Has British aid policy over the past 20 years been effective - Essay Example

This has been one of the biggest move in the recent years that has ended with U.K. meeting the pledge to give 0.7% of its GNP as donor aid. In the latest development in the policy dubbed the UK AID Match scheme, the public is given a chance to give their opinion on a portion of the international development budget is to be used (Department of International Development, 2015). The scheme is aimed at helping alleviate poverty in the developing countries. In the three years that the scheme is supposed to be running, the United Kingdom is to award a whopping £120 million to selected developing countries in two funding rounds per year.

This has been seen as the most significant turn in the aid policy in the recent years. This paper will therefore try to address the effectiveness of the aid policy in the past 20 years and its effectiveness in fulfilling its mandate. Aid is justified on moral and national interests of the country. This is according to the British Prime Minister David Cameron and international development minister Justine Greening. Therefore, the developments that are made as far as the aid policy is involved are meant to make a point in the international scene (The Guardian, 2013).

The periods of economic hardships that have hit the world in the recent past also affected the UK aid policy with little money being set aside for the kit. Africa and other struggling countries such as Syria have been the recipients in the British aid policy. British is obligated to make significant contributions to various programs which include the ones in the European Union. More funding was done to the many civil societies in Africa (Hearn, n.d.). The UK’s total aid program has been the major factor in determining the foreign aid that will be given to countries rather than basing that as an obligation as it has been done in the recent years. The