Tag Archives: dfid

The Voice

Baroness Lindsay Northover on developing evidence-based policy to strengthen LGBT rights across the world

By The Voice | Thu 5th March 2015 - 5:58 pm

Tonight, Lindsay Northover, our International Development Minister is giving a speech at a Sexuality, Poverty and Law Symposium in Brighton, outlining DFID’s new approach to LGBT rights in developing countries.  Lindsay and Lynne Featherstone before her have been integral in putting DFID on the front foot in prioritising LGBT rights and protections everywhere DFID works.

The symposium is part of an ongoing DFID-funded research programme led by the Institute for Development Studies in Brighton, which will produce evidence-based, practical options for activists and policymakers for strengthening legal protection of LGBT people and sexuality rights. The research will also build understanding of the links between sexuality, gender plurality and poverty with the aim of improving economic policy and programming to support people marginalised because of their sexuality.

Here is her speech in full:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood writes … Much more than a number

By Martin Horwood | Fri 6th February 2015 - 1:33 pm

School visit re FGM

Baroness Lindsay Northover, Baroness Jenny Randerson and Lynne Featherstone MP at a school visit to talk about FGM

As the only UK party with internationalism at our heart, Lib Dems should be very proud of being part of the first government to spend 0.7% of national income on helping the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, a target set by the international community forty years ago and one that many politicians over the years have disregarded as unobtainable.

Irate Tory rightwingers often criticise it as a number plucked out of the air.  It’s not true.  0.72% was proposed to the UN in 1968 by the Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen, who shortly afterwards won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his pioneering work in macroeconomic modelling. It was later refined to 0.70%.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone writes on violence against women in India and Burma

By Lynne Featherstone | Mon 12th January 2015 - 9:11 am

Since 2010 I’ve had the pleasure of serving as the UK’s ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) overseas – a role that’s followed me from the Home Office to Department for International Development and back, which makes sense. It’s a clear sign that as well as our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in the UK, this Coalition Government is committed to working internationally to end this global problem.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Lindsay Northover

Baroness Lindsay Northover writes…DFID’s approach to LGBT rights

By Lindsay Northover | Fri 12th December 2014 - 5:33 pm

It’s been just over a month since I became our International Development Minister, and I’ve enjoyed every moment since. When she held the role, Lynne Featherstone used to say it was the best job in government and I wholeheartedly agree. Shaping and seeing first-hand how UK aid transforms the lives of the world’s poorest, most vulnerable and most marginalised people is a Lib Dem dream job.

Yesterday I met with Stonewall and the Kaleidoscope Trust to discuss what DFID is doing to address the problems faced by one of the most marginalised groups – LGBT communities in developing countries. Of course I have long drawn on the fantastic Stonewall and Kaleidoscope Trust expertise both for our domestic and international work on equalities, but I was keen to meet them in my new capacity at DFID and learn how we can best work together. Their international work is truly impressive, from educating international development NGOs on LGBT rights and concerns, to engaging global businesses to use their leverage in the fight for equality, to helping to train local campaigners across the world in campaigning and legal techniques.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
The Voice

In full: Baroness Northover’s speech to launch the DFID disability framework

By The Voice | Wed 3rd December 2014 - 6:55 pm

Lindsay NorthoverBaroness Northover is parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for International Development. Here is the speech she made today, in the Houses of Parliament, to launch the DFID disabilty framework:

I’m delighted to be here with you today, to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Although the UK Department for International Development and many of you in this room have been increasingly focused on disability inclusion in recent years, it is now that we are really beginning to see this issue get the attention it deserves.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Lynne Feathestone: We must stop violence before it starts

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 13th June 2014 - 10:10 am

Ellison Sau, Project Manager for the Men Against Violence Against Women (MAVAW) program at Live and Learn, holding a ‘Stop! Violence against women!’ signIn a blog post on the Department for International Development website, as the London summit on ending sexual violence takes place, Lynne Featherstone has been writing about what the UK Government is doing to end violence against women and girls.

She talks about the scale of the problem and the importance of identifying why it happens:

Globally nearly 1 in 10 women has experienced sexual violence by someone

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood MP writes…Putting people with disabilities into the international development picture

By Martin Horwood | Tue 3rd December 2013 - 11:59 am

One year after her appointment as the first ever Liberal Democrat minister at the Department for International Development (DfID), Lynne Featherstone has already earned a reputation for picking up difficult subjects and setting ambitious goals. In her first year, she put the issue of female genital mutilation on the national and international agenda and famously declared that she wanted to see it gone within a generation and then started to take the practical steps to make that happen.

