The Department for International Development (DFID)
The Department for International Development (DFID) is the initiative of the UK Government that manages Britain’s aid to poor countries and works to eradicate extreme poverty throughout the world. The UK is currently the fifth largest global donor – after USA, Japan, Germany and France – and DFID has over 2 500 staff, almost half of whom work abroad.
Many of the major social problems – including the spread of diseases like HIV and AIDS – are made worse by poverty in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, life expectancy has gone down from 50 years to 46 years since 1990. The main reason is the high infant death rate (105 deaths in every 1000 live births compared with six in every 1000 in the UK) and the spread of HIV and AIDS.
DFID in Southern Africa
In 2006 DFID Southern Africa launched the Regional Plan for Southern Africa. This initiative responds to the recommendations from the Commission for Africa and commitments made by G8 leaders in 2005 to give better and more aid towards Africa’s development.
In partnership with Christian Aid, London, DFID supported the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s first province-wide HIV and AIDS programme, Isiseko Sokomeleza (Building the foundation), with a grant of GBP3.45 million over three years from 2003 to 2006. DFID subsequently agreed to support the second phase of our programme, Siyakha (We are building), with a grant of GBP6 million over five years beginning in 2007.
The DFID grant is managed by HLSP, a professional services firm specialising in the health sector both Internationally and in the UK.
