To support the world's most vulnerable people, DFID works closely with a number of other UK Government departments in different contexts. To effectively reduce global poverty and end long-term dependence on aid, development must be at the heart of an integrated cross-government approach alongside defence, diplomacy, and sustainable trade.
To promote stability and reduce the threat of conflict, we work with the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Together, we have developed the Building Stability Overseas Strategy that outlines our joint approach. DFID is a permanent member of the National Security Council which is chaired by the Prime Minister for collective discussion of the Government's objectives for national security.
We work with the Home Office on counter terrorism. DFID's efforts overseas can help build resilience to terrorism by strengthening governance and security, creating jobs and providing basic services such as education.
We also work closely with the Stabilisation Unit. This is the Government's centre of expertise and best practice in stabilisation and reports to DFID, FCO and MOD. The Stabilisation Unit works with countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine and Kosovo to enhance their capacity for self-governance.
Cross-Whitehall working on governance is also well established. At the country level, joint DFID-FCO strategies and teams have been established in several countries (e.g. Nigeria, Kenya, Afghanistan, Yemen and Uganda). Centrally, we have engaged closely with the FCO on several policy products, including the recent How To Note on Electoral Assistance, and with the Treasury and the Home Office in relation to agendas around tax, corruption, and organised crime.
Find out more about our work on building peace and stability overseas
Our partnerships with the FCO and MOD are key during humanitarian disasters, in gathering information on emergency situations and in our partnerships with international organisations.
Our joint work with MOD is often crucial to ensure aid reaches people who need it whilst making certain it is delivered impartially on the basis of need and to alleviate suffering. As part of our response to the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, we joined up with the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and the Army to deliver hundreds of tonnes of vital aid.
We also collaborate with other domestic UK Government departments, using their expertise to deliver effective outcomes and value for money in response to humanitarian emergencies. We work with the Department for Communities and Local Government to provide search and rescue operations using the UK Fire and Rescue Service as we did in response to the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011. We are currently working with the Department of Health to see how we can deploy surgical teams to provide medical assistance to regions in the aftermath of emergencies.
We also work with the FCO and the Home Office across a range of areas concerned with human rights and equality, access to justice, international humanitarian law and reducing violence against women. We support the work of the Home Office Minister for Equalities, in her role as International Champion for tackling Violence against Women and Girls.
In addition to the FCO, and MOD, we work with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to implement programmes on security and justice. For example, DFID-funded CPS prosecutors have worked to increase the quality and timeliness of prosecutions in Sierra Leone, contributing to a more just and sustainable peace following the end of the civil war in 2002. These help poor people use the law to uphold their rights so they can go about their daily lives without the fear of crime.
We also collaborate with the FCO, MOD and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in working towards a global agreement on arms transfers that includes clear criteria on human rights, sustainable development and corruption.
DFID is committed through its Structural Reform Plan to "make British international development policy more focussed on boosting economic growth and wealth creation".
As business and trade is of immense importance to developing countries and to the UK alike, our Private Sector Department works closely with BIS and UK Trade and Industry (UKTI), bringing trade policy and development policy together in the joint DFID/BIS Trade Policy Unit.
Read more about the various UK government departments which provide support to business
We work closely with the FCO and Department for Energy and Climate Change to produce policies that work together to help developing countries face the ever-increasing challenges posed by climate change.
We work in collaboration with the Department for Food and Rural Affairs to develop policies aimed at improving global food security and promoting sustainable agricultural production in developing countries.
We are working with the Department for Education to establish a single Development education work programme for schools in England at Key Stages 2 and 3. We will support teachers who have particular skills in teaching global issues to share their best practice with other teachers. DFID also supports partnerships between schools in the UK and developing countries, through the Global School Partnerships scheme, which aim to motivate young people's commitment to a fairer, more sustainable world.
We are working with the Department of Health to focus the UK Government's efforts to drive forward the global health agenda by 2015, as set out in the outcomes framework document, Health is Global: An outcomes framework for global health 2011-2015, which was published in March 2011.
Other collaborative work DFID/DoH work includes the International Health Links Funding Scheme, and the Health Partnerships Scheme, both of which are aimed at helping develop the skills of health workers in some of the world’s poorest countries.
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Signs at the corner of Downing Street and Whitehall. Picture: Kadeeae/Flickr