Now Lynne has taken up another challenge for some of the world’s most vulnerable people: to champion the inclusion of people with disabilities. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

The Royal Baby: the Liberal Democrat Voice non-rolling coverage

By The Voice | Mon 22nd July 2013 - 11:45 am

We at the Voice obviously wish the Duchess of Cambridge, and anyone else giving birth today, all the very best. However, you will be relieved to know that we won’t be dispatching any members of our team to West London to hang around outside St Mary’s Hospital and write copious amounts of rather hilarious speculation about what might be going on inside. We recognise that we might be missing a trick, and that, actually, people do want to hear men speculate about what Kate might be feeling, but we reckon we’re on pretty safe ground with our readers.

Two things that …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 17 Comments
Mary Reid

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – Gender equality and empowerment are crucial in the fight against world poverty

By Mary Reid | Tue 11th June 2013 - 10:46 am

Make_Poverty_HistoryLynne Featherstone, the International Development Minister, has written an article for The Herald, reflecting on progress since the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005.

She writes:

In 2005, Scotland hosted the G8 in Gleneagles where world leaders made the historic pledge to “Make poverty history”.

Eight years on, the UK is again hosting leaders, this time in Northern Ireland, so it seems appropriate to reflect on how far we’ve come in reaching that goal.

I am particularly proud that we have helped 5.3 million children have a primary school education and will have improved access to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP writes…the Aid budget and the Ministry of Defence

By Lynne Featherstone | Thu 21st February 2013 - 2:55 pm

Despite extensive media coverage this morning, the aid budget is not about to be slashed to fund the Ministry of Defence.

All aid spending from the Department of International Development (DFID) is in line with internationally agreed guidelines. There is a strict definition of what can count as Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), which was established by the OECD. For example, aid cannot be spent on combat operations nor on military equipment.

It can be (and is) used to train another country’s security forces in human rights awareness, including gender-based violence issues – something I’m sure all …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone in Zambia, part 2

By Nick T | Thu 29th November 2012 - 9:18 am

Lib Dem international development minister Lynne Featherstone is currently on a trip to the southern African country of Zambia. Her first visit was to the capital, Lusaka, and to a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls.

Over to Lynne:

This programme is supporting more than 1,500 of the most vulnerable girls, providing safe spaces and mentoring to help build their confidence and life skills.

The girls I met told me they were learning about their rights as women. One 16 year old girl said she now felt more confident to say no to unwanted approaches from boys. Another said the girls now

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Eric Avebury

Lord Avebury writes… World Toilet Day and sanitation: an unspoken problem

By Eric Avebury | Mon 19th November 2012 - 7:33 am

Today is World Toilet Day and it is important to remember that 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. One in three women across the world risks shame, disease, harassment and even attack because they do not have a safe place to go to the toilet. This is unthinkable in the UK, but a reality in the developing world and the impact is devastating. Absence of clean toilets and inadequate sanitation facilities are key causes of diarrhoeal disease, the second largest killer of children worldwide, causing around 760,000 child deaths every year. Diarrhoeal disease is also a contributing factor to malnutrition, which in turn can lead to stunted growth and impede cognitive development.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | Leave a comment
Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP writes… First ever Lib Dem DFID Minister, first trip to Africa

By Lynne Featherstone | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 7:50 am

A month after taking up my new role as Minister for Africa in the Department for International Development, I’m currently on my first trip to the continent – South Sudan, via an overnight stop in Kenya.

Though I’ve actually been to Africa in my role as International Champion for Tackling Violence against Women Overseas, a role I’ve held since soon after the Coalition was formed, I’m anxious to see first-hand the work that DFID does toward alleviating suffering, bettering people’s lives and working with partner governments to improve their

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Rif Winfield
    There is little sign that Labour's much-vaunted 1.5 million homes programme during the current Parliament is going to come to fruition, even with the planning r...
  • expats
    Tristan, % differences are largely meaningless.. Germany boasts a nominal GDP of approximately $5.4 trillion, making it Europe's largest economy. The UK's no...
  • Peter Martin
    "In the decade since that day.......We have missed out on roughly 6-8% of growth" Where does this figure come from? In any case, we didn't actuall...
  • Richard Flowers
    Dear Rebecca, It is you who gives me hope and lets me take Pride. Thanks to your tireless work, and other members of the Plus committee and community, you�...
  • George Thomas
    Have just come from the latest post discussing Welsh Lib Dems struggles to a post regarding better transport. Does this mean support for retrospective funding f...