§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what changes have taken place in the Government's policy and aims for development in Africa since 1 October 2001; and what action her Department has taken with regard to Africa since that date. [61400]
§ Clare ShortDFID's aim is the elimination of poverty. The framework for our action is set out in the 1997 and 2000 White Papers and the recent International Development Act. The UN Millennium Development Goals are the main yardsticks against which we continue to measure progress towards this aim.
At the country level we believe progress towards development goals is principally the responsibility of African Governments, in partnership with the donor community. The international community is working with developing countries, including in Sub-Saharan Africa, to promote country-led and participatory poverty reduction strategy processes. These processes are intended to develop coherent national policies, agree priorities, and help to develop an institutional framework in which Governments can be held to account by their own citizens and stakeholders. The role of donors is to provide financial and technical support to enhance Governments' capacity to develop and implement these strategies.
Last October the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) was formally launched. This is one of the most important initiatives to come from Africa in recent years, and has been strongly welcomed by the Government. We are currently working to try to ensure that the response to NEPAD from the international community is both positive and sustained. In particular, we are working within the G8 to develop an Action Plan for Africa which focuses on the key areas of conflict resolution, aid, debt, health, education and trade.
§ Norman LambTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate she has made of the number of people at risk of starvation in each country in sub-Saharan Africa; what steps her Department is taking to assist people at risk of starvation in each country in sub-Saharan Africa suffering food shortages; how much money her Department is allocating for humanitarian relief in each of the countries; and how much the spend on these countries has increased since the last financial year. [62091]
§ Clare ShortMy Department is working with the international community and African Governments both to assess the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa who are hungry and to build capacity to assess vulnerability. FAO estimates from 1997 indicate that around 187 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have enough food. Excluding the on-going conflict in Angola, the immediate emerging crisis is in southern Africa where around 13 million people in six countries are estimated to be unlikely to grow or buy enough food by next March. My Department has recently published a strategy paper "Eliminating Hunger". This sets out our strategy to meet the millennium development goal for hunger and is relevant to the current problems in Africa. Humanitarian relief is only one part of our response, as the principal cause of hunger and starvation in Africa is poverty and the failure of institutions and Governments to provide for the poor and58W vulnerable and react to natural disaster. In the last complete financial year (2000–01) my Department provided £632 million to sub-Saharan Africa. Included within this figure was £44 million for humanitarian assistance. This represents an increase of 31 per cent. in funds allocated to sub-Saharan Africa from the previous financial year. In addition to this, DFID is providing £58 million specifically to help address the current crisis in southern Africa. It is, unfortunately, not possible to provide more detailed figures of the assessments of hunger and humanitarian expenditure in each country in southern Africa without disproportionate effort.
§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures she is taking to help alleviate the famine crisis in southern Africa; and if she will make a statement. [62083]
§ Clare ShortIn addition to the £13 million already allocated to direct support for food import and distribution in Malawi and Zimbabwe, we have recently committed £45 million for further support through the World Food Programme and NGOs for food distribution and inputs for the next planting season in Zimbabwe, Malawi Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland. These funds will also support information gathering and co-ordination. As well as making our national response, we are working with the relevant UN and regional organisations to ensure that policies are in place to allow commercial and aid imports to flow freely; and we are urging the Zimbabwe authorities through the UN to adopt measures to strengthen the national response in that country.
We have also provided £2.4 million for humanitarian aid in Angola this year.
§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action she has taken(a) to provide food, (b) to support agriculture and (c) to combat HIV/AIDS in (i) Lesotho, (ii) Mozambique and (iii) Zambia; and what action she has taken to reduce trade barriers with (A) Lesotho, (B) Mozambique and (C) Zambia. [62426]
§ Clare ShortThe information is as follows.
Food Aid
In Lesotho DFID will be providing £1.5 million to the WFP emergency programme and another additional £1.0 million to support the longer-term rehabilitation of agriculture in the three worst affected districts. Mozambique has a surplus of maize in the north, although logistics and traditional trading patterns will result in most of this surplus being exported to adjacent countries mainly Malawi. Several donors are already funding food relief where it is needed in the south. DFID is assessing the needs, but it is likely that we can add more value in Mozambique by assisting with the management of food aid or by focusing on agricultural inputs to improve food security for the next harvest. At the moment we are not engaged in food aid in Zambia.
Agriculture
In Lesotho, we are supporting a three year Agricultural Policy and Capacity building Programme (£750,000) in collaboration with other donors to restructure the Ministry of Agriculture and improve its operational effectiveness. We are providing support to CARE (£1.9 million) in two districts where they have been developing a more appropriate extension model that meets the needs of the 59W rural people and empower households and communities. We are providing support to a Pilot Agro-forestry Programme (£214,130), to strengthen the capacity of small-scale nurseries.
DFID is a key supporter of the Mozambique Government's sector programme in agriculture, ProAgri, which seeks to promote growth and poverty reduction by creating a dynamic agricultural sector. We have also been working for some years with NGOs in agricultural development in Zambezia Province. Much of the impact of the very successful feeder roads programme in Zambezia has also been felt in the agricultural sector, where transport and access to markets are key constraints on growth.
In Zambia we have provided support for civil society groups working in the drought-prone southern province.
HIV/AIDS
DFID has committed £7.6 million over five years to fund a Regional HIV/AIDS Programme channelled through the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Health Sector Co-ordinating Unit (HSCU), specifically earmarked for Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia. The programme focuses on developing the capacity within each country and across the region to mount an effective response to the epidemic. The initiative complements an EU funded programme also channelled through the SADC HSCU which is to benefit all member states.
Mozambique's national HIV prevalence is 12.2 per cent. 1.1 million people are HIV positive. DFID supports the Mozambique National AIDS Council in its multisectoral response (£3.8 million); supports key civil society organisations (£7.6 million), and is supporting the Government to work with young people in and out of school to prevent HIV infection. We are working with the Ministry of Health to provide a broader health sector response to HIV/AIDS (£1.85 million). Jointly with other donors, we are currently providing additional support (£25 million) to the health sector and this funds a significant proportion of Mozambique's essential medicines requirements.
In Zambia the main support to date has been through the health and education sectors, however, DFID is currently preparing a programme that will provide an additional £20 million to support the national strategic framework.
Trade
Considerable DFID effort is allocated towards trade capacity building for developing countries and lobbying for greater market access with EU member states and with the WTO.
Lesotho, as a member of the Southern African Customs University is part of the recently agreed SACU Free Trade Agreement, it is also a recipient of the Cotonou Agreement trade preferences. DFID has offered support to Lesotho in trade policy negotiations and capacity building through the Africa Trade and Poverty Programme.
Mozambique and Zambia as least developed countries, both benefit from duty and quota free access for their products into the UK under the EU 'Everything But Arms' initiative, the introduction of which the UK Government strongly supported. They also benefit from the Cotonou 60W Agreement. DFID is working with the Governments in these countries in ways that will help them take advantage of these and new market opportunities.