Laura Yu

Please welcome Laura Yu to the ONE Blog. She’ll be interning with ONE’s Policy Team this summer and contributing regularly:

Andrew Mitchell, the newly-elected UK Secretary of State for International Development, gave his first overseas speech last Friday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. There, he outlined the coalition government’s plan for international development, which would “put women front and center” of the development agenda.

Noting that development assistance is one of only two protected areas of the UK budget, Mitchell reaffirmed the coalition government’s commitment to allocating 0.7% of the UK’s gross national income (GNI) to foreign aid by 2013. He also promised the UK would continue to keep aid untied from commercial interests and urged the U.S. to follow suit. The government’s new development agenda will emphasize value for money, accountability, and transparency, with a strong focus outputs and results.

The UK development agenda will also have a major influence on the country’s approach to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While progress on the MDGs has certainly been made, the MDGs concerning maternal health and child mortality are most off-track. Mitchell likened the plight of women dying from pregnancy-related causes in Nigeria to a jumbo jet crashing week in and week out in the same place. He called for more innovative approaches to improving maternal and child health, including cash incentives to promote women’s health and education, and using mobile phones for emergency referrals. In discussing family planning and safe abortion, Mitchell stressed the importance of empowering women to make informed decisions on their own lives. The present is the perfect time to address maternal health head-on Mitchell said, as “we have within our grasp a golden opportunity, a perfect moment when we have the technology and the political will—if not to eradicate maternal mortality—then to reduce it significantly.”

Mitchell concluded his speech looking forward towards the MDG Summit in September, calling on world leaders to arrive at the summit ready to fulfill their aid commitments, make new and ambitious pledges, and sign the Secretary-General’s Action Plan on women and children’s health. While he acknowledged the financial crisis, Mitchell maintained that nations should continue to focus on development, not only because of the moral imperative, but also because development is “the best return on investment you’ll find.” As the summit approaches, nations have the opportunity to show they are not indifferent to the suffering of the world’s poorest, especially women and children.