors to deliver on their ODA commitments.

United Nations and Commonwealth Department

Keith Mackiggan
Tel: 01355 84 3894

UNCD manages DFID’s core funding of the main UN development agencies including UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS, WHO and the UN Peace-building Fund.  We also provide support through the Commonwealth’s development institutions and we work jointly with the FCO to improve the international system’s ability to prevent countries from lapsing or relapsing into conflict.

We are the UK lead on strengthening the effectiveness and impact of the United Nations development organisations and the broader UN Development System and we work closely with the FCO to on UK objectives for Commonwealth reform. We manage £263 million in funding to 13 UN organisations and £29 million to six Commonwealth programmes. We also fund civil society organisations and think tanks that support the international system’s efforts to improve its delivery in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

This work requires close working with DFID policy teams and Country Offices as well as other government departments and UK Missions to the UN.

UNCD has staff in Abercrombie House and Palace Street HQs and includes the UK Permanent Representation to the UN Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome and the UK Delegation to UNESCO in Paris.

Missions and delegations

UK Representation to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome

UKRep Rome is responsible for all aspects of the government’s relations with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

British Embassy
Via XX Settembre 80A 00187 Rome Italy
Fax +39 06 4220 4909

UK Delegation to Unesco

The UK Permanent Delegation is a small DFID office based in Unesco headquarters to pursue the UK development agenda within Unesco. The delegation also represents the interests of other government departments, in particular the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

We also work closely with the UK National Commission for UNESCO which is based in London.

1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France
Fax: +331 47 83 27 77

Global Partnerships Department

Ian Curtis

Tel: 020 7023 1609

Global Partnerships Department (GPD) is responsible for developing deeper and more effective partnerships with other donors, including foundations. GPD promotes DFID objectives through international processes and events such as the MDG Call to Action and the G8. We work particularly closely with Policy Division and with other government departments. GPD consists of:

• The Bilateral Relations Team, headed by Matt Sudders, is responsible for managing relations with bilateral donors and foundations, including developing engagement strategies for those of the highest priority, and for DFID’s engagement with emerging economies on global issues.
• The International Events and Policy Team, led by Helen King, is responsible for work on the MDG Call to Action, the G8 and G20, and for certain other international events. It also leads on global aid volumes, overall financing for development and policy coherence for development.
• The DAC team, led by Roland Fox, is responsible for DFID relations with the OECD Development Assistance Committee.

Europe Department

Melinda Simmons

Tel: 07770 820642

The Europe Department oversees all DFID work through the European Union and manages DFID's country programmes in the Western Balkans and Moldova.

On EU matters we work with the rest of DFID and other Government Departments to ensure that UK development policy is integrated into Europe's development work. We are working closely with our European partners for further reform of European development assistance and institutions, and implementation of the European Consensus on Development.

We run bilateral development programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova and Serbia aimed at eliminating poverty in those countries and building capacity consistent with their goal of closer integration with the EU. A regional programme supports initiaitives meeting the same objectives in several countries in East and South-east Europe.