Terms of reference for ICAI review on UK development partnerships

1. Overview

The UK’s approach to development partnerships has evolved over time from a traditional aid for service delivery model to one of mutual benefit and investment. Policy developments in 2025 have put partnerships at the centre of the UK approach to development, in a shift that moves the UK ‘from a donor to an investor’. Development Minister Baroness Chapman described the current approach to partnership during a visit to Ghana in September 2025, saying it was ‘typical of the UK’s new modernised approach to international development – one where we invest in and work with countries, as partners’. 

2. Scope, issues and challenges

This review will define the UK’s bilateral development partnerships as country-to-country development relationships in which the UK government works directly with partner governments and other in-country actors to pursue shared objectives, using a combination of ODA, non-ODA (other official financial flows) and non-spending tools or instruments, such as expertise, to deliver those objectives. 

The review will build on past ICAI work in this area, including How UK aid is spent (2025), which explored sudden reductions of aid allocations to longstanding partners, and UK aid under pressure: a synthesis of ICAI’s findings from 2019 to 2023 (2023), highlighting the growing emphasis on the UK’s national interest and mutual prosperity in aid. 

The review will collect and analyse data on:  

  • the evolution of global norms and standards for partnerships since the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005. 
  • the UK’s approach to country partnerships since 2021–22, including the extent and ways in which the UK has combined ODA, expertise and policy influence in partnerships. 
  • ODA spent bilaterally between 2021–22 and 2025–26. 
  • partnerships in selected country programmes. 
  • the governance of cross-government coordination and policy coherence in country partnerships. 
  • how to maximise impact and value for money through a partnership approach. 

The review will include three country case studies: Kenya, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe. All government departments involved in partnerships with these country governments and other non-state actors in-country, such as multilateral, private sector, philanthropic, research or civil society organisations, will be in scope. 

The review will not consider the UK’s partnerships at a global level, led and managed by government departments, such as with multilateral or civil society organisations. 

3. Review questions

This review will look at the following questions: 

  1. Has the UK’s approach to partnerships reflected global commitments? 
  2. How well has the UK built and managed bilateral partnerships since 2020/21? 
  3. To what extent has the UK ensured that its recent and current bilateral development partnerships can maximise impact and value for money? 

4. Governance and resourcing

Jillian Popkins will be the lead commissioner for the review, providing guidance and oversight, with additional input from Harold Freeman as peer commissioner. 

The review will be undertaken by ICAI’s Service Provider and will be supported by ICAI’s Secretariat who will provide advice and support throughout the process. 

The review will be informed through interviews with UK government officials and engagement with expert stakeholders. 

The methodology and final report will be peer reviewed by Nilima Gulrajani, Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global and Visiting Fellow at King’s College London’s Department of International Development. 

5. Timetable and output

The review will progress to the following timetable: 

  • December 2025 – April 2026: Research and fieldwork 
  • May 2026: Emerging insights (update to government) 
  • May – September 2026: Report drafting and factual accuracy checks with government 
  • October 2026: Publication of the review