§ Mr. WoodTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what measures are in place to ensure that account is taken of the concerns of aid agencies, human rights organisations and other non-governmental organisations in developing the Department's strategies. [124619]
§ Hilary BennDFID has significant involvement with a wide range of NGOs and other civil society organisations. This includes meeting, discussing and consulting widely with them, at both ministerial and official level.
Examples include: DFID's Information and Civil Society Department consult widely with the British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) network in relation to funding schemes, and have made improvements to funding procedures based on the views of BOND'S members; the International Financial Institutions Department holds regular official meetings with NGOs, particularly focusing on Poverty Reduction 175W Strategy process; many of our Policy teams engage in wider dialogue with individual organisations on key policy and strategic areas; and a number of key NGOs made submissions to DFID White Papers and have responded to our Institutional Strategy Papers and Target Strategy Papers.