DFID’s approach to supporting inclusive growth in Africa

DFID doubled its expenditure on economic development in recent years to £1.8 billion a year, with the objective of promoting economic transformation and job creation.

Score: Green/Amber
  1. Status: Completed
  2. Published: 28 June 2017
  3. Type: Learning review
  4. Subject: Livelihoods and social protection, Trade and economic development
  5. Assessment: Green/Amber
  6. Location: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia
  7. Lead commissioner: Tina Fahm
  8. SDGs covered:Decent work and economic growth, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Read the approach paper

Our approach

In recent years, the Department for International Development (DFID) has significantly increased its cross-departmental spending on economic development, more than doubling expenditure from around £800 million in 2011-12 to £1.8 billion in 2015-16. In 2017, DFID’s economic development portfolio represented around a fifth of its total combined bilateral and multilateral spend.

This review assesses the relevance and coherence of the portfolio, and how well DFID was learning as it scaled up its work. It assesses how DFID is delivering on its commitments to economic inclusion and job creation in Africa and examines how well DFID has identified contextual barriers to inclusive growth and used this analysis to inform its overall approach and the composition of its portfolios.

This is a learning review that offers a real-time view of a rapidly changing and relatively untested area of the UK aid programme. It takes a snap shot of the relevance and effectiveness of DFID’s programming, and we expect our findings to inform the continuing development of its economic development portfolio.

Review questions

  1. Relevance: Does DFID have a credible approach to promoting inclusive growth and jobs in Africa?
  2. Effectiveness: How effectively does DFID programming target the poor and marginalised?
  3. Learning: How well has DFID learned from its research, diagnostic work and past programming to inform its approach to inclusive growth and job creation?

Timeline

Approach

Published 4 October 2016

Evidence gathering

Complete

Review publication

Published 28 June 2017

Government response

Published 2 August 2017

Parliamentary scrutiny

IDC hearing 7 February 2018

ICAI follow-up

Published 29 June 2018