Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s and the British Council’s use of aid in response to the Arab Spring

We review how effectively the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British Council responded to the ‘Arab Spring’ through their bilateral aid programmes.

Score: Green/Amber
  1. Status: Completed
  2. Published: 14 June 2013
  3. Type: Other
  4. Subject: Cross-government aid spend, Democracy, governance and human rights
  5. Assessment: Green/Amber
  6. Location: Egypt, Tunisia
  7. Lead commissioner: Graham Ward CBE

Summary

Following the wave of democratisation movements that swept the Middle East and North Africa from late 2010, the UK government established the Arab Partnership, with £110 million in programme funds over four years.

This review assesses how effectively the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British Council responded to the ‘Arab Spring’ through their bilateral aid programmes. We reviewed the Arab Partnership Participation Fund (APPF) portfolio and conducted in-depth investigations in Tunisia and Egypt.

We awarded a green-amber score and made five recommendations.

Timeline

Review publication

Published 14 June 2013

Government response

Published

ICAI follow-up

Published 18 June 2015