Penny Mordaunt calls for 'Great Partnership' with DFID
22 June 2018
On the 21st June, the UK Government's Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt MP, gave a speech to Chatham House in which she called for a 'Great Partnership' between DFID and civil society, with increased outreach across the wider regions of the UK.
On the 21st June, the UK Government’s Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt MP, gave a speech to Chatham House in which she called for a “Great Partnership” between DFID and civil society, with increased outreach across the wider regions of the UK.
The SMP welcomes this commitment to engaging wider civil society and has written to the Secretary of State to explore whether the Partnership and its members could help DFID deliver on this objective.
Read the full text and the BOND analysis. This was "part two" of a speech she gave on the 12th April.
Within the speech, the Secretary of State said:
"I know people get very excited about the machinery of government, but where the real action is lies beyond Whitehall.
Because although government can be a catalyst, an enabler, it is not government that will deliver Global Britain.
It is the sum of what we as a nation have to offer.
It is our town-halls, our great cities, our business and entrepreneurs, our technology, our science base, our education institutions, our creative law, our tax inspectors.
I’m tempted to say, Harry Kane’s right boot. Harry Kane’s left boot.
The city of London, our civil society and our social enterprises, our faith and community groups.
Of the five priorities I announced in that reset of UK aid earlier this year, the fifth was the Great Partnership.
At the same time as we unite Whitehall around a more coherent ODA offer, we will unite the nation behind a national mission, in the national interest.
Global Britain delivering Global Goals. To connect all our nation has to all that it can help.
And that is why the trust of the British public in what we do with their money to help the world’s poorest is critical.
Because we want them to help. Because without their help, without their talents, without their entrepreneurial spirit, their business opportunities, their inventions, their discoveries and without connecting all citizens with those elsewhere in the world who share their ambitions we will not deliver those ambitions.
Global Britain is about looking out into the world and seizing the opportunities that come from those freedoms we gain by leaving the EU.
But it also needs to be about our own communities and organisations, businesses, charities, institutions and the people that make them.
DFID is already doing this through UK aid match, and our new small grants programme. The diversification of our suppliers and other initiatives give us a good base to work from. But we will go much further, working strategically with big business, and building networks of entrepreneurs, civil society, and community groups, to connect them with people and opportunities.
So as well as seeing us in places like Singapore and Dubai in the future you will also see DFID in Belfast and Glasgow and Newcastle and in fact every region of the UK, talking to local businesses who are keen to bring their expertise and skills to help the world’s poorest. As part of a cross-government commercial approach, my teams have already been to Birmingham, Leeds and Cardiff to discuss how businesses there can apply for DFID funding.
This is about harnessing all we have to offer as a nation and the spirit of our times to tackle the remaining challenges of our times.
That is why the public’s view of the strategy and execution of our diplomacy, our development assistance and our defence of this nation is critical.
Because they are critical to its delivery. Because the world needs their leadership. And their humanity.
Want a vision for Global Britain? Then look at the people of this country, look at who we are.
Courageous, compassionate, committed to democracy. And with those values, just think what we can become. Thank you."
