The Equality Trust, along with the National Education Union, Global Justice Now, Health Poverty Action and the Bretton Woods Project, have written an open letter to Rory Stewart MP, the UK’s new Secretary of State for International Development.

As members of the UK Fight Inequality Alliance, we felt it was vital to reach out to the new Minister to set out our concerns regarding DfID’s use of private financing mechanisms (such as public-private partnerships) and the damaging narrative emerging among many of our political leaders that promotes redefining the UK’s aid budget to further “national interest” and guarantee profits for British businesses.

We also used this opportunity to ask the Minister to agree to meeting with the alliance and other allied organisations to establish a dialogue on these issues.

You can read the full letter here.

Access our campaign resources to find out more about the rise of private financing, how it risks exacerbating inequalities and impedes progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and how we can challenge this.

Sign the petition now

We’ve also launched a public petition with Health Poverty Action to capture your voice as part of a growing collective who want to see effective overseas aid spending driven by the needs of the world’s poorest, not used to guarantee a profit for bosses and shareholders in the UK.

Please click here to add your voice to the movement and share the petition on social media using the campaign hashtag #DevelopmentNotDividends.